University of Arkansas at Little Rock

6 Comments Add your own

• 1. Naijejah Lewis  |  February 26th, 2009 at 8:37 pm

  Although I don’t think it’s good to make assumptions about things like that, in some cases, I think you would just know. For example, if you’re in the work place and you think you’re being mistreated because of your race, look at your co-workers. Compare their credentials to your own, look at how hard they work compared to yourself and if you genuinely feel as though you are a better employee, attempt to speak to a supervisor. Of course you don’t want to accuse anyone of anything, but explain how you feel and try to get some clarity about the situation. Talking to someone, especially someone in power, may help you see aspects of the situation that you had not seen before.

• 2. Evelyn Gilkey  |  March 8th, 2009 at 9:51 pm

  I must admit this is a touchy subject to discuss,but it is good to speak out every now and then. Is is not hard to see that a person is beinging treated unfairly because of the color of their skin. If two people have the same education, and the Mexican American has more experiance, but the White American gets the job, that behavior kinda speaks for itself.

• 3. Joseph McElderry  |  March 16th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

  I think, to a certain extent, you should give the other person the benefit of the doubt. It’s easy to tie some sort of discrimination to race, because everyone can see the color of your skin. But maybe they sat you in the worst part of the restaurant because the other sections are closed, or full, or the waiter decided to handle only 4 tables that night long before you arrived, and when you did arrive, you would’ve filled the 5th table. So they placed you with another waiter in the worst part of the restaurant by coincidence, not because of skin color.

  Maybe the security guard at the front desk let the white man walk by but stopped to question the black man for some other reason. Maybe there’s something you don’t know. Maybe the white man walked out to the car to get something then came back in, so he had already been stopped by the guard and the guard knew he didn’t need to stop him again. So when you get stopped but the white man wasn’t stopped, maybe it’s not racism at all.

  I defended several teachers throughout high school that were accused of racism. My friends felt picked on because I could do the same thing they did (me being white, and them being black) without getting in trouble. They tied it to racism while I tied it to how frequently they harassed the teacher. I think I proved my point when pointing out that the teacher only got onto them, not onto all blacks. They weren’t discriminating against blacks, they were discriminating against that particular student. And we all know this is common. Who wants to help the student, regardless of race, that irritates you every class?

  I know I’m taking the typical “white guy” stance: I don’t see racism. But I think it’s important to avoid “crying wolf.” I won’t deny that racism occurs toward African-Americans and that it is more frequent than toward whites, but don’t overuse the “race-card.” It certainly doesn’t help when someone is accused of racism when they weren’t being racist (at least not intentionally). Save “the card” for true racism.

• 4. LaVerne Tolliver  |  March 20th, 2009 at 10:46 am

  This is a very stimulating discussion. I could actually see valid points that I would take from each person’s comments. One pointed out the need to think before reacting to something that appears to be obvious, while another cited the fact that some things are quite obvious. I would tend to agree more with the fact that, from my perspective of being an African American, some things feel quite obvious when I’m being mistreated. On the other hand, it’s helpful to see that there could be other factors that I would need to take under consideration before responding in either direction. I’ve heard the term “race card” mentioned several times recently. That seems to be the politically correct thing to say. It seems to me, however, that if I’m being mistreated, or even if I feel mistreated, the use of the term might minimize what I am saying. In fact, I think that might be an example of being treated unfairly. It’s too easy to state in order to not hear what I have to say.

• 5. Cheryl Kercheval  |  March 24th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

  I am cacasian but i am totally and permanently disabled thats why i’m taking on line classes living 174 miles away. i am bipolar with fatigue. i worked a jobs that loved me in the mania because i had high energy and fired me in the depression where i had low energy. places would discriminated me and after i graduate i’m afraid that a job wouldnt keep me because i would need excused absances. how would our new president handle our rightd because we get discriminated too.

• 6. Corey Thomas  |  March 31st, 2009 at 12:09 pm

  I find this discussion very intriguing. I have but a few comments.
  1) Acts of racism can be committed consciously and unconsciously. However, the conscious state does not diminish the results.
  2) The “race card” is nothing new. The “race card” was played in religion and in the community to justify the very foundation of our beloved America. Whether we want to admit it or not, the “race card” is the cost of admission in certain places and on certain levels. Some individuals may even go so far as to see it as a property right. Very interesting in deed.
  3) I know that I am being treated unfairly based on my race when there is no other reasonable explanation otherwise; especially when pretext is taken into consideration. The most interesting part of this point though is that for several years I have noticed that some African-Americans have begun to adopt the same behavior towards other African-Americans. Now how’s that for mental conditioning and irony?

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