Racial Prejudice Today

This past week in class, we watched “Jungle Fever,” which, among other themes, explores some negative aspects of interracial dating. We also had a guest in class, Mr. Miescanszki, who told of some of his life experiences, considering the fact that his mother is black and his father is white. These two experiences, in addition to two articles we read, combined to provide a very complete picture for me of what it meant to be a black person in America for the past one or two decades. Perhaps this demonstrates my naievté, but in my mind, the part of America in which I currently live is a relatively unprejudiced place, trained to not see color, and to accept people as simply people, and not as black or white. However, the anecdotes provided in this week’s class changed my opinion. At the very beginning of this course, we spoke of the difference between tolerance and acceptance. Though we were talking about homosexuality, I believe that this concept also applies to race. You can be tolerant of a race other than your own; for example, you can allow people who are not your race to participate in the same activities that you do. However, in order to fully accept them, you need to more than just allow them to participate in activities; you need to embrace their culture, respect their belief systems, and, in essence, not see their race as a distinguishing factor, but as a defining factor; it is not something that makes black people different, but is simply something that makes black people who they are. Mr. Reeves told a story this week of how he, another black teacher, and a group of black Thacher students were essentially prevented from sitting where they wanted to in a restaurant for no other discernable reason than the color of their skin. Racial discrimination is not something that I consider to be especially prevalent in our country at this point in time; the election of a black President (even if he is only half black) should support that claim. However, it is in small instances like the situation that my teacher experienced that demonstrate that even though we may claim to be a mostly unprejudiced nation, the roots of prejudice run deep, and perhaps may never be eradicated. In “Jungle Fever,” which was made in the late 80s/early 90s, we see the tremendous struggle that interracial couples undergo because of prejudice. We must remember that this movie was simply not made that long ago. Yes, interracial dating is becoming more common, but it is still not widespread and/or completely accepted everywhere. Though we certainly have come a very long way in racial tolerance, I believe that we could come a bit farther in racial acceptance, as evidenced by Mr. Reeves’ experience.