Today’s Racism

Peer into social shadows. You might not like what you see. You might even shut your eyes and pretend it’s not there. Hate is subtle and hard to perceive. Whether or not you see it depends on your sense of awareness. What you decide to do about it depends on your bravery.

In the 60s, Martin Luther King Jr. led the march against racism. That’s when Hate’s child died, wasn’t it? No, Racism was only wounded by his social awareness vaccine. Like a persistent strain of a flu virus, it adapted and changed form, continuing to plague every city, if only in hushed, shadowy shapes which are difficult to grasp; an unmentionable phantom that suffocates minorities with disdainful stares in crowded restaurants. Today, in isolated whispers, minority children are still told that they can’t be the “princess” or the “good guy,” the cheerleader or the quarterback. There is a common belief that racism is no longer a threat, so no one is watching for it. Others feel that race isn’t the issue at all, but a socioeconomic chasm that separates the fearing, protecting haves from the groping, struggling have-nots who retain a culture all their own.

“There are still many people who don’t see racial injustice,” said Dr. Velda Vela-Trujillo, Chairwoman of the Racial Justice Committee who conducted a survey and found that many in her city admit racial relations to be “so-so.” “They don’t see it simply because it hasn’t hit them, not because it’s not there.” “There still is a problem,” said Dr. Alan Hansen, Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, Texas. “We still have kids going into stores and clerks following them around for no reason. Racial discrimination usually involves issues of social class. Most of the time, when we think we’re talking about racial differences, we’re actually talking about socioeconomic, educational and cultural differences.”

Many older minorities have tasted the bitterness of racial bias, but that isn’t the only discrimination they face. Misery loves company and racism isn’t alone. It is mimicked by discrimination against those of the lower economic levels. In this competitive world, people of all races try to “keep up with the Joneses” in the quality of homes, education, vehicles, clothing and jobs. Jealousy often sparks the rat race to the dollar bill. The major distinction among many metropolitan areas is more socioeconomic and territorial than a question of race, said Corpus Christi native Mark Aguirre. “I haven’t seen much racial discrimination, but I have seen discrimination against people without much money, against some guy from the Westside in his wife beater and dickeys. If you go to the store with your family, you’ll watch out for someone that looks like they don’t have any money. Everything depends on money, how you were brought up and what side of the city you live in. Race doesn’t matter. Hispanics even discriminate against other Hispanics because of social status, between those that have money and those that don’t.”