I keep trying to be hopeful that we will begin to grow again as a society instead of getting even more bogged down in trying to pretend that we are free of racial prejudice in the US. I know so many white people who honestly believe that everyone has all of the privileges they do because we all live in the same country. Far too many of my white friends have no concept of the level of privilege being white has afforded them without any effort on their part. Unfortunately, they also do not feel any reason to even look at how others are not afforded the benefits of being white. I am convinced that, within the next two generations, power now held primarily by a shrinking white majority will begin to slip away. Then, when whites are both ethnic and economic minorities, they will begin to feel what it is like to be denied what they have grown to think of as their natural right to be in control and to set social and economic standards. Unfortunately, most of those who now have "privilege" can't see that they will have to start looking at the world differently and to find ways to understand and respect people of all cultures so that everyone can advance together. Developing that understanding and respect would surely be better than continuing to contribute to even more misunderstanding and distrust.
I understand the frustration that anybody feels when they see their orderly world upset by having to accommodate others who have different beliefs and customs. My own travels around the US and the world, however, have convinced me that most people, no matter how different they appear from us on the surface, want the same things we want for ourselves and our families. They are often attracted to the US because they see opportunities here to build the kinds of lives they are unable to build in their own countries--just like the Europeans who came to the US in the 1500's and 1600's and became the dominant culture of the New World. In doing so, these new "Americans" nearly completely displaced the existing, ancient cultures that already existed in the Americas. The only major group who ever came to the US without individually choosing to come here were the African slaves who were used to develop the land and the wealth of much of the American South--wealth they were not allowed to develop for themselves. In fact, African slaves were a repository of much of the wealth in the South, and their liberation (and therefore forfeiture of that wealth) was probably the major reason emancipation was so feared that a Civil War was fought to retain the institution of slavery. And slavery was only possible, morally, if slaves were seen as the equivalent of animals rather than as people. It was a punishable offense to teach slaves to read and write; allowing them to do so would be proof that they were as intelligent as their owners--and any new ideas they might learn from reading might make them less willing to tolerate the deplorable conditions that most African slaves endured. History tells us that there were also white people who served as "indentured servants" to fill out debts or criminal sentences in the colonies. Yet, although perhaps undereducated, they were able to begin their lives anew once out of servitude partly because they were not black. Their whiteness gave them a kind of privilege that no black person has ever enjoyed in the white community in the US.
It has been interesting to me to see the difference in attitude of African-Caribbean people from the African-American populations. My sense is that there was a greater acceptance of people of all "colors" in the Caribbean because most people there were a mixture of ethnic groups due to the smaller populations of the various islands and therefore the greater intermarriage among cultures. Although slavery existed in the Caribbean, it seemed to allow a different, more inclusive, development rather than the separation of the "races" and, therefor the ability to maintain the myth that African slaves were not truly "people."
Many myths were developed to justify the treatment of black slaves, including that they were lazy, stupid, violent, incapable of learning, uncaring about their families and children, and had no sense of community; this justified the need for the owners to "oversee" and "guide" them. Because one can't expect to use reason on unreasoning beasts, one needed to use force and manipulation through fear. In my experience, many of the ideas the white slave owners had are still held by some white people today--often unconsciously and unexplored. It is far easier to deal with any group other than one's own by deciding they are so different that they can never be understood and aren't worthy of being understood. We are "us" and they are "them" and we don't need to deal with "them" other than to try to keep them in their place(s).
We are nowhere near being a post-racial society in the United States. Since President Obama was elected, my e-mail inbox has been inundated with racially themed comments, stories and jokes about him and his wife and family. It is clear to me that many white people see him as unworthy of having ever been elected as President because he is a black man (even though he is bi-racial). It appears to me that much of his political opposition is based on his ethnicity rather than his policies. He is also being accused of being isolationist and unwilling to work with the very members of Congress who have shown nothing but disdain and disrespect since the night that it was clear he would be elected as President. Why would anybody want to work with a group of people that have made it clear from the outset that they feel you don't deserve the Presidency and that have refused to accept any of your ideas as relevant? Their attitude reflects the very essence of unexamined white (male) privilege.
We have many problems that need to be addressed in this country-far too many to even enumerate here. There are many roadblocks to achieving a country where everyone has an even shot at success. My sense is that having much of our government run by old white men is probably the major hurdle to jump. Getting young people and political moderates to vote and otherwise participate in government is another. Nothing will really change until the entrenched "old guard" is relegated to a place in history. As discouraged as I sometimes become, I still have the benefit of having lived for over 7 decades and I know that change is inevitable. At this point, I am fairly content to just watch to see how history unfolds...and write these occasional musings...and hope.