Prior to this week’s input on racism, I felt as though I was already very aware of the discrimination felt in todays modern society. The lessons did, in fact, showcase the disgusting acts of violence that have occurred in the past towards people of colour. Stories about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. were told however more examples were added that I was not previously aware of. Examples such as the murder of Emmett Till strengthened my understanding of the hate crimes that occurred in the past.
In addition to this, we were shown images and examples of racism in our home country, the UK. Although racism obviously occurs here as well, it is much more often that I hear of racism in countries such as the United States of America. It was very interesting to realise that these stories are not just news articles from far away countries but in fact strike close to home and are still incredibly relevant in 2017 Britain. I had not previously read about the racist slogan used by a politician in the 1960 election for example.
The video clip of Charlottesville, USA, attached below truly opened my eyes to the hate crimes occurring to this day. For me, it can be easy to think of this degree of hatred and racism to be a thing of the past but the horrific scenes shown this year made me much more aware. It is bizarre to see that such backwards white supremacist groups such as the KKK still exist and operate in the modern world. It is disgusting to this there are people in this day in age that cannot see the world from a more open-minded perspective. It saddens me to see that in 2017, there are still groups of people out there that feel that other human beings are lesser due to the colour of their skin.
As a white person, racism is not something I typically have to deal with and due to that I feel as though I can never completely comprehend the way it feels to be faced by that level of discrimination in everyday life. In the reading material for this week’s input, the below TED talk was attached. I found this video particularly interesting as it gave an insight into the life of a black man growing up in America, which very much contrasted that of my experience in Scotland. The way he talks about not being able to “act the same as his white friends” is upsetting and an idea I had never had to think about previously. It’s as though I am sometimes ignorant to the struggles faced by other races as I do not have to face them myself. I am hopeful that with groups such as the Black Lives Matter movement that change will come and that racism and discrimination will one day be a thing of the past.
