Since the Black Lives Matter protest began almost two months ago, it has created a chain reaction in other fields of protest. Not only have we demanded reparations to the black community, but we have also gone on to ask for reparations for Native Americans, Hispanics, even women and the LGBTQ community for past wrongdoings by cis-white men. It has gotten to the point that anyone who isn’t straight, white, or male can argue that they are oppressed, and that they demand to have justice served for them.
Now, I neither condone nor pardon white people for having done horrible things in the past, including slavery, colonialism, internment camps, and so forth. But to say that those today are all still racist and prejudice, let alone should be forced to atone for their ancestor’s actions, is extreme. It is like saying that the Chinese should hate the Japanese today for what their ancestors did during World War II, in which the latter pillaged, raped, and killed the former for control of the country. That would mean that I should hate my best friend, who is Japanese-American, for what her ancestors did to mine, and to make her kneel in front of me and apologize for it. Sounds ridiculous, right?
However, I see so many of my peers on social media hating on white people, that they are all bad and they must be stopped. A lot of the times, it is the minorities (black, Hispanic, Asian) who say this, but what boggled my mind was that a lot of white people were joining in! Not only is this a blatant form of reverse racism, but also the promotion of self-hatred among the white community.
Many of my peers might deny any of this, just because white people have “never been oppressed” — while it is true that white people may not have to worry about their race affecting their successes and failures, it is still racist to hate on them and force them to make them feel guilty about being born the way they were. After all, they didn’t choose to be born white. And imagine if we were to do the same with a selected minority — wouldn’t it be the exact same kind of racism and self-hatred that we are trying to do now? Racism is racism, no matter whom it is being targeted at.
On the flip side, not everything is about race. Not everything is about being oppressed and have so many factors stacked against you that there is no point in trying to succeed in life. Yes, some of us are privileged: some of us were born into better circumstances than others, whether it was by growing up mid-to-upper class, going to good schools, and/or having supportive parents raise you. Some of us might have it easier, but we also do struggle, too. We also struggle with getting jobs, paying our bills, personal addictions, etc. But the last thing that we should blame for all of this is our race.
I cannot speak for those in the black, Latinx, and Native American communities, all of which are considered the “most oppressed” in the United States. But I will point out that, while they have faced hardships in education and the environment, they have also greatly benefited from what the nation has done in the past half century, including affirmative action, DACA, EEO, and other laws that outright prohibit discrimination in the workplace and academia. Thousands, if not millions, of lives have turned for the better thanks to these laws and as a result, this generation of minorities are the most-educated and most-well off than previous ones.
Yet, why do we still keep saying that certain races are oppressed? Is it really the case that they are still being held back from truly succeeding in life? I don’t think so. From what I have seen, it is not race which is the issue: it is what minorities have been taught to believe, to the point that they have internalized it to mean the truth. In other words, we read about the past horrors of colonialism, slavery, and racism caused by white people, and that nothing much has really changed today — perhaps they have been transformed into different forms of subjugation, but still subjugation nonetheless. That is why we get lots of minorities, many who are college-educated, lamenting the fact that they cannot get ahead because of who they are, and not necessarily because they haven’t even tried to get ahead in the first place.
Let me give you an example. I used to work for the city government. My department was in charge of recruiting and helping prospective applicants fill out applications to work for us. The job was in civil service, in which they would get trained and reimbursed for their time, all the while make well-above the minimum wage (think mid-level position). Even better? Anyone, regardless of race, education, or skill set, was welcome to apply and be equally-considered for the position. My department had an overwhelmingly amount of black employees: my interviewer was black, my supervisor was black, even the District Manager was black. In fact, I, along with other Asians and white people, were in the minority working for them. So to say that these “oppressed” minorities cannot succeed and get well-paying jobs is a huge fallacy, at least from what I have observed.
It was also while working for the city government that I also saw race being brought up, and in an illogical (even unreasonable) way. I had helped a woman, who was black, apply for the job, and it was after close to a month that she returned to our office to ask about her application status. As the whole process was computerized, we did not have much power over it once the application was filled and sent out. Despite our reasoning, she asked, “It’s because I’m black, right?” It was that kind of situation in that, if you deny it, you will come across as insensitive. The reality was that our system really had hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants to filter through. And given that it’s the government, it takes ages to get a call back. It took me over four months to land that job since applying, thanks to the slow, inefficient system. It had nothing to do with race. At all.
That is why I am having a hard time fully supporting racial justice movements, just because most of the time, it is not about taking the steps to find actual solutions, but instead wanting to be angry and blaming external factors (e.g. skin color) for so-called “oppression.” Life is hard, and while it might be harder for others, it isn’t impossible to get out of it. After all, there are minorities who do succeed, sometimes even more than their white counterparts. Celebrities like Oprah, LeBron James, Jennifer Lopez, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams…they are all household names with millions, if not billions, of dollars to their name, and their voices are heard every day.
Sometimes, it really is how you make of it in life. There will always be things outside of your control that will make it harder than others to get to where you want to be. But it is important not to let external factors like race or socioeconomic status crush you from at least trying. Giving up is not an option, unless you want to be miserable for the rest of your life. Never feel ashamed about your race, and never be bitter towards others who have been dealt a better hand in life. Focus on yourself and your goals, and don’t let anything else get in the way of that. Start now.
