This entire post presents a plethora of issues that need
to be addressed, especially in a class in which power and privilege are
embedded in every discussion that we have. That being said, please don't take
anything I'm about to say as a personal attack against any one individual. I'm not
sharing my perspective in the sense that it is "right", but in the
name of moving towards mutual understanding.
1. The claims of racism in Hollywood are rooted in
systematic discrimination:
This may come as a surprise to some, but as Hollywood was
founded during a discriminatory time in American history, there were many
practices that actively discriminated against minority groups by not allowing
them roles in films, plays, or other methods of entertainment. We briefly
mentioned "black face" in class, which was a method used to liken
white actors to black people. The paint that was used was disrespectfully dark,
and their personification of black people was based on stereotypes that would
undoubtedly dehumanize them to anyone watching (e.g. “Birth of a Nation“). In
the case of Native Americans, there were often westerns that would depict them
in similar stereotypical racist ways. Fast forward to 2014, and the memories of
these practices still exist. When something is distinctively used as a method
to keep people in a place of subjugation, it is completely different than
Morgan Freeman playing a guy that was supposed to be Irish. People of color
have never systematically portrayed roles that were meant for white actors as a
way to perpetuate racism, so it is not the same thing.
2. The entire argument is predicated on the notion that
all races are on equal ground in America:
Racial equity has
never, nor does it currently exist in America. Most Americans cling to the
belief that "all men are created equal" and think that it somehow
means that everyone in this country is treated equally. This has never been
true, as the statement itself isn't even inclusive to women (and at the same
time there were things like slavery and manifest destiny which were
systematically wreaking havoc on people of other races). A country that has so
much racial inequity embedded in its history, culture, and way of life is
extremely unlikely to produce a society that flourishes with racial equity. While
public displays of blatant racism (e.g. KKK) are easy for most people to
recognize and deem morally wrong,
institutionalized racism and white privilege are much more difficult to detect
because they don’t originate from one distinct source. I know we would all like
to believe that all races are on the same level, because that would be awesome,
but they're not.
3. In order to be discriminated against, you have to be
made powerless:
Racism, sexism, heterosexism, subjugation, and
marginalization, are all things that require one group to have power in which
they use to systematically, intellectually, and recreationally oppress another
group. Therefore, a group that has no power cannot be racist, sexist etc.
towards the group that has power. In the case of race, minority groups cannot
be racist or systematically discriminate against whites in America. They can be
prejudiced and treat them as such, but largely, they don't have the power to
systematically oppress whites as they are the dominant race in the country (in
terms of political power, wealth, cultural capital etc.). Similarly, I can
never claim that a woman is sexist against men, as I am a male that benefits
from patriarchy every day. A woman may be biased towards me, but that's as far
as it goes because systematically I belong to the dominant group (men). Most of
us have identities that give us privilege, and if that is the case, they
simultaneously oppress other groups. Not that this is our fault, but
recognizing our privilege and not using it to demean the oppressed group is the
first step in reducing its effects. If we choose to ignore our privilege (i.e.
saying racism doesn't exist, or goes both ways), we perpetuate it by using it
to classify claims of oppressed groups as invalid (note that it's very
convenient when the dominant group has the choice to determine if the claims of
subjugated groups are even valid, but that's a whole other issue right there.).
4. “Why is all of this such a big deal?”
As I hope might be realized by this point in my response,
race matters, gender matters, sexuality matters etc. These are the foundations
of how many people see the world, and their perspectives and experiences
matter. For all of us, it might be uncomfortable and difficult sometimes to see
the world from a perspective different from our own, but we need to recognize
that people are different, and that it is a good thing. We may have similar
biological makeups on the inside, but our social contexts and experiences are
very different—that, matters a great deal. If we fail to recognize that
everyone's experience is valid, then we enter dangerous terrain where only the
experiences of the dominant groups get recognized. There is a reason that
history as we are taught in America is largely derived from the perspective of
white males, ignoring or leaving out the copious amounts of women and people of
color that have made valuable contributions as well. Adopting this view is
central for seeing humanity as it is (both good and bad) rather than seeing it
as what we think it should be, which is all too often the convenient way out.
