Race and the American Novel Part 2 Blog 2

In “The New Threat: ‘Racism without Racists” John Blake describes the type of society we live in today. He quotes what scholars and psychologists are saying, “Whites and racial minorities speak a different language when they talk about racism” (4, Blake). The main point Blake is trying to convey in this news article is that racism is not what it used to be, but is still a very prevalent issue. He uses a few different studies to show how racism has changed and is now more involved with your subconscious rather than your conscious actions.

One study he listed was about job applicants. A professor at the University of Chicago sent out 5000 fake resumes that were identical to one another except for the names of the individuals. Some had “white sounding names” while others had “Black sounding names”. In the end the applicants with “white sounding names” were fifty percent more likely to get a call for an interview compared to the applicants with “Black sounding names”. The article stated, “Racial biases can in some ways be more destructive than overt racism because they’re harder to spot and therefor harder to combat” (25, Blake).

I somewhat agree with this article. It is like racism that is programed into your mind at a young age. Blake says, “When babies are as young as 3 months old, research shows they start preferring to be around people of their own race” (13, Blake). You do not consciously know you are being racist. It is almost the exact opposite in Beloved. People are openly racist and they don’t care because it is accepted by society. When Amy Denver first sees Sethe she says, “Look there. A nigger. If that don’t beat all” (38, Morrison). Also when Sethe recalls being back at Sweet Home she remembers Sixo getting in trouble for killing a pig. Morrison says, “Schoolteacher beat him anyway to show him that definitions belonged to the definers- not the defined” (225, Morrison). This is implying that schoolteacher is the definer and therefore better than the defined, slaves. As the article states this is still happening today except not as blatantly. It occurs in your subconscious where you do not actively know you are being racially biased.

I think a good solution to this is to stop denying that it is happening. Instead try to continuously prevent this from happening. Think about decisions you personally have made and if they are racially biased. I also disagree with this news article because I don’t think that racial biases can be more destructive than overt racism. Just reading Beloved readers can understand some of what African American slaves went through, yet will never be able to fully comprehend what they endured.

Works Cited:

Blake, John. “The New Threat: ‘Racism without Racists’- CNN.com.” CNN. Cable News Network, 27 Nov. 2014. Web. 14 May 2015.

            Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. New Yourk: Knopf, 1987. Print