The Way Things Are

After watching the lecture talk by Tim Wise, I began thinking more in depth about the society on racism. What really shock me is the statistics that he pointed out about white people’s perspective on racial discrimination. He said that only 6% of white people believe racism is a national problem. White people are considered as the dominant group in the whole United States, but only 6% of them think racial discrimination is a national problem. This statistic blew my mind because it is such a low number that I can never imagined. I think the other 94% of the white people don’t think racial discrimination is a national problem because they probably think it only exists in some parts of the country. Some people might already blend into the situation where they already get used to on what is being portrayed in the current society. After hearing this statistic, it immediately reminds me of the Naturalization frame that was proposed by Bonilla Silva in her article Racism Without Race. Silva defined naturalization as “a frame that allows whites to explain away racial phenomena by suggesting they are natural occurrences”, which I think that’s why only 6% of the white people think racial discrimination is a national problem. The other 94% believes that being white biologically is considered to be above the other race; therefore, they might not see racial discrimination as a problem. In addition, they feel that this is “the way things are” because the new comers have to accept what is being offered in the whole nation and must follow the process without blaming anyone. It is natural that these white people thinks that way because they were considered the first settlers in the nation, which they will always hold the perspective as being the superior one.