Are you racist?

This is a question to which many of us would invariably say, “No!” Racism has definitely become culturally unacceptable, but that does not mean that it is not practiced — by whites as well as blacks.

Yes, most of us discriminate against people based on their race, ethnicity, or background. Racism is very much a part of the American psyche. Statistics from the U.S Department of Justice show that blacks are twice as likely as Hispanics and five times more likely than whites to be in prison. This must mean one of two things: Either blacks are inherently more criminal than whites and Hispanics, or there is something fundamentally wrong somewhere.

We can all consciously ignore glaring differences like this, but these differences would still be part of our subconscious. Therefore, we might interpret some of our racist actions as rational, and give other reasons for them besides racism. Whether we do it consciously or subconsciously, we all treat people differently based on their skin color.

For example, when I turned 21 last semester, I went with my friends to Crush, a dance club in Des Moines. When we got there I wasn’t allowed to enter. It wasn’t because of my age, but because “there was something wrong with my ID.” In fact, it seemed as though everyone else who wasn’t allowed into the club was black, too. A rational excuse the bouncer can give for this scenario is that he was trying to trim out the violent crowd. The belief that blacks are more likely to be violent is racist.

Racism perpetuates racism. Therefore, when blacks experience racist acts, they internalize it or respond to it with racism. I have heard blacks on this campus say that they hate white people. There are black people in this society who would not deposit their paychecks in the bank because they have so much distrust of white people.

The American society has inhaled racism for so long that it has led to a cancer affecting one group of people directly and the whole body of people indirectly.

I don’t blame the bouncer who barred me from Crush; his racist belief is true — blacks statistically commit more violent crimes than whites. But that violent tendency has roots in the legal segregation that subjugated blacks until the mid-1960s.

Segregation led to isolation of blacks into communities that had poor education and poor social services. That environment encouraged violent crime and all kinds of social problems, including poor treatment of women. Fifty-four years ago, segregation in public schools was outlawed, but not much was done to desegregate America. Today, a higher percentage of blacks still live in communities with poor education and poor social services. Therefore, today, racism still exists as part of the system.

Individual acts of racism are, in many cases, a product of systemic racism. The stereotypes that exist as a result of racism are in many cases internalized by blacks and practiced by everyone else.

One way blacks internalize racism is through gangster rap. There is no doubt that the things gangster-rap artists rap about exist; however, by accepting things like violence and the poor treatment of women as “black culture,” blacks are internalizing racism.

What can be done to get rid of systemic racism? One way is to provide more educational and social resources to communities that have a high percentage of blacks. President Bush can be commended for pointing out “the achievement gap” between minorities and whites. But more resources still need to be poured into poor communities.

As individuals, we can also do our parts in reducing racism through forgiveness and understanding. If we can recognize that individual acts of discrimination are a product of decades of misunderstanding and prejudice, we are less prone to hate people who discriminate and less prone to discriminate ourselves.