The readings for this only proves
my point based on institutional discrimination and racism. Whenever someone
tries to argue that minorities can be racist towards white people, I immediately
start discussing on why that cannot be real. Reverse racism is a fairytale, but
people still want to believe it! In the reading, Discrimination Comes in Many
Forms, reading about the differences between individual versus institutional
discrimination made the picture a little clearer. Knowing that minorities could
not be racist towards white people, I could never really add on to that point whenever
people would ask things along the lines of, “Well, what if a minority refuses
service to a white family?” I never knew exactly how to answer it mainly
because I did not know what term would appropriately fit that until I read
about individual and institutional discrimination. Reading that mostly white students,
and honestly a lot of the white population in general, are more difficult to
convince them that institutional discrimination existed in more recent times extending
throughout the 90’s kind of surprised me. At the same time when I think about
it, it should not though and looking at the results of the Gallup poll only
makes the previous point more concrete. It goes to show that fish do not notice
water; in other words, white people do not realize the privilege they are
given, and their views show how closed off they can be when it comes down to
social issues that are not necessarily affecting them but it is affecting the
world around them. How blinded could they be when 1/3 of them answered that
discrimination is not a big issue in the community, and 2/3 of Black people
answered that it is a serious issue?
The documentary had me yelling at
my laptop because of how mad the ways of these prison institutions made me! Institutions
everywhere LOVE to use incarceration as a scare tactic, because they believe that
fear will make the people listen. In reality, the opposite tends to happen.
Back in high school, arrests were made a lot for almost anything. It is a
pattern I see in many public schools, especially those located in lower-income
areas, and all it does it repress the reasons why students did what they did. Same
goes for those with a drug addiction problem. My first year in my intro to
social work class, one of the first things we discussed was how the prison system
handles recovering addicts. Countries that tried to follow the United States scare
tactics would often fail and end up with more people in their prisons, but once
they decided to focus on actually helping the inmates recover through medical
care, rehabilitation, and even decriminalization, the results showed signs of
progression for the prison system. Not as much money was spent on throwing
recovering addicts in prison, the ones who were already there were receiving
proper care, and those who were seeking help were no longer afraid to ask for
it without fear of incarceration. I do not see the US using this practice because
at the rate they are going, the institutions here are more for the capital and
profit rather than the health of the people.
Melanie I really enjoyed reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteSimilar to you reading Discrimination Comes in Many Forms, allowed me to understand the various forms. With the example you used about a minority individual refusing service to a white individual, there would be an uproar among whites. Unfortunately, this is something minority groups know too well. I like the visual you used with the fish not noticing water, this is a great visual to the white population not noticing discrimination and racism until they experience it. This is an experience a white person my never have. The disparity between how whites and blacks view the issue level of racism is concerning, as people inhabiting the same country one would think we would notice the issues that affect other citizens.
I can understand your frustration with the content of the documentary, I found myself several times throughout it where I was saying “no way”. I was in shock with some of the things I learned about the prison system. I agree that these institutions use incarceration as a scare tactic. I remember being in middle school and being read statistics on the incarceration rate and that education lowers you chance of breaking the law. They left out that these individuals do not have the opportunity to continue their education because the education money is being put into prisons instead.
Hi Melanie.
ReplyDeleteI love that you added “fish do not notice water” because that perfectly sums the privilege that the majority/dominant population hold regarding institutional discrimination. Institutional discrimination is difficult for the dominant population to admit because they hardly, if ever, are affected by it. The dominant population does not get the short end of the stick so of course denial of institutional discrimination is easier to do than recognizing that it exists. And the inability to recognize institutional discrimination leads the individual or the population as a whole to fail at being an ally. When you are so deep in your privilege and deny something that is clearly true for so many different populations, you might think reverse racism is a real but I completely agree with you; reverse racism is a fairytale. The Gallup poll makes me want to conduct my own mini poll with the people around me. Curious to see how people around me think about social issues that do not affect them directly.
It is so absurd to me that the incarceration threats are treated as a solution in lower-income areas when those areas need more attention and need more programs that work to keep students IN school, not OUT. As a country, instead of working to solve problems from the roots up, we simply dedicate our money and efforts towards temporary fixes that do not have a positive impact. Like you mentioned, other countries that focus on actually helping inmates show progress. United States needs to learn from these countries and value people over profit.