Argumentative Essay About Racism

Who identifies themselves as being racist? Openly admitting to the world that you are racist is shunned upon, but what about individuals who are racists behind closed doors? In today’s society racism is a major problem, but is overlooked just as sexism, classism and heterosexism. If we know that racism is still a big deal and a big problem, why do we choose to ignore it? How do we put racism to an end to racism, if some individuals are too scared to even talk about the subject? Racism is a very “touchy” or an emotional topic for some individuals including myself. Author Beverly Daniel Tatum makes for interesting and valid points in “Defining Racism: Can We Talk?”. She states, “the impact of racism begins early. Even in our preschool years,

Some individuals benefit from racism while others are at a disadvantage. What I disagree with the author on is when she states, “all Whites benefit from racism” (67). Being white I am not totally privileged. There are things that I take for granted such as going into essentially any store and being able to purchase make-up the color of skin tone or being able to purchase any hair products. My other identities shape me as well. Even though I am white, that does not mean I am wealthy, in fact I have had job since I was fifteen years old and have for the most part supported myself financially. I was not handed a nice car, nice clothes, and a nice house in a nice community, those things I had to work for and very hard I must say. I should not be judged by the color of my skin and automatically assumed that I am benefiting from the fact that I am white, because just as any other individual from any other racial group, I am a struggling college

In “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki mentions times through America’s history when other minority groups have targeted other minority. Takaki mentions the LA riots between the Koreans and African Americans. He makes a valid point when he states, “a black gang member explained that they didn’t burn our community, just their stores” (69). During the riots of LA, many black gang members and Korean store owners were at war with one another when a Korean store owner shot and killed a black individual during a robbery attempt. In this statement what stuck out to me is that the black individual did not recognize that he was ruining his community by burning down these stores that belonged to the Koreans. The gang member could not wrap his head around the fact that these stores were apart of his community, but because they were owned and operated by Koreans, it was valid to damage these stores. There is a chain affect that goes along with burning down these stores in their community which is now that these buildings are ruins, who is going to buy and fix them up now? There were stores and shops that were functioning and an essential part of the community, but not that they are all destroyed and the Koreans are ran off, what is the community left with? The community is left with broken down buildings and stores that are not functional which now