Eduardo
Bonilla-Silva, what can I say about this man? Well, for one when he is
passionate about something or feels strongly about a certain topic or issue he
makes it known in his writings. In his book Racism
Without Racists he address of course race and its effect on society. He
discusses how most people, mainly whites, do not want to be viewed as racist or
discriminatory against another race and how they blame minorities for their
situations and try to play it off as laziness and “living in the past.” Bonilla-Silva
also discusses abstract liberalism in which white people try to appear
reasonable and moral by framing race related in the language of liberalism, all
the while opposing almost all practical approaches to deal with de facto racial
inequality. Programs that will assist the black community such as Affirmative
Action are looked at negatively amongst whites and are seen as an unfair
advantage which is the pot calling the kettle black if you ask me. There is white
privilege all around us and they are complaining about unfair advantages
amongst blacks?
Bonilla-Silva also discusses the style of color blindness
and how people talk negatively about minorities without trying to sound racist.
Dropping statements like “I am not prejudiced, but…”, “some of my best friends
are…” and my absolute favorite “I’m not black, so I don’t know.” These kinds of
statements are usually used in settings when they are saying a racist comment
or statement and in an attempt to disguise it as not being a racist person,
they use statements like those.
There was a part in this book that talked about how
African Americans should stop dwelling on the past and to move forward. That is
quite the statement to say about a race of people that were oppressed for
years, endured physical and mental abuse, and still faces racism and
discrimination today; but they should just look past it all, right?
Now the section on white segregation is a subject I could
go on about all day, but I really don’t feel like tying an eight page paper on
that so I will be brief. White segregation is when white people separate
themselves from a race of people. People say that Black people separate
themselves because of reasons like comfort and familiarity, when in actuality
Whites actually experience higher levels of social and spatial isolation than#
blacks. Whites high levels of social and spatial segregation and isolation from
minorities creates what he labels as “white habitus” which is “a racialized,
uninterrupted socialization process that conditions and creates whites racial
taste, perceptions, feelings and emotions and their views on racial matters.” A
consequence of this isolation is it promotes a sense of group belonging (a
white culture of society) and negative views about nonwhites. White segregation
varies as well. It ranges from avoiding certain parks or restaurants to
changing your place of residence. It is why there is such a large number of
whites in the suburbs in America and more minorities in the inner city. Many
whites actively use white segregation whether they realize it or not. If you
are white and reading this, just think about it. Where do you live or plan on
living once you grow up?
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