Imagine you have just been given the power to eradicate all racists from the face of the Earth, and you do just that. Congratulations. You have just eliminated the entire human race, including yourself. That was counterproductive, wasn't it? Racism is not something endemic to one specific population, nor does it manifest itself in the same way in different people. Black people, white people, Asian people, Hispanic people, Middle Eastern people G? all shades of humans harbor racist thoughts against one another. What defines a racist, however, is whether or not he or she acts on those racist thoughts. It is not an inherently bad thing to have these thoughts, but it is inherently bad to choose to let these thoughts decide your actions.
Above all else, though, our society is one that does not encourage personal responsibility. Got AIDS because you were sexually irresponsible? Be like Barack Obama's controversial spiritual advisor
the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and say that the government created the human immunodeficiency virus to eradicate black people, instead of realizing that it was you who decided to have unprotected sex with someone. Unhappy with your station in life and how poor you are? Complain about the man keeping you down, instead of investing in your education in order to beef up your resume. Unhappy because you live in a crime-ridden, inner-city neighborhood? Mistrust the police and never trust whitey instead of working with your neighbors and the city police to clean up your neighborhood by driving out the drug dealers and prostitutes on the corner. It's so much easier to blame your plight in life on other people, instead of having responsibility and initiative in regard to what you have done and can do to make the situation better!
I submit that, while racism is something intrinsic to human nature, it is and has been overcome with the taking of personal responsibility and the choice to do the right thing. However, because people do not always make the right choice, racism lives on. The problem is, claiming to be the victim of racism is not a substitute for taking responsibility for poor judgment. Yes, there are police officers that abuse their authority, but to suggest that there is some systematic plot by the criminal system that is putting more black males in prison than other races? That is ludicrous, and fails the Occam's Razor sniff test of which semi-regular readers of mine should know I'm fond. The more likely reason for the disproportionate rate of imprisonment is that blacks are statistically overrepresented in homicide and other violent crimes. For example, black-on-black homicides accounted for 40 percent of homicides from 1976-2005, as counted by the Department of Justice. In terms of black victims, 94 percent were killed by members of their own race. Does that not suggest that, for whatever reason, black males are more violent than their white counterparts? Perish the thought, that's a racist notion. Black males aren't killing other black males; it's the racism in the judicial system that is putting black offenders behind bars. Remember, the judicial system is an institution of the government, which as any good race-baiter knows, is run by rich, old, white people.
I don't mean to say that society's systems are not flawed. Society is created by humans, and humans are flawed beings. However, people are responsible for their actions and must realize this. Willpower, morality, common sense and responsibility are important parts of being a contributive member of society. Until people realize this, racism will continue to hold sway over today's world. However, the prevalence of racism is the prevalence of poor decision-making, and until people start making moral decisions, we'll be living in the shadow of the monument to racism ' our own lives.
Jesse Hathaway is a junior English major. Send him an e-mail at jh309105@ohiou.edu.
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Jesse Hathaway
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