I agree on some points with Mr. Smiley. I think it is hard to talk about race and racism, and I do believe that racism still exists. However, I think it is incredibly hard to gauge how prevalent racism is in our culture. Not many people would willingly admit to racism. Was George Zimmerman motivated by race? Is Stop and Frisk racist? I honestly do not know.
I think we said in class that Mr. Smiley seemed to dramatize the race issue and did not seem that he had any substantial facts to back his claims up. From my own personal experience, I do not believe that "racism is an intractable issue in our society." I think racism has come a long way, especially in the recent generations. Most people I know are very accepting and understanding. Of course, nothing is perfect and there are still people full of hatred and racial prejudice, but I sincerely believe they are a minority in modern America.
Mr. Smiley did not mention how to fix any of these race issues either. I find it frustrating that all the media wants to do is talk about these issues, and while I think that discussion, education, and understanding are key to fixing the issue of racism, I feel that constantly beleaguering the issue of race in the media without offering or initiating solutions further divides races.
Furthermore, I think race is part of a larger issue of socio-economics. In Philadelphia, many of the poorer and more dangerous sections of the city are home to black citizens. Those sections are home to violence and crime, not because of race, but because of the economic depression of the area. I think one of the key ways to improve race relations is to improve depressed economic regions. I recently read an article by Philadelphia Magazine called, "Being White in Philadelphia." The article spoke of race relations in the city. For example, how white people are still wary of black people because of all the crime and the violence in certain areas of the city. Unfortunately some of these ideas are true. I would not want to walk around West Philly at night either, but that is not because the neighborhood is African American. The neighborhood is poor and therefore more statistically prone to violence and crime. Articles like that one did not help the issue of race or socio-economics. It barely addressed them, and only further embarrassed black and white people in Philadelphia.
In summary, I think racism today is more of a multi-dimensional issue and needs to be treated accordingly. Economics play a huge role that is often under-explored. Racism does still exist to an extent in America, but with cooperation, discussion and most of all action, I think the youngest generations of Americans can almost eliminate racism.
