Speaking to Queens College student Kent Williams, Kent was able to bring us into the world of a black male. Sitting down with Kent, we expected to hear him tell stories of how he or other black people he knows were stopped by the police, or called racial slurs. Yet Kent showed us a deeper view of racism and how simply being black can affect him on a more daily level. Kent is an actor, and sometimes he found that, due to the color of his skin, he was unable to attain roles for a play. He said,
“I act, when I did fiddler on the roof, there was nothing for me to do”
Speaking to Kent really shed light on how race can affect people in even such mundane things as getting a role in a play.
He also claimed that although we have come a long way in regards to race equality, there will always be racism. He says, “racist tendencies in this country, theyre always underlying, theyre always there”. Yet Kent believes that there are things that people who are actually affected by racism can do to lessen it. He says,
“when you don’t adhere to the stereo types, theres nothing for people to bother you about”
He says that because he himself “does not adhere to the stereotypes”, that it may be the reason why he never really experienced direct racism from the police or from other people.
“[racism] doesn’t have to be what we consider negative… it comes in many forms”
He explained this by saying that sometimes white people with good intentions can end up being racist by attempting to help the black community. He says,
“[white people] feel the need to help us out because we cant do it ourselves—and that’s racism within itself”
Just the fact that white people come to the aid of black people and give them a voice shows an inequality that exists in our society.
Regarding the Eric Garner case, Kent was not surprised that the police used a chokehold that ended up killing Garner. Instead, he was actually surprised that it got as much attention as it did. Although he says “it had everything to do with him being black”, he personally saw it as a man killing another man, and chose not to put race labels into the picture.
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An interview with another Queens College student, Dwayne Heppard, brought a new perspective on the racism felt by a black male in America. When asked about his difference in passion and reaction to the Eric Garner case, as opposed to that of Michael Brown, Dwayne confessed that he would not have expected something like that to happen in his own home, New York.
“Definitely, because New York [is a] diverse [state, well city]. New York City, specifically. We have a lot of immigrants and so I would feel like we wouldn’t be as racist in New York, and that black people would get justice. And it made me feel like, you know, this really could happen to me, because it happened to someone in New York.”
When the question arose about whether or not there was anything he could do to lessen the chances of this tragedy happening to him, Dwayne was quick to respond that he should make an effort to fly under the radar.
“I feel like I can lessen my chances by doing the right thing. … You can lessen your chances by just abiding by the law, you know, just keeping you head down.”
After realizing that many of the men killed were not deemed to be criminals until after they were murdered, Dwayne admitted that he felt devastated.
“It’s overwhelming. Just to be black, you’re going to be targeted by cops. Regardless. So, it’s overwhelming. It’s scary. And it’s just sad, because the very people who are supposed to protect us are making us feel afraid.
Speaking with Dwayne, it became clear that racism is much more prominent in New York than it meets the eye. Unfortunately, being black puts a target on someone’s head, even in a place as diverse as New York. There really is nothing a black male can do to prevent dying like this.
In an interview with a white student, David Fischer, the side of white male is seen. The level to which he has experienced racism in his life is much lower than the two black males. This highlights the one of the huge gaps between whites and blacks. There is an oblivious nature when it comes to white people as they usually don’t experience racism and therefore lack the personal edge of black people when talking about race and racism.
When asked what racism is, he said,
“It is not accepting the various nuisances that are part of the different cultures. By small nuisances, I mean small attributes or different aspects of different cultures that are hard to describe, I guess. Or it is hard to describe why they’re different.”
When asked about how racism manifests itself and if you can have race without racism, he said,
“I think it manifests itself by basically, preconceived notions and assumptions about people. It manifests itself in the media, in neighborhoods, societies, and communities. I think it depends speaking about having race without racism. I think we can learn from each other. I never think that we can have race without racism. I think we need to be on the same wavelength and understand each other at a practical level and communicate with each other in way that we can both relate to, so that we can understand each other.”
The topic of reverse discrimination is a weird one for white people, as they usually don’t know how to respond sometimes when asked about it. When asked if black people can be racist, he said,
“Well they have been the most oppressed right? But I guess they can. I think that they have definitely been oppressed and looked down upon in history. So I think that they can’t be racist, but at a contemporary standpoint they can be I guess.”
