Cementing Prejudice: Racism in the Roads and Roots of the United States

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aerial photo of buildings and roads

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the Interstate Highway System of the United States was one of the most impactful public works projects in the nation’s history. Tying together one of the largest nations on the planet with millions upon millions of miles of asphalt, many Americans credit it with helping to bring a scattered nation closer to unity. They hold this assumption in ignorance of the ways in which it also …

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Yellow Light!

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Is it safer to speed up or slow down at a yellow light? Slow down! Slowing down is safer for yourself and others when driving on the road. Let’s take this yellow light idea and apply it to race talk. Slowing down when talking to others is one of the most important steps to combat implicit bias. What is implicit bias? Implicit bias is unconscious opinions and beliefs that are not consciously thought and can …

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Let’s Switch the Code

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In a nation where the air we breathe is polluted with the ideologies of Whiteness, People of Color are faced with two options: choke on the smog or put on a mask. While it would be ideal for one not to choke on smog, there’s two reasons why a POC wouldn’t wear it. One would be that no matter how hard they try, they just cannot find a mask that’s capable of blocking out this …

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Describe Who?

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If someone were to describe you, what are the first things they would say? How would someone describe me: a white, blonde, young woman. See, that wasn’t too hard to describe myself with the acknowledgement of my race. Now if I can use race to describe myself, then why is it so hard to acknowledge another person’s race when describing them? I ask this question with the knowledge that for most of my life, race …

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Stop Before You Stereotype

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I was born in a land littered with Confederate flags. Each flag you drive past holds generations worth of harmful stereotypes about Black Americans. Even if you aren’t from South Carolina, like me, stereotypes are constantly around us. They are found through our thoughts, conversations with others, information from the media, etc. Once we understand that a stereotype exists, what do we do with them? Do we let them control our thoughts and interactions? And …

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Egalitarianism, Implicit Bias, and Motivation

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In society today some people are beginning to make change. They are becoming less prejudiced, and using fewer stereotypes. The question is whether this is due to internal, or external motivations. Meaning are people being less racist because in their heart they know it is wrong? Or, are they being less racist because they are scared of the societal consequences and being known as a racist and getting canceled by society, or maybe because of …

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The Misinformation in the United States

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Throughout United States history people are continuing to believe things that are not true. Not only are they not true, but they are disgusting and horrible. People who believe in stereotypes which are attitudes and beliefs, usually they are prejudiced which are ill feelings towards people. Which is also related to discrimination which is behaviors against people. These stereotypes are not true, they are racist. In the readings we learned that people who joke about …

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So What Do We Do?

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As a Black African American in today’s society, the police are my worst nightmare, and I know I speak for many other African-American young adults out there. The actions of individual officers in cases like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are completely unjustified. Holding a knee on someone’s neck for seven minutes is far from justifiable. Officers shooting through a door when no one answers, hitting Breonna Taylor, is also far from justifiable. The police …

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White Privilege Also Means You Can Choose When To Be White

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White people are a boiled potato of culture – which is wild when considering the amount they’ve worked throughout history to spice themselves up (literally lol). By this, I mean that white people get to be nothing. They’ve convinced us they are not a race or an ethnicity in the same way other races are. They’ve othered themselves so much that they’ve convinced us white isn’t a color. If they were a number they’d be …

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Let’s talk about racism! Sure…But when?

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My first American history lesson started with the Crash Course series on YouTube in the summer of 2017, about two months before I came to the States. My “teacher” was a white woman from Texas whose name I failed to remember, who seemed nice and honestly was the spitting image of white Americans in media products I had consumed. She taught me everything from “checks and balances,” “electoral college,” and the Constitution to using “bathroom” …

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Colleges Do Not Do Enough to Protect Students of Color

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Imagine this: you are a college student in a creative writing class. Your (White) professor has asked everyone in the class to write a short story about what family means to them and how their family has impacted their worldview. After the professor asks your class if anyone would like to share their story aloud, a Black student states that they would like to share their story about how their father made them into the …

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The Unseen Narratives: Deconstructing Why Women of Color Miss the Disney Fairytale Love

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In a world where fairy tales often depict the quintessential love story, women of color find themselves facing unique challenges in the realm of dating and relationships. The Disney fairytale, with its conventional representations of love and romance, seldom mirrors the complex realities experienced by women of color. Narratives of these women navigating a dating landscape that is often subtly biased and sometimes overtly discriminatory. Disney princesses have long epitomized the romantic ideal – delicate, …

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