My rambling on American Racism

So lately all that is being talked about around the U.S. is racism. I am white and I will openly say I am prejudice. The truth is I believe everyone is, everyone wants to point a finger and tell each other they are wrong for having fear but fear is an important part of our lives and it serves its purpose.

I was raised early on in an area of high minority population. I went to a majority African American highschool growing up and made a lot of friends there so I don’t think being prejudice and racist are exactly the same thing. I think this is where some of the problem stems from. Example: I am prejudice about someone walking around in gang colors with facial tattoos and will assume if I get into a confrontation with them I will likely be placing my life in jeapordy. This has nothing to do with color of skin. Its a status in which gangs strive to uphold and creates fear and prejudice about those involved. I am prejudice about certain neighborhoods who have made it known that death and killing is just part of life. Unfortunately from youtube, Facebook, twitter, music, news, really any social outlet out there it is flooded with African Americans fighting, killing, stealing, etc. The news and quite a bit of the established company ran outlets are at fault for only focusing on these negative aspects, but much is by individuals who for some reason think its “cool” to show one man beating another man to near death while the crowd around hoots and hollars. This is feeding the prejudice feelings of most Americans slowly changing prejudice into racism in modern society. On the other side most people don’t have the same fears from lets say the president. He presents himself in a manner that, yes, white society feels comfortable with.

This is where social differences come into play. When we talk about racism the majority of the time its about the differences in our own social groups. I am not saying everyone needs to run around in a suit and tie, lose all of ones self, change their vocabulary etc, but if you portray yourself in a manner to imitate lets say a G unit cd cover of Curtis Jackson III and speak in a way to make yourself look “thug” you need to take responsibility when people give second looks or follow you around in a Macy’s store. He literally raps about shooting and killing and gangs. For the majority of white Americans they have never seen a ghetto or even heard a gun shot so all they can go by is what has been put out by social media.

Where my prejudice comes from though is something I have learned from going to a majority African American highschool. My prejudice comes from that the majority of African Americans that I have had the pleasure of meeting are fiercly proud and usually have no qualms about taking matters to a physical altercation if provoked. There are some I have met who are not like this at all but usually they were usually ragged on by fellow African Americans as an “oreo”. Also I have learned that, though it is looked upon as racism but should be called prejudism, how people dress is a decently accurate way of seeing how people want to be seen. If you dress in all black and wear your hair “emo” then there is a good chance you are going through something in life that makes you feel “emo” or possibly depressed and you want some kind of attention. If you dress “thuggish” then its likely you want to prove your toughness. If you dress in suits then you want to show your social standings. I am not saying that this is 100% in any manner and at times its clear that people are trying to fit in as “cool” but through life its held fairly true from my view.

I am not just prejudice to African Americans though in this regard, if you are Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian and dress thuggish I have the same prejudism against you. It stems from my want to avoid physical altercations as with most people. This prejudism that I have and I feel many Americans have has now become racism in society due to the overwhelming amount of media attention toward this look and its popularity within the African American society. Its creating animosity throughout the country. The more we avoid this issue and just focus on race the worst its going to get. By feeding the media with violence and then displaying the violence in the way people dress and speak is the real problem and at some point needs to be address as an issue not just race.

Racism does exist I will not deny that, I just wish we can look at this from an outside perspective and see that its more than just skin thats the issue. Its a social display that has been made to what seems to me intentionally feed the problem.