This part is the biggest gap between blacks and whites. When asked if he had ever experienced racism directed at himself, David bluntly said,
“I have had none really.”
When asked about what can be done about race and racism and whether they are possible to get rid of, he said,
“Well for one thing, I think there are a lot of things we can do. But for one thing, we can definitely try and see the various similarities between the different races and don’t make assumptions about people based on gossips and preconceived notions and really analyze thoroughly what we are looking at so we can fully understand what we are trying to understand about cultures. (So is it possible to get rid of, generally speaking?) I think in time it can change, but it needs to be the effort of the people to understand each other, and it is never going to happen until people do that.”
It is interesting to see what white people know about the Eric Garner case, as many whites probably don’t know much about it because it isn’t of great concern to them. David echoed this feeling of indifference, when he said,
“I don’t know much about it but I don’t think they should have choked him I thought that was a little bit extreme.”
Then, finally when asked about if there is a possible change regarding racism in the years to come in NYC, David said,
“Well, I see that NYC is a very diverse place and that there are a lot of different forms of racism going on. If people don’t understand their differences and learn from them and really analyze them and not be racist, then racism will continue to make itself prevalent in NYC if there isn’t change.
From the standpoint of a white male college student, there are definitely problems with racism that might not have solutions or might have solutions that will take a while to fix. Due to the fact that this student is white and hasn’t been on the affected side of racism, he tends to define racism generally and not pertaining to a specific group or groups. This is juxtaposed with the black students who mostly single out whites and blacks when asked about racism. Whites tend to be more indifferent or apathetic towards race and racism and blacks take on a more personal statement regarding race and racism.
For an academic perspective on race, we spoke with Professor Melissa Checker of Queens College; she is a well versed scholar on the topics of social injustice and social movements. When asked to define race she said it was important to break race down into two categories. The first kind being individual racism in which
“personal discrimination is based on who somebody is…judgmentalcall based on how they look or certain characteristics.”
The second kind being a more structural racism
” that obstructs people from moving forward in their lives or getting access to resources that usually people who are considered white don’t have…a systemic barrier.”
According to Professor Checker criminal justice system experiences a combination of the two aspects of racism.
She went on to say that
“there is only one race…its possible that two people of the same skin color have more genetic difference than two people of different skin colors”.
She gets down to the cause of racism; it’s a matter of financial opportunity.
“A lot of what happens with racism has to do with privilege…people try to hold on to privilege. If you experience less extreme privilege than you have less of a need for extreme racism. It has to do with economic inequality and access to political leadership and power. If that were evened out more there would be less of a need for discrimination.”
Despite this we still experience race with an oppressed population. Dr. Checker explains this by saying
“Even if you’re marginalized as one of the people on the bottom mark of society you want to distinguish yourself a little bit higher than some other group. The way to avoid that is access to economic stratification.”
Professor Checker highlighted that beyond the brutality that occurs there are injustices that occur while they’re in prison in terms of their rights being taken away and furthermore they experience great difficult reentering mainstream economy after being released from prison.
At the time of the Eric Garner case she was teaching a class on inequality and wanted to discuss it with her students.
“On a personal level, I found it incredibly horrifying and sad. Mostly just tragic and awful…hard to even think about. The responses have been exciting because this thing has been going on [totally messed up justice system]. Police brutality is just one level of it in the criminal justice. Interaction between police and members of black communities is something that needed to be addressed for many, many years. The amount of power that the police have been given, to act as they want and feel immune. Hopefully there will be something good that comes out of all these tragic cases.”
Is there hope? It appears to me that economic stratification and a natural desire to be superior is not something that can be eliminated from a society. Despite this Professor Checker has hope particularly because of the increase of liberals in political positions.
“Yes. Things are changing. They are not changing as fast as I would like to see them…When Obama got elected a lot of people thought that that was gonna signal a huge change. Incredible to think that a man who looks black got elected but did not change a lot of the systemic problems that we have. A lot of the ways that racism is structured into our criminal justice system and education system and all these ways that these systems work against people of color. I’m hoping there will be more awareness…In terms of attitudes.”
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