Racism

The topic of discussion for the past few days has been racism, whethere implicit or explicit. I think that explicit racism is on a decline, yet it is still definately seen in our society today. Implicit racism is a more prominent problem though. I honestly want to believe that I have no racial preferences, and I don't believe I do, but society does push them upon us. That test we took in class to tell us whether we prefer whites or blacks was supposed to judge our preferences or implicit racism. When I took the test, it told me I preferred neither whites nor blacks. I think that this is a rare case though, but I do believe the type of family I was brought up in has made me this way. A huge factor has also been that my boyfriend is black. Being in an interracial relationship has really opened my eyes to the racism, both implicit and explicit, that is so prominent in the world today. While he obviously faces more racism than I do, being with him has somewhat made me feel what he feels. When we are out together, sometimes we do get odd looks from people. We have never had anyone come out and say anything to us, but many people do not believe that we should be crossing the "race" barrier created for dating. One of my favorite movies, Save the Last Dance, is another example of both implicit and explicit racism. At one point in the movie, the sister of the black guy, and friend of the white girl, told the white girl that she didn't belong in their world and shouldn't be dating Derrek. This girl did not dislike white people, she just felt that the lines were being crossed, and later in the movie said you can't help who you love. I think this is a good example of implicit racism, because it was said in the heat of the moment, yet it is a tendency that our society tends to lean on.