Views on Society

            Senior year, while taking an introductory sociology class, was where I learned most about the idea of race. I always assumed race to be a true concept and always believed in stereotypes among different races.  If I had watched these twenty-four videos at the beginning of the semester, my perspective on the comments would have been different. I am glad to say that my views on race and racism has changed drastically because of this class. 

One of the speakers named Robert, from the website, the Whiteness Project stated, “When I showed up to the office I was kind of surprised to see the three people that outscored me, they were three black females”, which demonstrates how some people view black people as unintelligent and lower than whites. Through this class I learned that people try to justify racial inequality in ways that are not accurate. People can show statistics to prove the educational gap among whites and blacks, but what they fail to answer is the question why. That man that underestimated the intelligence of the three black females believes in stereotypes and that is why he was shocked to know they outscored him. What he does not realize is that colored people have always been discriminated against and although before I believed racism did no longer exist, I am now fully aware that it actually does. The stereotype of black people being less intelligent can go back to the time where they were not allowed to be educated. These stereotypes have been passed down from generation to generation that it has become a norm to some people to believe in these ideas, although they are not true. Taking this class not only has demonstrated why people think the way they do, but also what people fail to realize when it comes down to gaps among whites and nonwhites.

            Besides race, another idea I got to learn more about was the idea of white privilege. This again, was another concept I did not learn until my senior year, and it wasn’t until this class that I learned not all white people receive white privilege. Another speaker  by the name of Andrea stated, “I don’t get the same treatment as a normal white person does, I get discriminated against just as much as a minority does”, which demonstrates how only a certain kind of white person gets better treatment over nonwhites. This woman had tattoos and piercings all over her body and because that type of look is looked upon as bad, she did not feel apart of the white community that receives better treatment.
          From all the twenty four comments, the one that captured my attention was one said by a female named Kathie, "I don’t think there is any drawbacks of being black either", which shows how some people do not realize that racism and discrimination still exists today. If I had not taken this class I would have had the same views as her. Now I understand that discrimination still exists today and have learned where the idea of race came about.