Invisible Racism; Whites oblivious to their own prejudice

Everyone is talking about Dr. Laura and the recent racially charged exchange she had with a caller the other day.  Some are admonishing her and some are admonishing her tormentors, but all seem to have something to say regarding the issue of racism.  This is a good thing, although there is irony in Dr. Laura’s obvious annoyance with talking more about the subject.

Dr. Laura was displaying a good deal of racism during the incident in question.  It was not her repeated use of the N-word that was offensive, but rather her attitude and insensitivity towards the caller’s perception of discrimination.  She actually told the woman that she should not have married a white man if she could not handle racist jokes, and stated that blacks were hypersensitive because of black activists.  To do this denied the caller’s perception of a harmful act by another person and implied that it was her sensitivity that was the problem.

 While it is apparent that some people may be overly sensitive to some degree, the fact remains that racism is alive and well in this country.  If you don’t believe so visit the CNN boards on this Dr. Laura story.  The notion that race is talked about too much and that blacks are just hypersensitive at this point is in itself a racist notion, albeit a subtle, perhaps even subconscious racism.  Dr. Laura stated at one point that there is more racism than ever since Obama was elected as president and that she just doesn’t  get it.  She’s probably never considered the fact that with such a strong role model as our country’s leader, many may finally have had the courage to address the issue. Many more have been forced to address the issue due to bold racism stepping from the closet among those who have kept quiet before and now feel threatened due to the feelings of empowerment and pride that our President is black.

Minorities in this country are still disadvantaged.  Just because more minorities are able to have similar opportunities to whites, and just because one person of a particular ethnicity was able to be elected president does not mean that there is not still a sizable problem.  Any time you are the minority in anything you are automatically at a disadvantage in any endeavor that depends on others, which is everything.  There is still a disproportionate number of minorities in prison, in the child welfare system, and stricken by poverty.  The child welfare system is a perfect example of national institutional racism.  Research shows that blacks and whites abuse and neglect children equally, yet black children are taken into care more often, for longer periods, and less likely to be adopted at all. Personal racism is still prevalent as well.  There are towns all across this country that proudly display confederate flags as well as other overtly racist symbols, as well as those who still claim that the confederate flag should not offend anyone. The tragedy is that some of those people actually believe their own denials.

This past year , the state of Texas observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 18, and then gave employees an optional holiday the next day for Confederate Hero’s Day.   If I need to explain to anyone how that might be construed as racism, feel free to comment. As mentioned earlier, the fact that some people continue to deny that the confederate flag is a source of pain and sign of ignorance for many people because they claim that the civil war wasn't about slavery.  The civil war was a complicated conflict, but at the root of it all was the reluctance of the south to evolve its stance with human rights because of concerns for power and wealth. Those who actually believe otherwise, however, should be commended for at least being courageous enough to talk about the subject in the first place.


The uncredited culprit in continued racism are those people who simply refuse to talk about the issue at all, and tell themselves that we have moved on as a society.  This is just not true, and it is not just blacks who are targeted.  Since 9/11, there has been a dramatic increase in racism against persons with middle eastern heritage.


Even as we evolve our social attitudes, our majority groups then too tend to evolve, and the smaller minority groups become targets of our hate. One of the most fascinating trends in my opinion, is the move to more widespread discrimination and prejudice of minority groups beyond color lines, such as the gay community. At the root of it all is fear, and the perceived threat of loss of power and control.  We are terrified as human beings that someone who is different than us will come along and threaten our own identity.  It is the ultimate irony that because of this fear, we lash out at others and do to them what we ourselves fear most.

The original subject of the Dr. Laura show, the neighbor, was being racist, and Dr. Laura was oblivious and insensitive to this problem.  Although his intentions might not have been malicious, asking one person to speak for their entire race because you feel that every one in that race must be so different from yourself that you cannot fathom how they would react to certain things, is racist.  The fact that Dr. Laura is so annoyed with talking about race is an indication that she still harbors racist attitudes, weather she is actually conscious of them or not.  Talking about race is uncomfortable, usually for every party involved.  It is easy to tire of such a painful and continuing endeavor, but if we are ever going to truly resolve the issue, we must all continue to talk and not dismiss anyone else for their feelings on the subject.  If you really feel that you are tired of it and that you truly harbor no racism yourself, then please remember that there are so many that do and that your voice is necessary as long as there is such hate perpetuated by others.

Many people claim to like Dr. Laura, despite that she has no background whatsoever in psychology, because she ‘tells it like it is’.  In this particular case at least, she certainly did.  She gave the unadulterated opinion of the typical racist American that doesn’t even realize they employ racist attitudes every day.