By JONAS MILLER
Managing Editor
It is one thing to argue about sports with your friends, because most of the time, sports are concrete – relying almost entirely on stats, or, for the sake of this article, on facts.
It is another thing entirely to argue with your friends about race, because if there is one thing that a conversation revolving around that topic lacks, it’s facts.
Sure, there are numbers to throw around – crimes rates, population percentages, income inequalities – but nothing to really lean on. There is no quarterback battle raging on, only to be solved by one of them throwing more touchdowns. There are really only three things in any conversation focused on race: Black, White, and opinions.
In many conversations about race today, black does not solely refer to skin color – African American citizens – it refers to wrong. Conversely, as you might assume, White is not limited to the description of Caucasian citizens, it refers to right. And opinions, these are not your typical “Well, I think this so I am smarter,” no, no, no…opinions are the ideas we form based on thorough research and experience that help us shape the conversation and steer it in a positive and constructive direction.
In other words, I will state what I feel based on others words and actions, in an attempt to help you understand where I am coming from – and you will do the same.
Also, when referring to right and wrong, I am saying that a lot of the situations we have been told about through mainstream media, while on the surface may seem to be a race issue – a white on black problem – deep down are problems of someone doing something they felt was right, that in the eyes of many, was quite the opposite.
Without the attention to detail and the knowledge of how to speak about a subject such as race, nothing can be accomplished. Unless we consider this – that the very act of having the conversation is a step in the right direction, regardless of how it ends or who storms out of the room. (FYI: It’s usually me who storms out, but it happens often enough that people know I’m not angry with them, I’m just very passionate about the given topic.)
So why now am I bringing this up? Well, unless you’re living under a rock, you are aware of the racial turmoil this country is currently enduring. Courtesy of cellphones, the internet and the all-powerful realm of social media, society is more aware than ever of the injustices that occur daily between people of different skin colors.
It’s evolved from a blemish on the face of America, to a sliver in the thumb of society, to a full blown staph infection eating away at the very core of our existence, and while there is a cure for each of those dilemmas, there is no cure for this.
Contrary to what some assume or believe, racism is not merely alive in America, it’s thriving. Excluding the cases over the last two years – the Mike Browns, Eric Garners, and more recently, the Terence Crutchers – as those are extreme and incredibly complicated, racism is down the street, around the corner, and right in front of our faces every day.
A personal example: A few weeks ago I visited a local convenient store to purchase a beverage which shall remain nameless (beer), and as I’m cashing out, my transaction is put on hold by the man at the cash register, as he stares at the surveillance camera on the television above us. An African American male, who looked to be about the same age as me, has just entered the store. He walks to the back, just as I did, and opens the cooler. When he joins me at the register, my purchase is completed and I go on my way.
While it may not have been something that others would have noticed, it stuck with me, and every time I go into that store, I am reminded of that singular instance that is one of many in the lives of people just like that kid.
As this conversation goes on, as I know that it will given the current state of racial affairs in the United States, it is important to remember something.
As I stated before, there is no cure for racism, it is not something that is going to vanish tomorrow, or next week, or a year from now – but similar to a sliver or a cut, we can nurse it.
Be mindful of your own actions, and be cognizant that others may not feel the same way as you, and while you cannot change the way they think, you can inform them of the way you do.
Keep your eyes open, and your head up, because this problem is long from over, and we need all the help we can get.
