Week of 3/22: Racism in Cuba and Racism Today

This week, we talked about Cuba - how the Cubans, who had African heritage, largely lived in abject poverty, and also how Cuba, as a nation, was completely taken advantage of by the American government. I want to start by saying that I cannot imagine how difficult it was for these people to live in those circumstances. It is undeniable that white American government officials were trying to take advantage of the "inferior" Cubans, and that is horrible. But today, people are starting to take the actions of a few white racists and stereotype every white person in American society. The things that white people have done to black people in the name of race are terrible - there is no milder way to put it. What blacks had to endure back then cannot be imagined. But then I ask the question: Do the events of the Jim Crow era warrant what our society is doing today? It seems that because whites were racist 100 years ago, suddenly every white person is a racist today. And to try to fix that, our society is quite literally oppressing white people. In many situations, we are giving benefits to historically underrepresented minority groups while making white people pay more. Certain colleges are now giving preference to people of color in the application process. We are choosing judges based more on race than on intellectual qualification (although please do not get me wrong, Judge Jackson is certainly qualified to be a Supreme Court justice). But by definition, all those actions are themselves racist: for example, the vast majority of our honors class would be barred from receiving the Supreme Court nomination, simply by virtue of skin color. Is that not giving preference to one race over another? I want to be absolutely clear: having a black woman on the Supreme Court is a great thing. But what bothers me is that our society thinks that everything needs a completely perfect ethnic balance in order to function. Equality in society can never truly be achieved, and while we may never use that as an excuse to promote inequality, we also need to be realistic in our goals. Asian Americans, native Americans, and many other races are still not represented on the Supreme Court, so now are we going to try and put every race on the Court to make everyone happy? As long as the ideals and best interests of every race are fairly represented across society, that should not be necessary. And ironically, if we think we have to show favoritism to black people, or give them extra help in order for them to be equal with everyone else, this implies that black people start out inferior to everyone else. If that mindset is not racist, I do not know what is.

Again, I want to be clear: I am not better than anyone else because I am white. But on the other hand, I also am not worse than anyone else simply because I am white. Every human being is completely equal. My great-grandma was actually Indonesian, so I am not completely Caucasian either. But that just proves the point that people should be judged "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Blacks, whites, and every other race in society are all equal, so while we appreciate black people and their many contributions to society, we also need to get rid of the mindset that whites are somehow inherently evil. Just because whites did terrible things fifty or one hundred years ago does not mean that their descendants should be punished for that. And just because some whites are still hate blacks today does not mean that we all do. To be completely honest, that statement is in itself a racial generalization.

It seems that today, privileging minority groups at the expense of the majority is somehow equality. This idea is completely illogical, and it fosters the mindset that oppressing the majority is morally tolerable. I am not advocating for any sort of "white privilege". Rather, I hope that we as a society can look past the color of our skin (whether it is white or black) and truly exercise "liberty and justice for all."

I am by no means an expert in apologetics, but if any of you question what I am saying here, I am happy to try to explain something further. My goal is not to offend anyone or take anybody down, but rather to try to explain why I believe what I believe. I hope that you all can be understanding of that and try to approach this sensitive topic with an open mind.

Comments

  1. Médar SerrataMarch 30, 2022 at 8:49 AM

    Thank you for your post, Seth. As you know, Professor Stark and I encourage students to make connections between the materials we discuss in class and current events, and I see that you made an attempt to do that in the first three sentences of your post. However, as far as I remember, race was not the subject of last week’s discussions. When Prof. Stark mentioned the Spanish-American War, he focused on the question of imperialism. That said, one of the goals of our class is to improve students’ ability to examine their own assumptions. Can you reread your post and identify which statements derive from factual evidence and which are based on ideas taken for granted? For example, when you say that “every human being is completely equal,” do you mean that in today’s society every human being has the same opportunities? Is this a proven fact or an aspiration?

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    Replies
    1. Seth TenElshofMarch 30, 2022 at 8:33 PM

      Thank you, Professor Serrata, for your reply. It could be that I misunderstood the intent of last week's discussion, and if so, I stand corrected. However, from time to time, it does seem like some lectures or discussions are intended to take racial minorities or historically marginalized populations and elevate them above the rest of humanity. I apologize if I have misread the intent of these discussions, but I do think that we need to be extremely careful, when discussing racial issues, not to accidentally marginalize the racial majority.
      When I said that "every human being is completely equal", I did not mean that everyone is necessarily treated equally, but rather that everyone has the same intrinsic value by virtue of their humanity. I think I am safe to say that that is a proven fact.
      Hopefully this clears up the misunderstanding.

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