Racism

Friday and today, in my social psychology class, we talked about the prominence of racism in modern US society. While agree that it is still present and that it is horrible, I think that there is more to it than the color of your skin.

For instance, the argument was continually made by my professor that Obama is not doing as well as he should be, considering who the current president is, because of his race. I admit that there must be something to this. There are racists and bigots around. I think, though, that the fact that he is the most liberal and least experienced candidate for president in our nations history has something to do with it. It doesn't help that he has so many shady relationships (Ayers, Wright, Resco, etc). His policies sound great, unless you're a thinking American who sees through the pie-in-the-sky rhetoric.

Also, there is more to do with your home lifestyle than your skin color when it comes to determining how successful you'll be in later life. White kids living in the "hood" are just as likely to get killed on the streets, become a teen parent, and never rise out of poverty as any other ethnicity living in the same circumstances, I would argue. Granted, there is a greater percentage of white people who live in "priviledged" homes, but that has more to do with historic racism and discrimination than current racism. Might I remind everyone that Irish and Poles were discriminated against vociferously 100 years ago?