Dexter Lewis

Race and Ethnicity Paper 2

The discussion in my group was a bit vague but I understood the commonalities in our stories.

Robert Thomas shared a piece of his story that I really related too. Jeremy Perez said that he

grew up in a small town and never experienced racism before, which I find very hard to believe.

I shared a few stories with Robert and Jeremy about my experiences behind black eyes in which

they related.

I’ll begin with Robert Thomas, who is a basketball player from Georgia who went to New

Mexico and then Texas. He shared with me a recent story that happened in Lubbock of him and

his friends not being let into The Cactus Courtyard based on their race. Very similar to what was

going on at A&M; most likely very similar to what is going on nationally, perhaps globally. He

grew up in an all-black community, which had poor and rich sub communities within. He said

when he was in Georgia there were just parts of town that you did not go to if you wanted to

avoid trouble with the law. He also talked about how his big brother was in prison and that in

Georgia it is very easy for a black man to get in trouble especially if you are local; he says this is

the reason he left Georgia to avoid that kind of life. I cannot imagine he would have had these

experiences if he was not a minority, an African American to be specific.

My thought on Robert’s story was that he lives with racism every day, the same as every black

person in America. Racism is in the system and you can’t avoid it. When this was brought up I

commented that the only way to change systematized racism was to unite Africa into one country

and then that country could be in control of its own global image while at the same time offering

a solid identity to all the Africans around the world. Just having Barack Obama as president gave

African Americans confidence and got White people more used to the idea of a black man in

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power. Having our own country would do that globally and consistently. Africa is richest country

in the world but it’s totally divided up and controlled by everyone except for the inhabitants. We

also talked about the stereotypes of “the starving African child commercials”, noting that these

commercials were designed to make an entire country and people look poor and needy. There are

people in America starving right now, yet they show it as the land of milk and honey. When it

comes to Africa it literally is the land of milk and honey, the cradle of civilization, yet they show

it as starving African kids. I said that this was a propaganda tool designed to make money and

tarnish a nation’s image so when you think of Africa you think of starving babies.

Jeremy Perez is a Latino American that goes to Texas Tech; he is from a small Texas town and

said that he had never experienced racism because of this. I asked him if he has experienced any

racism since he left his small town, and he commented that he hadn’t. I didn’t see how this was

possible in a country with such a culture as America, but he was insistent.

My thoughts on this are that there are 3 possibilities to how a minority could escape racism his

whole entire life. 1- The person does not realize that people are treating them a certain way based

on their characteristics or 2- The person has lived in a protective bubble free of racism their

whole entire life 3- The person is lying. If this is true and he has never experienced racism, his

small town would be a great place to do a study to determine how they escape the generations of

racism and started over fresh and equal. Even if you are rich, there is racism so I don’t see how

this is possible.

My discussion with my group I shared a few small examples of racism in life. I talked about

being kicked out of a frat party, being harassed by the cops over a busted license plate light, and

racism in a general sense. I believe the group got out of this discussion that this is a problem that

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needs to be addressed and not infinitely swept under the rug. I proposed a few solutions to this

problem and we had a group discussion about them. My main ideas were that Africa needs to be

united into one country to establish a global identity, changing laws that are blatantly racist, and

educating leaders of communities over the nation who then in turn can spread that knowledge to

their community. My plan to Unite Africa was simple, I mean not an easy task but simple, all

you would do was get the regional leaders all over the country and show them the benefits of

joining each other as one. Then establish a democratic panel so that power is spread evenly from

country to country. Once a baby nation has been established then it can start growing but if the

beginning steps are never taken it is impossible.

In conclusion what I learned from the group discussion is that we all experience very similar

things if we look the same. Different people are treated different ways solely based on physical

features. America fuels this ideology by the consistent propaganda confirming these beliefs. The

only way to ever make a significant impact to the social aspect of racism is to establish an

identity, then grow in that identity. There have been laws in place for a long time that guarantees

equality, but socially these rules are not abided by. This gives me cause for concern and makes

me realize that the only way to make a real change is by providing both a consistent social

movement that leads to a consistent social change, something that makes that forces those who

oppress to see the oppressed as human. Not just a legal change, because laws are just laws, you

have to change the heart and minds of people if you ever want a real change to occur. I believe

the only way that oppressors will ever change is if they see themselves in those they oppress. I

believe this looking glass effect could make a significant impact on how African Americans or

any other minority is viewed and treated.