Well Informed 2.0: Racism

After reading this Facebook post, I couldn't help but feel disgusted by a man who decided to point out the obvious- an interracial couple were on a date. Rather than elbow his wife to show her something worthwhile, he directed his pure disdain for a race different from his own. At what age do people realize their own racist tendencies? For some, I don't think they ever do.

For the longest time, I truly believed that racism was just a thing of the past. My great grandpa was a racist, and I reasoned that hateful nature was left behind in the previous generations before me. I could not have been more wrong.

I feel as if a little prejudice is engrained in every single one of us, from the way we value a person's walk to how they speak. Can this divisive thinking be fixed? Unfortunately, I do not believe that is humanly possible. However, that does not suggest that we should all give in to our racist thoughts and excuse them. I think the first step is to identify our own prejudice. It's not enough to simply say, "Oh I don't mean to be racist but..." Although people use this as a buffer, it doesn't automatically imply that what they're about to say is in anyway acceptable. It is essentially the same as saying, "Don't take offense or anything but..." Of course, someone is usually going to take offense to whatever that person says even though  that weak disclaimer was used.