Tackling Racism: Harder Now than Before?

Back in the 1800's, white men would put black make up on their face and mock Black people by imitating the stereotypes surrounding them. The white audiences loved the vulgar humor and probably didn't think much about what they were seeing and doing. Clearly these barbaric and pathetic practices by those white people are completely racist and show a deep disconnect between white people and their sensitivity. The blackface shows stopped being so popular in the 1960's after the Civil Rights Act, or did they?

Today, racist beliefs are transmitted through the media and pop culture 24/7. Whether we realize it or not, we all internalize those ideas but it doesn't make you racist to have internalized them. Looking back at history and coming to terms with the fact that we live in a de-facto seggregated society gives you clarity and awareness about racism in America. Although we like to believe that America isn't racist anymore because we have an African American president, it's simply not true. We are in a state of self denial about how racist we really are making it, in a way, a harder subject to deal with than it was in the 1960s when racism was publically expressed and therefore more tangible. I would've really hoped that white people got over the degrading and flat out wrongness of blackface shows, yet clearly we haven't learned our lesson. Fraternities across the country, the very large Beta Theta Pi and Delta Sigma Phi included, throw so called "ghetto parties" in which a bunch of white people get together and pretend that they're "thugs, gangstas, hustlas, and pimps" by painting their faces black depicting the African American stereotypes surrounding those characters. Photos have emerged of white frat members in KKK costumes hanging blackfaced frat members at these parties. Since when is lynching a funny subject? I am absolutely revolted by these ignorant actions. Do 18-22 year old university students really need to be reminded of the golden rule we learned way back in pre-school? Some of those frat members are Jewish. What if instead of blackface the christian frat members showed up as Hitler, a nazi, and a prosthetic-nosed Jew being executed by a firing squad to a "Holocaust" themed party? Some of the frat members are christian. What if Jewish members decided to throw an "Old Testament Party" and all dressed as Romans and crucified a fake Jesus? I bet some of those boys would be offended by that. The blackface ghetto parties are no different from the ideas behind these hypothetical parties. We've all been the target of steretypes, dehumanization, and have horrific histories of being persecuted for things as superficial as the way our noses look, how big our lips are, and how firmly we believe in one or multiple gods. These white frats are making the detrimental mistake of assuming its ok to make fun of Black people. It's not, you are no better than anyone else in this country. At one point or another in history, you would've been at the butt of that "joke" too, so learn how to be a decent human being and not even go there. I don't know if it was the University's fault for not setting high enough standards of tolerance on campus, the parent's fault for not teaching those boys the significant damage of racist behavior, or the boys themselves for acting out of ignorance. Then again, maybe it's our society's fault for not properly teaching us our own histories and reinforcing racist beliefs without ever admitting to doing it...