For some people, race is a concept that does not enter their minds on a daily basis. For others, race is a reality that affects their lives every second of the day—from walking on the street, to choosing a profession and a place to live. Throughout the decades, New York City and the nation as a whole has made great lengths to end racism: ending slavery and ending segregation. As far as we may have gotten on the legal spectrum regarding viewing people of all races equally, racism is still very real down in the real world.
Our mission was to dive into the world of black and white New Yorkers to see their perspectives on race as well as their experiences with racism. We first looked into the history of race in both the nation as a whole as well as New York’s history. We were able to use the past to ask questions and make predictions on the future. Will we continue to go on a path towards equality? Or will racism be too ingrained in the society for it to ever cease to exist? We then focused on current events regarding police brutality towards the black community. We focused on the Eric Garner case: first looking at the facts, then looking at two major newspapers that helped shaped the opinions of New Yorkers regarding the case. We noticed that just like the newspapers had differing opinions on what happened the day Eric Garner was killed, so did New Yorkers. Some New Yorkers saw what happened to Garner as a murder sparked by racism, while others saw it as an unfortunate event that happened to man with health problems who resisted arrest. These different reactions show peoples different ideas and views on racism in a drastic way. We then took to music and film to explore how pop culture reflects both race’s past and present. We saw how even a film like Do the Right thing, which was made decades ago, reflected the present in such an accurate way. We were able to see how little has changed in New York throughout the years.
Lastly and most importantly, we spoke with the people of New York, to see what they had to say about race and their experiences. We found that the black community felt that even if they did not experience racism explicitly, there were situations in their daily lives that effected them due to the color of their skin: from people crossing the street when they saw them, to not getting parts in a play because they were black. The white community on the other hand, had a lot less experience with racism, and thought that equality between the races was improving. We concluded that in order to truly understand and empathize with people who experience racism, people must delve in and attempt to stand in their shoes.
Merriam Webster’s definition of RACE is:
- a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics
- a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits
Although the definition is accurate, it leaves out the negative aspects of race and the resulting racism that stems from interacting and living with different races. After speaking to real people who’ve experienced real racism, we’ve concluded that the concept of race is not simply “black and white”, and that race and racism affect people in New York City in more ways than one.
The photo “We Can’t Breath” used for our website was taken from:
Rossi, Nickolas. “A LOOK BACK: I CAN’T BREATHE & WE CAN’T BREATHE.” BLACKOUT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. N.p., 4 Dec. 2014. Web. 1 May 2015.
