"Racism without Racists" (blog 7)

While researching the Ferguson Riots, I came across this article, which I find to be quite interesting. This article is a little too long to post but here's the link for anyone who's interested!

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/ferguson-racism-or-racial-bias/index.html

Racism has become a huge topic of interest lately. Between both the shooting of Michael Brown and the death of Eric Garner, many Americans around the world have been protesting anti-racial sentiments.

Soon after the protests began, psychologists conducted an experiment by showing participates two photographs, one with two Caucasian men in an altercation, one with a knife, one unarmed. The other photograph depicted, again, two men fighting, although this time, a Caucasian man with a knife, and an unarmed African-American man.

When asked to identify the armed man in the first photograph, participates chose the man with the knife. When asked to identify the armed man in the second photograph, many participates chose the African-American. Again, the African-American was unarmed.

Why would they chose the African-American?

This all comes down the an unequal grasp on racism. According the cnn.com, "Whites and racial minorities speak a different language when they talk about racism, scholars and psychologists say."

Now what does this mean? Well for instance, white citizens confine racism to acts of racial hostility, not discrimination, which was seen in the knife fight experiment. But racism is more than just showing hostility. Again, it's discrimination, segregation, racial profiling, targeting minorities for inexplicable reasons, etc. 

I believe that racism is a huge aspect that has only been uncovered within the past few weeks, Once the statement was released that the Officer who killed Michael Brown, Darren Wilson, was found not guilty, many anti-racial protest lashed out. Why is America just now jumping on the anti-racial bandwagon? We see this kind of stuff all over in melting pot communities, such as New York City.

My other question would be why are the citizens of America using violent protests? In my opinion, it's only making things worse. I don't even believe protesting is necessary. America needs to open her eyes and realize that this isn't the 1940's anymore. Racism shouldn't exist anymore. Each and every citizen is considered equal and shouldn't be undermined because of the color of their skin.