While Dr. Johnson was discussing Herder, I found
that what Herder was saying was, honestly, a bold move for someone who was
living in the 18th century. In reference to white
and black relations he said “You should not oppress him, nor murder from him:
for he is a human being just as you are…” While a considerable amount of this
essay would be something that a person who believes we are in a post racial
state in the 21st century would say, considering
the time period, and who he was taught by, I believe Herder was a pretty decent
fellow, but does that still apply today?
Currently, we live in a world
where some individuals believe “color doesn’t matter,” but it does. It actually
matters so much that it influences hate crimes, hate speech and ridiculous
“prevention measures.” There are children having to go out of their way to make
sure that they can make it home safely to their parents. Black children,
especially males, are taught at an early age to keep their hands out of their
pockets, don’t run, don’t wear a hoodie, don’t “look guilty” basically don’t
give the police what they would call a “reason” for them to do something.
In this article, many parents of black children
describe the hardships of having to tell their children what to do, to
basically be invisible to the police because they don’t want their children to
be Trayvon Martin or Mike Brown. In actuality, walking while black has become
more dangerous every day.
In summary, being “colorblind” really does
nothing except for denying the real misfortune that black individuals face
every day of their lives. Colorblindness ignores the suffering that every black
male must go through while walking the streets wondering if they may get pulled
over, arrested, or killed. It disregards the fact that there are so many
families having to live the rest of their lives without their children there at
Thanksgiving or Christmas. All in all, the attitude that Herder expressed for
the 18th century was quite well meaning, but for the 21st
century is shows a lack of acknowledgment to the issues faced consistently.
Quite right. America is kind of funny in the sense that it knows being racist is wrong (for the most part) so it loudly proclaims that it isn't while doing shady things on the side. It makes racism hard to fight because people straight up refuse to admit that what they just said was disgustingly racist. "It was just a joke!" "It's just my opinion, jeez, you don't have to take it so seriously," and of course, "I'm not racist, but..." At least with an outright racist you know where you stand, but it's often hurtful and shocking to hear these nasty things come out of the mouths of your friends, colleagues and family members. It's too late to erase the concept of race from our collective memory. Perhaps we wouldn't have to deal with all of this quite as badly if people had paid attention to Herder when the time was right. Now we can only focus on accepting all races instead of erasing them.
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