Some of the facts that stood out to me were "race justified social inequalities as natural," "race is not biological, but racism is still real," and "race and freedom were born together." These facts discussed the idea that early in the U.S., the economy was based on slavery, and this allowed for the denial of certain freedoms to nonwhites. Race made it possible for this occurrence to take place, and only lead to worse treatment of certain groups in the U.S., particularly African Americans. In "How white people became white," the authors discussed the definition of being 'white,' and explained how race was used to dominate over groups, giving the example of the "new immigrant' population of Southern and East Europeans. This relates to the facts that the activity website showed of how race justified social inequalities as a normal thing. In the "Roots of Racial Classification" article, the authors discussed the evolution of racial categories throughout the centuries. They mentioned how racial classifications turned into a race theory, which justified the expansion and colonization by Whites. Later, it was discussed how slavery of African Americans was institutionalized and this became the group that suffered most in this time. These points relate to the fact of race justifying social inequalities that occur. When slavery was institutionalized by the majority group, this took away more power and freedoms of the people of color.
The Time Wise film was very insightful and informative. I loved the perspective he brought to explaining privilege and how certain groups experience privilege. I learned that white privilege allowed White individuals to not have to be aware of the problems that other groups, especially Blacks, face. I found it interesting that White individuals were less likely to believe the experiences and struggles of their Black counterparts. Many Whites in the U.S. do not claim that there is a problem of race, yet most people of color believe the opposite. My favorite line that Wise stated in this speech is "those of us who are white have the luxury of not knowing black and brown truth." This powerful statement sums up the problem of race and the problems people of color are experiencing, and the fact that the majority group does not have to even worry about the struggles of the other groups. I recently watched a video where Tim Wise spoke about how "White America" does not understand the racial realities of America. He discussed how Whites in America see life in a different reality than minority groups in the U.S. I found it interesting that he said that there is a group of White Americans who actually understand what the Blacks in America are experiencing and are standing in solidarity with them.
