Not the “Whitest” Crayon in the Box!
By: Betsy Bonilla
In
the book Racism without Racist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva begins by pointing
out a few disparities between Blacks and dark-skin racial minorities in regards
to whites: blacks are three times more likely to be poor; earn 40% less; have
1/8 of whites net worth; have inferior education; treated badly; over charged;
and are more likely to be racially profiled by the police (“driving while black”).
So when I read the article “Preschool to Prison” by Jamelle Bouie it didn’t surprise
me that:
“According to data
released today by the Department of Education, black students are expelled at
three times the rate of white students. This extends all the way down to the
youngest kids; as the New York Times reports, “While black children make up 18
percent of preschool enrollment, close to half of all preschool children who
are suspended more than once are African-American.””
Yet
thinking about that that six year old girl who got arrested for “throwing a tantrum”
in kindergarten, makes me extremely upset. I find it hard to believe that there
was nothing more that grown adults could do besides hand cuff a six year old
girl. Their only reasoning and explanation for this not to be raciest is to
blame it all on the victim, the SIX YEAR OLD. This goes hand in hand with what
Bonilla-Silva considers part of color-blindness ideology:
“I have concluded that
whites have developed powerful explanations-which ultimately have become
justifications-for contemporary racial inequalities that exculpates them from
any responsibility for the status of people of color.” (2013:2)
No one wants to be labeled as racist so they try
their best not to look it. They use phrases and take actions that are racist,
but try to explain them to be something other than what they truly are. They make
excuses and justifications for the things they say and do in order to “wipe their
hands clean” of the racial inequalities that still occur today.
I remember the day that I first really realized
the color of my own skin. I was a victim that was blamed and paid for someone else’s
racist comments. It happened a long time ago and at the time I didn’t quite understand
the situation. I was probably in first grade, around 6 years old, playing at recess.
It’s not to say that I didn’t know that people are different and some are
darker than others. It’s that I didn’t know it mattered.
I lived
in a predominantly white neighborhood and well went to an all white school. I was
a chubby, dark skinned Mexican that spoke English as a second language. My two best
friends at the time were two white sisters that live just two houses down from
me. I still remember the first time we played tag with each other. We didn’t understand
what either of us was saying but we figured it out fairly quickly. I had my first
sleepless sleep over at their house and we only grew closer the older we got.
(Until I moved away)
Unfortunately
when I first moved in I was placed in a different school than they were. Then after
finally being in the same school, we were in different class rooms. So I had different
friends that I would play with at recess. One day there was a group of us
playing and a different neighbor began picking on me, trying to get me mad or laughed
at. (She always had something against me and not until I was older did I realize
what it was.) That day, in a circle of about four or five of us, after a few “harmless”
name calling (I was clearly winning) that she says “well you are a nigger.” At that
moment I had no idea what that term meant. But I knew it was bad by the way she
said it; a six year old with so much hate and “certainty”. My only comeback at
the time was “no I’m not, you are!” and in first grade you can’t beat that. So everyone
looked at her and said, “oooh” waiting for her to cry or say something back. (Obviously
she was the only one that knew what that meant.) She was so mad that she said “I’m
telling” and ran off to tell a teacher. In my mind I was trying to figure out
what she could possibly say to a teacher that would not incriminate her. I didn’t
actually say the bad word she had. (Yes, I actually had this though process)
Well
she told the teacher that I said a bad word, whispered something in her ear and
the teacher looked furious and grabbed me by the arm and told me to stand on
the wall till recess was over. I tried to explain and tell her what had
happened and that I didn’t even know what she had called me. The teacher wouldn’t
let me say two words and told me to keep quiet that I wasn’t allowed to talk.
After being on the wall for what seemed forever, trying to figure out what I had
done wrong, a different teacher came up to me and asked me what I was doing there
by myself. With tears swelling up in my eyes I said to her “I don’t know” all I
could do was point to the teacher that had sent me there. She went and had a discussion
with the other teacher. She quickly came back to me and asked me if I knew why I
was on time out. After briefly explaining, still not sure what I had done, this
time with tears down my face did she tell me that it was okay and wouldn’t happen
again; that I could go play.
When
I got home I remember asking my brother what “nigger” meant and after looking
at me with questioning concerned eyes, wanting to but not asking why, he told
me. I looked down at my arm and realized that I was darker then my best friend.
With that my brother gave me a half hug and told me it was okay, that me and
him where the same. (comparing arms) He then nudged me and started a game of
tag.
So I
completely agree Elias, that more people need to stand up to bullies that pick
on people because of the color of their skin or the different culture that they
were brought up in. Words sometimes cause pain and change the future of the
people hurt by them. We need to stop all forms of racism; Bonilla-Silva’s
frameworks, cultural racism, culturally based arguments that criticize a
minority group; the minimization of racism; that discrimination no longer
affects minorities' life chances.
Racism
is unfortunately very alive today. We see it when someone like Kwasi Enin gets into all eight Ivy League Schools.
We hear about his story not because that is awesome, but because he is black
and a lot of people seem to have a problem with that. Many, if not all, people
of color have obstacles that they have to go through starting at pre k and
people still have the audacity to
question someone of color getting into ALL 8 Ivy League Schools. All I have to
say is about that is maybe not the whitest but possibly the brightest! We have
to stop justifying racism and discriminating against people because of the
color of their skin. If we treat people of color as criminals in schools and
give them different, bad opportunities than their white peers, we will be
missing brilliant minds with in our society that could possibly create a better
tomorrow.
Work
Cited
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo, ed. 2010. Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism
and Racial Inequality in
Contemporary America. 3rd ed. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers,
Inc.
http://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/ViewPage.action?&repositoryName=&siteNodeId=515&ItemID=15527
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