Today's racial climate is terrible. America is currently managing to excel in categories we should never have been involved in the first place. America currently kills its own citizens at rates 70 times more than other First-world nations. At the current moment, America has little to be proud in terms of how we handle major problems. We must first learn that these problems need to be recognized and addressed, because as long as we pretend they do not exist, nothing will be done about them. From this failure to address important issues in the United States and talk about them openly (without taking personal offense), many stereotypes are perpetuated and false information is spread. Here is a simulated question and answer session I formed to openly address common questions White people have regarding Black people and race relations.

• I have been oppressed before and I'm white. What about me?

First of all, I think we need to get some things clear. Oppression is not the same as being made fun of. Oppression is defined as prolonged cruel or unjust treatment, or the exercise of authority or power in a manner that is cruel or unjust. Someone making fun of you because you wear glasses is not oppression. Someone considering you as less than a person, or even property because an authority actually claimed you as such, is oppression. If we want to compare the two, well, I would rather be called “four-eyes” over being told that I am worth as much as a chair any day. On top of that, our oppression has managed to change forms, of course today we are not being told that we are property, but instead we separate beauty products for people of color, write history books that tell us that slaves were working immigrants, and refuse to hire people of color due to cultural hairstyles and skin color. This is not about who has it worse or that someone made fun of you, but trying to enlighten the fact that there is an entire race of people being treated differently for simply existing

• Well aren’t you only disadvantaged if your poor and black? or I am/grew up poor so what about MY oppression?

Yes, I am, we live in a society where simply due to the color of your skin you are asked to show extra identification at a cash register while your White counterparts are not. You are still stopped by Campus Security at your own institution, wearing their apparel, and the officer still asks if you go to school there while he takes your license plate number, as you just watched your White friend’s mom drive onto campus without question. No one asks what kind of car you drive, or how much money you make when the first thing they see is the color of your skin. As to your “oppression” in whatever manner you may feel it, my answer is Black Lives Matter. As in, since poverty and homelessness is a major problem in America, maybe you should do something about it instead of using another detriment to our society as a counter-argument. White people have created and can create movements too, your sentiments as an oppressed white person just does not fall under the description of Black Lives Matter. If you start your own movement to help the poor, I am sure Black Lives Matter and I would support it.

• Well isn’t going to college/ getting a job a lot easier for you? Won't you take my job due to affirmative action?

No. Nah. Nope. Affirmative action was created to close the gap that has already expanded due to white privilege and systematic racism that has been instilled in our major institutions. I recommend you watch the MTV Documentary ‘White People,” (linked below) where their host factually explains that white people in fact receive 70% of scholarships given, and that if you are white, you are 40% more likely to receive a scholarship. This also applies to the job market, where Black people with Bachelor’s degrees make about the same amount of money as White People without degrees.

• Where do you find all the statistics for your points?

Google. You?

• Well what about Black on Black crime?

Ohhhh let me tell you about what I call the cycle of our societal insanity, see we have these systems set up in out society, that rotates in the most absurd circles possible. See, we have cops who patrol only Black neighborhoods which are previously sectioned out due to red lining (which in itself is discriminatory and somehow legal). Most Black men who are caught have prior crimes, which means that after their first crime, no matter how small, they are put into this cycle of joblessness. This is because a Black man with no priors has equal opportunity in the job market as a white man that went to jail for a month, so how do you think the same Black man with a criminal record would fare? So, lets see, we have a man with no job, a minor criminal record, with no way to make money legally. His most logical option at that point may be to do something illegal, these men still have families to take care of, and he is likely to go to jail again, because our system wont give him a legal job. And please, don’t be confused, both Whites and Blacks commit the same number of crimes, Black on Black crime isn’t novel, the cops just don’t patrol your side of town.

• What about the BLACK man who just killed 11 police officers?

Well, what about Philando Castile? What about the white man who fires shots in a church? People do bad things regardless of color or creed. The man who did that was wrong, but this man has also just developed a hatred based on the fact that the people who are supposed to protect him, have killed 136 of us already this year. Frankly, I am just as upset at this man as you are, this man has not only ruined his life and placed a burden on his family, but his actions and media coverage of it have completely negated the fact that Alton Sterling and Philando Castile have died, and that violence, is obviously not the answer.

*This was made to facilitate a conversation while also giving answers to some questions I have heard come about repeatedly. If you have other questions that you want a my/a general perspective on it, comment below, just leave the hostility at the door.

Sources:

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/police-kill-citizens-70-times-rate-first-world-nations/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action_in_the_United_States

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/27/racial-education-gap_n_5537530.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf9QBnPK6Yg

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-people-killed-by-police-america_us_577da633e4b0c590f7e7fb17

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/09/study-black-man-and-white-felon-same-chances-for-hire/

MTV Documentary: White People

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zjj1PmJcRM