Comments on: The Media: More Harm than Good?

By: Mia Shmariahu

Mia Shmariahu — Tue, 01 May 2018 02:03:27 +0000

I have to disagree with one of the comments on this post that may be controversial – I don’t think Donald Trump is a racist. I don’t think ANYONE is a racist. It is the rhetoric of this statement that is problematic to me; I don’t think anyone should be defined by one thing. Someone can make racist comments and engage in racist actions, but they are not “a racist.” I think using this kind of language allows for people who may say racist things to allow themselves the ability to say “well, I’m not a racist.” The reality is that, yes, many people have said or done racist things, but nobody is *A* racist.
In all actuality – everyone is racist because we are all contributing to a continuing system of racism in our society. Food for thought.

By: Julia Carroll Beatley

Julia Carroll Beatley — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 20:27:22 +0000

If “everyone” is “at least a little racist,” doesn’t the allegedly common-place accusation of racism make sense? It seems to me that this is a great starting point to address racist rhetoric in America; making people aware is the best course of action in a society that preaches egalitarianism but acts with prejudice. If I’ve learned nothing else in this class, it’s that challenging your implicit biases is imperative. Just because you and I have been taught the same or similar stigmas, stereotypes and biases towards people of color doesn’t make the racist sentiments any less legitimate and it does not make them less dangerous. I’m struggling with the suggestion you seem to be making.

Also, Donald Trump is a racist. Implicit biases aside, Trump is actively, explicitly racist. Why would it be any more acceptable for Donald Trump to be racist “in private” than in the public sphere? Is he not still spewing a convoluted and hateful frame of mind? Only, he’s not in the private sphere — he’s the nation’s president; to use the racist rhetoric that he employs to gain traction and supporters is abhorrent to many and particularly threatening to people of color.

Additionally, your argument sounds as though you’re proposing race not be mentioned among news outlets. This confuses me. We have spent a semester delving into the intersections of racial identities among other identities, societal and systematic implications of race and so forth. Some of the main and most important problems in our society surround the economy, poverty, women’s rights, health care, education, and more — if you ask me, we don’t talk enough about race nor how the implicit, aversive racism that you reference is taking a toll on people of color among each and every one of these societal plights. How do you propose racism be addressed?

By: bstarr1104

bstarr1104 — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 18:48:21 +0000

I appreciate the honesty of this post, and your analysis of current events. However, I am unclear how telling people that race is a problem in our society “further exacerbates” the problem. It is definitely true that White people don’t know the right way to bring up racial topics, mainly because as Bonilla-Silva discussed, we were never given the proper training to do so. However, ignoring the fact that racism is a problem in our society is not a constructive mentality to have. We need to be aware of the fact that our society is inherently racist, and as a result we all have implicit bias, in order for us to move on from the divisiveness that you speak of.