I think Mr. Wise made a very clear point at the beginning of
his speech that many people of color don’t like to talk about racism in front
of white people and this makes them shut down. People of color assume white
people are racist because we are raised in a radicalized society in which we
internalize it. At the same time white do not want to talk about racism because
they fear they may say the wrong thing. Wise gave the term suspect racism means
that when people don’t talk about racism is because they have something to
hide. Wise says it is better to take a risk even when it is scary and
uncomfortable. He says we need to push
through the difficulty and emotional feelings. Wise said it is not like science
where we can find a solution to a problem. So to get rid of a social problem we
need to be able to discuss this issue amongst each other as a social society. I
thought this was a great point because I feel this is plays a part in why there
are issues with the topic of racism. Everyone feels uncomfortable and therefore
we don’t talk about it but, by doing so it harms us more because we are doing
nothing to try to fix this. How can we it so that people will feel that it is
ok to talk about racism? I think this is why people are now bringing up the
white privilege topic because it is a new way that involves white people to try
to think about their advantages and how minorities don’t have equal
opportunities and how this ties into racism. This made me reflect on the
reading by Linda Faye Williams that the race problem is a euphemism for white
skin privilege. “The real problem is the social and political construction of
race in a way that advantages whites over people of color in economic markets,
political institutions, and social policies (91).” There is this new idea of
racism denying that race still matters. Just because we don’t see racism like
how it was historically like slavery doesn’t mean it doesn’t still exist today.
Wise told us a story of when he was invited to CSBSJU a
couple of years back to speak about diversity. The two students who had went to
pick him up at the airport and while driving to campus Wise asked why they
decided to bring him to their campus. They told him that because they decided
to have a diversity day. Wise thought to himself really only one day! So what
is the rest of the 364 days are like without diversity he thought? He asked
them if there were any issues on the campus about conflicts with racial
tension. They answered no because they have this thing. Wise was thinking wow
they have something that gets rid of racism? Let’s hear it said Wise. They said
it’s called Minnesota Nice. After that Wise spent a few years asking people
what they think of the Minnesota Nice thing. People said that it is just used
to be passive aggressive. Minnesota Nice is institutionalized and is used as a
mask and keeps the lid on problems. Wise said that people of color or people
who are marginalized have to complain or raise their voice something that is
wrong/issue. When you do that you are not nice now you violate the norm because
it wasn’t an issue until you brought it up. We need to prepare to be honest address
institutional inequalities to be a community. We are bad as a society at not
being honest. Wise said that when you’re white it’s hard to see racism just
because of race you’re not going to have to know what color of people has to
know or experience. William argues that, “new racism hinges on the insistence
that, discrimination is illegal; everyone has equal rights, so what’s the
problem (93)?” I agree with Williams that in order to break this new racism and
make people of color full participants in our society we need to openly
confront white privilege as reality and ideology (94). This means changing the
capitalist system of social policy like redistribution of income and wealth and
less capitalization (94). I think for this to be effective is if a great number
of people come together to bring this issue up and get attention from the
government and politicians to do something about this because they do have the
power and authority to make new rules and they have the responsibility to take
care of our society.
-Ka L.