This letter is in response to James P. Kent’s editorial in the Oct. 18, 2001, Badger Herald. Mr. Kent states that minority leaders espouse a “philosophy of re-victimization” and entitlement that deny the ability of people of color to succeed on their own.
Unfortunately, this argument negates the power structure and persistent institutionalized racism that frustrates people of color (of the same or greater ability) in achieving as readily as white people in this country. The evidence of this power structure and institutional racism is incontrovertible: Out of 1,000 of the “richest people” in America (according to Forbes magazine), only five are African American.
About 12 percent of the population is African American, yet most universities’ student bodies have representations under 5 percent (In the UW System, 8 percent of students are students of color). Less than 1 percent of our nation’s CEOs are African Americans.
Our nation’s prisons are comprised of approximately 50 percent African Americans. Racial profiling, police brutality and murders still occur on a tragically regular basis for innocent blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans.
Studies show that black and Latino males are more likely to be convicted, serve longer sentences and receive the death penalty than a white male arrested for the same crime. Black people are more likely to suffer medical problems, mental illness and die sooner than their white counterparts.
If all this seems hard to believe, keep in mind that these facts are not well publicized.
Mr. Kent also states that minority leaders’ “main idea” is to look to the past and relive the “tragedies of our forbears” to reach their goals. This idea is a gross misrepresentation of what leaders of people of color are trying to do.
Recognizing history allows one to see the impact that it has on the present. Roughly 500 years of slavery and less than 40 years of basic human rights for all (right to live and go to school where one wants and to vote) in this country are bound to have an undeniable impact on the present.
Current inequality cannot be rectified by Mr. Kent’s exhortation that “if you understand that the realization of your goals and success are rooted in the pursuit of happiness, who can stand against you?” This thinking implies that the challenges people of color face are merely self-imposed, which is a complete denial of reality.
There are a lucky few people of color who bypass many of the typical challenges; we must not make the mistake, however, of accepting hypotheses based on exceptions and not the rule.
Mr. Kent implies that minority leaders believe in an idea of “entitlement” in which “there is no room for personal ability and no hope for individual achievement.” It is unimaginable that any minority leader would not believe in the personal ability of people of color to achieve. Additionally, there are many intelligent, qualified students of color with limited economic means who are essentially denied an education due to inadequate funding and recruitment. Until students of color are equally represented in universities as in the general population, money is needed to help with recruitment and retention efforts.
Another important element to this argument is a cultural one. The dominant culture of the United States is not the culture of all people of color. People of color know that, to attempt to succeed in a white-dominated society, they must often act like white people, talk like white people, write like white people, walk like white people and work harder than white people to achieve at the same (or lower) level. And people wonder why many African Americans choose to “disenfranchise” themselves from the system.
The harsh reality is that people of color are still not judged solely “by the content of their character.” Part of this is due to persistent prejudice, stereotypes and discomfort of others in multicultural contexts.
Thus, it is not just up to people of color to act, but we all must act as a society to confront the prejudice and stereotypes that have been socialized into all of us.
Prejudice is a universal phenomenon, but it can be reduced. One way this can be done is through positive and cooperative intercultural contact with the goal of developing multicultural competence in all people. This should be a major goal in every home, school and workplace in every community.
We must not be afraid to develop the skills to work interculturally, to learn about and value other cultures and to work toward equity and justice in this increasingly diverse and interdependent world.
John Mark Krejci ([email protected] ) is a master’s student in Counseling Psychology. His thesis topic is prejudice/stereotype reduction; he also gives workshops on the subject.