Lebron’s
synthesis of the problem of racial inequality in the United States is spot-on.
It is clearly a politically systemic issue of social value, an issue with our
institutions and ourselves, and one that should cause us to feel shame. As a
democracy, we have principles which we blatantly do not uphold when it comes to
race. I do not take issue with his analysis. In fact, I do not take issue with
his solutions, either. That said, I do not think that there will be a smooth
transition at all, and I’m a little worried about the efficacy of them,
particularly the Just Trojan Horse. To illustrate these worries, let’s look at
his examples of hiring blacks to be part of the police force and at Whole
Foods. I think the biggest transitionary issue will be that white people may
assume that any black person working with them only had the job because of
their race. Despite those misguided ideas, it is likely that the black person
is just as qualified (or more so) for the job as the white person, yet I am
worried that the aforementioned sentiment will prevail. This would seem to
create the very social circumstances that Lebron notes in our society
currently, which reinforce historical stereotypes and imprint themselves on the
sociopsychology of everyone involved. Thus, I am worried that the Just Trojan
Horse, while great in theory, will be ineffective in practice, or at least take
a very long time to have a real effect. That is not to say, though, that it is
not worth trying.
Henry, I think your concerns are very much legitimate and do deserve to be further discussed. On page 147, Lebron uses the film Training Day as an example that highlights the stereotypes that the media continues to portray of individuals on account of their skin color, regardless of their roles in society. Although we cannot conclude that the black officer was hired simply because he was black, viewers do receive social cues that allow them to believe that the black officer should continue to be treated as a thug.
ReplyDeleteEven though we would be actively hiring individuals for certain roles largely due to their race, it is important to note that this practice would simply serve as a catalyst for change. Today, a white person could believe that a black police officer is a "thug" that was hired on account of his/her race. The key thing here, however, is that by actively hiring black police officers, you are starting a habitual process (assuming that those black officers will eventually have a say in hiring decisions) that allows you to continue hiring more officers of color over time. This process allows individuals in society to gradually begin the process of altering their perception of how a police department "should" look. The hope is that, over time, we will achieve a truly color-blind hiring process that still produces diversity simply because generations were able to alter their perception of the ideal skin color of candidates, given their previous exposure to officers of color.