The people that don’t need to, will read this book and nodding heads will reverberate through that echo chamber. The ones that are unfamiliar with the perspective will see the title and dig their heels in harder. Ah, modernity is playing out well.
I picture racism is as similar to sexism. It’s a lack of understanding/belief of the problem from the more powerful group that is unaffected.
My brother wonders why I would be concerned about a homeless guy cornering me on the subway asking for change. He doesn’t understand how much scarier that is for a woman than a man and he never will because he doesn’t have the perspective to see the difference.
She went to university and was completely unaware of her country’s brutal history. So up until that point her life was not filled with messages of racism it seems, so she’s made it her mission to find them and get angrier about an existence that is not hers it seems.
Analyzing racism for any reason is even a bigger one. It’s like the weather, it’s always changing and will always be with us in one form or another. For now, it’s less prevalent than at any time in our history regardless of race. Not much to discuss.
My thoughts after reading this comments section: on the one hand, to dismiss the idea of institutional racism as some left-wing hoax is ridiculous, but on the other hand it would be kind of silly to expect guilt from someone who was genuinely ignorant of what’s going on.
It’s obviously a different story when people don’t open their minds to testimony that challenges their perceptions, which is the frustration that this book (based on those article) seems to be addressing. In some ways both ‘sides’ are making this issue perhaps more complicated than it needs to be. Respect and compassion should be our common denominators, even in the cases where we feel (legitimately or otherwise) that those pillars of constructive discourse are not being reciprocated.