Post #9: Race

Hi. Justin here again, and today I'd like to talk a little about race. Now, I have known based on school teachings that race is a social construction, and I never really thought that much about race. However, the race unit in class really opened my eyes to some of the plights of minorities. Obviously, I'm a white man, and the concept of White Privilege established by Peggy McIntosh made me think much more about the little advantages I have had in life simply because of my skin color. From media marketing to the way I am treated at the store, I realize now how much better white people are treated in American society. I suppose that some people are too ignorant to realize that many minorities are quite qualified or even overqualified for positions of entitlement. Another source that really made me think about race was the movie White Like Me. The narrator, Tim Wise, offered a new way of thinking for me. His explanations of how the US has really not progressed despite having a black president really made me consider if racism was really dead. As evidenced by the map shown in class, there are still so many hate groups today that it is impossible to think that the days of the KKK and Pro-Nazis are gone. The race unit, while not affecting me that much as a person, really made me think about how minorities are treated in the US, and how I could help to be a better person towards them. Now that the curriculum in sociology has almost come to an end, I have to say that I really enjoyed all of the units, but this one especially!!