Racism: Is Black Vs. White the Only Issue?

Anyone living in America that still has a problem with another race should stop what they are doing right now and go look at a calendar. It is 2007 and America has become a huge melting pot with several different races being mixed together. There is no reason why racism should still be an issue, but because it is, we should definitely look at how it is addressed. Is the issue of racism addressed in the same manner across the board or is it just a Black and White issue? Let’s take a look at the most current issue all over the news with Don Imus and his comments.

There are plenty of people who have said far worse things than what Don Imus said about the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University. I do agree with the decision to remove him from the radio show because it wasn’t right, but this issue shouldn’t be as big of an issue as the media has made it out to be. If Don Imus had said something similar about another race, let’s say Koreans, it would not be as much hoopla over what he said. It probably would not have even made the news. But, because he’s white and the girls are black, Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have to step in a form a protest. Not that it matters, but I am a black female who happens to be a graduate of Rutgers University, so by no means am I taking sides. I just have a problem with the fact that too often we end up looking like the poor victimized black people because one white person did something wrong. If we take a look at it from another perspective, let’s say Don Imus was Puerto Rican, it most likely would not be as big of an issue as it is.

Many of us, no matter what race, are offended everyday by what we see and hear in media. I think that there should be a uniform law regarding any racial comments, slurs, or actions made by anyone publicly, regardless of what race the person is who is making the delivery. I heard someone say that though, it is true we should take a stand with every racial issue, no other race has gone through as much as blacks have gone through. In general, he may be correct, but as individuals that doesn’t hold true. There could be a Polish person living in an area with predominately black people and that Polish person has to hear racial slurs everyday. Whereas, a black person living in whatever area, never has to hear a racial slur directed to him/her.

We should address every racial issue in the same manner regardless of the race of the offender and the offended. It will be a long time before we can ignore the race issue until then, we need to handle it much better than we are handling it now.