So, while those who come after us will have access to more information, there's a huge part of the population who went through school without any idea that other stories ever existed.
It is the nature of all nation states to control and run government schools systems and to use them to propaghandize students with myth, misinformation, omission, and distortion that is favorable to the state. I was by no means limiting the sources of information to government controlled schools. The information was and is available in books, magazines, movies, television, radio, the internet, art, and even song (e.g.
Forbidden Fruit sung by Billie Holliday).
Yours,
Issodhos
2wins noted that you are making an assumption that people want to be 'educated' about race; he also said at the end that some people think it is enough to speak of humankind... I'm not sure if the linkage is intended, but if so that would be a pretty apt description of myself, especially the second part.
It's not that I do not
want to be educated; I do. It's just that I was raised with the ideal of colorblindness, that one should treat their fellow human with equal respect, without regard to race, gender, ethnicity, etc... given that assumption, why would I seek out books on 'how it is to be black'? I read the obligatory 'Black Like Me' in high school, but that was pretty much it. The one black kid in our high school was co-valedictorian; sure I knew of the past, but as far as I knew, that was ancient history (when you're 18, 10 years in the past seems ancient). When I went to college there were plenty of minorities everywhere, no racism
in sight, everything seemed colorblind as I was taught it should be. I met a few black friends, but it never seemed necessary to bring up race issues, so I didn't. The few that did come up were usually about affirmative action, as I mentioned before, because it was relevant to college life.
At the same time, there were others that
did resent affirmative action, not only because of the perceived unfairness but also compounded by the undercurrents of fear and prejudice, and which also made them more susceptible to overt racist speech (Aryan Nation, etc), but which would never be admitted. With such feelings, there is little doubt that that would result in racism; perhaps not quite overt, but racist nonetheless. As for people like me, although we would see colorblindness as the ideal, the ignorance of other people's perspectives serves as kind of a slap in the face to those who have to
live the consequences of racism, both overt and covert, every day, even today.
No, I am not going to assume responsibility for crimes I have not committed; and no I don't think they want to be seen, nor do I see them, as
victims; I think they simply want have the situation they face to be acknowledged so they will have some help in eliminating it.
But what I do take responsibility for is my ignorance; and that is the lesson that I think Pastor Wright (to some extent), and certainly Barack Obama have really been addressing... from my experience there is still a
lot of ignorance, beginning with myself and just about everyone I know in everyday life... whether the information is hidden or not is not really relevant.
So, yes, I think people like Wise and Wright and Obama are definitely needed to 'wake people up', even if they might not be addressing you.
