Overcoming Racism: A Letter to the Next Generation
by: Michelle Elizabeth Lee Watson

February 27, 2009

Dear Robert:

        I sat down and thought very long and hard about what I wanted to say to you. I know that you are too young to understand, being only ten years old, but racism is still one of the most prevalent issues today. Hopefully by the time this letter reaches you, the racial issues of today will be less prevalent. You need to know that at some point in your life you will experience some form of hardship based exclusively on your race. There is no doubt that progress has been made; the election of an African American as America's 44 th President shows this. African Americans have made significant strides since the civil rights movement with the ability to vote and better education and jobs. Through the decades, people have also progressed although not as much as some of us would like. Encountering closed-minded people will be something you must overcome. I encourage you to learn about your race and culture and to embrace it.

        Racism today is much less explicit than it was during the civil rights movement which I am sure you will learn much about as you go on with your education. Racism towards minorities today means they are unable to gain employment for a job they are qualified for; it means being followed around a store; it means being pulled over by police officers while driving. These examples may seem a little extreme but they might be some of the challenges you face. It is unfortunate that you must bear through the social stigmas that are attached to a race that you had no choice but to be born with. The United States is not the premier country when it comes to abolishing the racial lines that divide us and keep us from being in a progressive state. The nation's past is filled with conflicts that were based on racial issues and with people today still unable to move past race, it is likely that people will not ever get along. If people of all races accept the differences among each other, we will be able to move on to more pressing issues such as poverty and homelessness.

        I fear that racism will still be around when you get older because now a more subtle form of racism based around genes is surfacing to accompany the current problems. According to “Racism(s): One or many?” by Martha Augoustinos, a scientific study conducted with five people of different ethnicities has shown that under a microscope everyone's genes look the same. This means that your race may be contained within your genes but from the outside every ethnicity's genes look the same. The article also claims that race was constructed socially and the differences among people are a matter of pigmentation and facial features (Augoustinos). The way a person looks most likely came from the geographic location that their ancestors originated from.

        You will see that the impacts of racism vary among different groups and it varies between target and non-target groups. In Privilege, Power and Difference , Allen Johnson explains the differences between a target and non-target group and the experiences each group will usually face. As an African-American you are a part of a target group, a group that will face racism often and it may even be on a daily basis. Members of the non-target group “Can choose whether to be conscious of their racial identity or to ignore it and regard themselves as simply human beings without a race” and “Can succeed without other people being surprised” (Johnson 26-27). Through stereotypes associated with your race, people will often judge you before you have the chance to speak. Before you were even able to walk, you were already labeled as violent, lazy, stupid, worthless, a con artist, drug dealer, thief and shoplifter. I know it all seems unfair, but it is something you must conquer and prove wrong.

        I already mentioned a few forms of the racism you will experience from being part of a target group. Racism can also be directed towards the non-target group usually from the people of a target group as a form of retaliation. In “Impacts of Racism on White Americans,” Lillian Roybal Rose explains how stereotypes often lead to a white person becoming prejudice or racist towards a person of color: “The first time a person of color's actions conform to the stereotype, the white person feels justified in rejecting that person's group. ‘I knew he would do that. They're all that way,' the conclusion goes” (Rose 38). I know this quote is very unsettling because it is very unlikely that someone especially of the non-target group or the Caucasian race would go through life without a single unpleasant experience with a person of color. This leads to a wider separation of the races of people and more hesitation to unite them.

        Injustices toward people of the target group may make you feel angry and consider getting involved in activism. You need to know that there are many options available for you to change a problem that you don't like. The options include: getting involved with a local organization that works to better your community, going through the legal system to encourage more laws to be passed, and protesting. You must keep in mind that some forms of activism and protesting are considered to be civil disobedience and there are major consequences that go along with that. According to Webster's New World College Dictionary (4 th ed.), Civil Disobedience is “nonviolent opposition to a government policy or law by refusing to comply with it, on the grounds of conscience.” Although individuals who are civil disobedient do it with the intention of not being violent, a civil protest often does turn violent. Violence during a civil protest is often initiated by police officers and other people who were not a part of the peaceful protest.

        At a time when the legal system was not helping, the famous civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., accepted the penalties of being civilly disobedient in his fight for the rights of minorities and against unjust laws. I would never encourage you to break the law, but the fact remains that minorities are not seen as equal to whites. I believe civil disobedience is justified, if and only if it is something you are truly passionate about and are willing to accept the consequences that are associated with it. In “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” King stated, “one who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty” (King 438). This means that civil disobedience must be taken as a serious matter, and not something that is a hobby; you must be committed to your beliefs. King sacrificed his life in order to make sure people of color were given equal rights and fought to overturn the unjust laws that treated people differently. His definition of an unjust law is “…a code that is out of harmony with the moral law (King 437)” and “any law that degrades human personality (King 437).” King had a clear sense of what was right and wrong. He protested for the equality of all people.

        I have listed the U.S. court system as a means to overcome racism. The history of this process can be seen in several life changing court cases. The first case set the tone for how the legal system would be viewed by African Americans. It was the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, upon which ruled that blacks and white would be segregated, but still receive the same services. At this time, the phrase “separate but equal” was coined. While that was a low point for African Americans, the justice system eventually redeemed itself in the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. This case ruled that segregation is illegal and was a huge milestone in Black history. There have been ups and downs with the legal system through the years, so you need to know that this option is not the most reliable when it comes to dealing with racism.

        As mentioned above there are many paths you can take when being confronted with racism. I encourage you to seek out other ways to change the social structure of our society like expressing yourself artistically through writing or photography because it shows personal experience. Writers such as James Baldwin made a huge impact on what type of literature could be published in the mainstream. Baldwin wrote about racism and religion in a new way and didn't break the law while doing it. He wrote a letter to his nephew in his book, The Fire Next Time , on the one hundredth anniversary of the emancipation. In the letter, he stresses some points that I want to express to you. The following excerpt ties in to what I want you to understand about the adversity you will face in society:

You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason. The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever. You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways possible, that you were a worthless human being. (Baldwin 7)

This quote shows how racism has changed over time because as an African American male, you will now be expected to achieve more and be successful because there are many opportunities now available for you. While writing can bring you a great amount of success, it can often become dated with the ideas of the past. The art of photography has been a major way of showing what is going on and has a bigger impact on people because they are actually seeing a certain event or action taking place instead of it just being someone telling them; it also fills the void that people have for visual aids. Photography is also known to make an impact because there are real people being shown going through different issues which may be tied to race or social class. My point to you is that the two default paths of civil disobedience or petitioning for new legislation may not be the right way to get your point across to others or to meet your goals; it can be done in other ways.

        I support my position of civil disobedience being a last option because the consequences are not worth it. There takes so much time to change something whether it is done through legal or illegal activities that turning to violence and getting arrested is just not worth all of the consequences that go along with it. After all of the protests and activist rallies, you will be unable to gain employment because you will have a felony on your criminal record, be labeled as violent because protests often erupt in violence even if you never touch a single person, and lose your right to vote which is one of, if not the most, powerful right that you have. If you're fiercely passionate about an issue down to the core of your being, then by all means do what you need to, but if it is something that you could be patient with long enough to challenge it in another way, such as negotiating the legal process then don't go out on a limb for it.

        The various ways to overcome racism are explained throughout this letter I have written to you. They are civil disobedience, the legal process, writing and photography. Hopefully, one of these will help you fight the racism you will face. Never let anything overcome you and make you forget who you are. You have my support in anything that you choose to pursue.

        Your Cousin and Friend,

        Michelle