Written in response to the article "Is the Color of My Skin Fair?" by An Anonymous UWEC Student, which appeared in The Flip Side Volume 1, Issue 8 (March 17th - 30th, 2004).I must admit, I am not surprised by the feelings of the anonymous author who wrote, "Is the Color of My Skin Fair?" Our University has a 2% strong racial minority population and most students in attendance grew up in cities with similar make ups. While I was not surprised by the position, it angers me.
The basic argument of the article is uneducated. I get the impression that the author has never been the victim of racism. She has probably not been forced to think about her skin color. To use the aforementioned overly PC terms, people of European decent rarely think about their skin color as they go throughout their day. They don't think about it as they walk into class or step into a store to meet their friend's parents. I'd bet the only time most white people think about their whiteness is when they are the only white person in a room, and how often does this really happen in Wisconsin? Now, imagine you are a person of color who attends a campus which is 98% white.
It gets better; this campus is in Northern Wisconsin, not the most tolerant place to be. Now enter that same classroom, or store, or meet those parents, and you find you are forced to think about your skin color because everyone else is. The author of the article is right to see that discrimination is rampant, but if she only knew how bad it was she would realize that ignoring it will not make it go away. Terminology is not what places racial minorities in "subcategories." It is the opinions of people that do this.
Racism will not end today or tomorrow. Intolerant parents breed intolerant children--and education is the only way to stop the cycle. Educate the children, teach them tolerance and understanding and equality--real equality. Put yourself in the shoes of others, be the only white person in the room, talk to someone who has lived every moment of their life experiencing racism. These are the ways in which we learn and grow.
