All Voices Matter
By: Caroline Donaldson — October 11, 2015
Race is a major descriptor and although we may not like that, it is known to be true. When you want to write about race in controversial topics the author’s race matters — white, black, asian, hispanic, etc. It might not even matter to you but it will matter to the reader. If they read something they do not agree with they will start judging and making assumptions; then, — race matters.
All voices matter and people should be able to freely speak their minds; however, it needs to be done in a respectful manner. People will stop reading the minute they feel attacked. I read an article about a black veteran named Courtney Daniels, he is in favor of the confederate flag. He completely wrecked his credibility in the first few sentences by being passive aggressive and rude. This man had the authority to speak on such matters, being a black man from the south, but he definitely “milked” his race. He used it to advance his thoughts. He thought just because he was black and from the south he could speak like this and it offended people.
You see I am white and I am writing this column about race right now, and at first I thought I had no authority on this topic. I do though, I am of the Caucasian race and I am proud of that. My opinion of racial controversies matters too; it should be heard. I never want to be an author who uses race to their advantage, like “hi listen to me I’m a teenage, privileged, white girl who has something to say about race.” Odds are nobody would read that if that was the headline, not because it’s a crappy headline, but because no one cares what I, a female, teenage, white girl, has to say. I’m not offended by this — it’s reality. However, I do think that I deserve to be heard. My opinion on the confederate flag is no more or less important than the black man who supports it. He is probably not the only black veteran from Alabama that supports the flag. So why did he get so much attention from this story? In my opinion, he used the fact that he was black to put others down about the issue. Daniel states that “A couple of days ago, in the wake of a childish debate over a memorial flag flown near a Confederate statue, a Southern monument was ignorantly desecrated with an attempt at the ‘Black Lives Matter’ slogan.” He claims that the debate was childish, but he became the childish one by stating his thoughts this way.
I like what Eric Deggans says in his article about segregating stories. He states “race, culture, and poverty need to be covered like the weather, sports, and the stock market.” This describes everything I feel that I cannot put into words. He’s saying that when news about race is reported, it needs to be to the point and cover the important things. None of the fluff matters give the statistics to me straight. Reporters today like to add all of this unnecessary information — all these extra bits and pieces that truly do not matter. They only exist to make the piece sound worse or to make the reader feel something that is not needed. This is when the object of someone’s race becomes the most important piece of the news. Typically, if the person is not white, it is mentioned in the headline. Why is that? If we are all working on this issue of equality, why does the race of the man who robbed a gas station matter.-? In one word I can tell you why — STEREOTYPES! If he is white nothing is said, if he’s black the whole story of the robbery becomes an issue of his skin color.
I do not like that this is the world we live in. It is not fair — it is not right. Tell me, what is the first thing you notice about someone when you first meet them? A Harvard study says that, “When you meet someone new, the first thing your brain does is take note of two characteristics: race and gender.” I wish this was not the way it was, but it is, so how do we move past that and see everyone for who they truly are? Yes, it matters to a degree because it tells our story, — who we are, and where we come from. Here’s the catch, it tells our story, but it does not have to be our story. We use our race for authority to speak on certain topics, but we should not exploit or use it for our own gain. — That is when using your race to further your voice becomes a bad thing; — it should be able to stand on its own.
*References*
DEGGANS, E. (2015). STOP SEGREGATING STORIES. Nieman Reports, 69(2), 30.
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/black_veteran_a_son_of_the_sou.html
