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Eva Sasaki

Jorgensen

English 10H

3 December 2018

Racism: the Never Ending Social Barrier

Racism, everyone has heard of it, but not everyone has been on the receiving side of the

act. Racism is defined as ​prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a

different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Racism was first introduced to

America centuries ago through the slave trade. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was

created, racism is still very present in America to this day. There are multiple aspects to racism,

but the social barrier of it has yet to be broken by the people of America.

Neighborhood are supposed to be safe places for people to live in comfort. However, this

may not be the case for many people of color living in America. In Gregory Smithsimon’s ​“Are

African American Families More Vulnerable in a Largely White Neighborhood?”, he states “

The danger black people find in white neighborhoods comes both from neighbors and from the

government, in the form of police who harass, schools that label children as problems, public

services that seem to diminish as the proportion of white residents declines (Smithsimon 1)”.

Though the quote focuses on black residents specifically, it can apply to any non-white residents

as well. Feeling targeted or fearing for your safety in your own residential area can be very

disheartening for people of color in America. It may seem like schools labeling children and

police brutality would be a thing of the past, but are still very prevalent and real in

neighborhoods today.
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Tying into the topic of seemingly old fashioned problems, Ta-Nehisi Coates “Between

the World and Me” can be seen as a modern version of James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time”.

Coates’ letter to his son, though written 22 years after Baldwin’s letter to his nephew, has many

components to it that are extremely similar between the two. When talking about how being born

a certain race can pre-determine your life for you, Baldwin says “ You were born where you

were born and faced the future you faced because you were black and for no other reason”

(Baldwin 7). By saying this, he is saying that black people are essentially born into a life of

racism they can not escape no matter what they do in their lifetime. Coates explains how as black

citizens, they were born into a life they can not escape. Coates explains “ I write you in your

fifteenth year. I am writing you because this was the year you saw Eric Garner choked to death

for selling cigarettes; because you know now that Renisha McBride was shot for seeking help,

that John Crawford was shot down for browsing in a department store. And you have seen men

in a uniform drive by and murder Tamir Rice, a twelve-year old child whom they were

oath-bound to protect. And you have seen men in the same uniforms pummel Marlene Pinnock,

someone’s grandmother, on the side of the road” (Coates 9). All of these victims of police

brutality were murdered, and being black was a main component to why they were killed. Eerily

similar though written in different centuries, Coates and Baldwin describe what they have to go

through.

Another instance of similar occurrences in different time periods can be seen in Langston

Hughes’ “ Thank you, Ma’am” and in Julio Diaz’s podcast “A Victim Treats His Mugger Right”.

Both involve a situation that result in a potential mugger learning a lesson from the person they
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were planning on assaulting. In Hughes’ “Thank you, Ma’am”, a teen boy named Roger tries to

steal Mrs. Jones’ purse to obtain money to buy blue suede shoes. She brings him back to her

house and gives him a meal and teaches him that stealing is wrong. “Well, you didn’t have to

snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.

“You could of asked me” (Hughes 2). She goes on to give him the money to buy the shoes, but

reminds him that stealing is wrong and they go about their separate lives. In Diaz’s podcast he

recounts of a time a man tried to mug him in New York city. Diaz gives the man his wallet but

then invites him to eat a meal, and the man agrees. They eat and at the end of the meal, Diaz

states that he cannot pay since his wallet was taken. In the end, the mugger was taught a lesson

and probably did not mug anyone else after that encounter. Though these two stories are fifty

years apart, they are similar, once again showing that this social barrier has yet to be broken.

So far, all of these sources were from the point of view of a person of color, but in Peggy

McIntosh’s “ White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, readers can hear the point of

view of a white person. After talking to people in her work space she comes to the conclusion

that white people do not have to face many of the challenges black or other people of color do.

She states “ In unpacking the invisible knapsack of white privilege, I have listed conditions of

daily experience that I once took for granted. Nor did I think of any of these perquisites as bad

for the holder” (McIntosh 5). Though it may be expected that everyone is treated equally in work

areas, McIntosh shows that that is not the case.

In conclusion, it is quite obvious that racism is not a thing of the past in America, nor will

it be until things change drastically. As American citizens, we have to be the ones to change our
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outlook and affect the lives of those suffering due to racism. The question is, how will the social

barrier be broken?

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. ​The Fire Next Time.​ First Vintage International Edition, 1993.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. ​Between the World and Me.​ Spiegel and Grau, 2015.

Diaz, Julio. “A Victim Treats His Mugger Right.” ​Morning Edition,​ National Public Radio, 28

March 2008.

Hughes, Langston. “Thank You, Ma’am.” ​The Short Stories of Langston Hughes, ​Child’s World,

Inc., 1958.

McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” ​Wellesley College

Center for Research on Women​, 1988.

Smithsimon, Gregory. “Are African American Families More Vulnerable in a Largely White

Neighborhood?” ​Cause… And How It Doesn’t Always Equal Effect,​ Melville House, 13

February 2018.