Shades of White: White Attitudes Toward Racism in America

Over the past few weeks, the topic of race and racism has dominated news headlines and social media, as white America was forced to acknowledge the sad fact that racism is alive and well. As people watched (or heard about) the video of George Floyd gasping for breath while a white cop knelt on his neck for nine torturous minutes, there could be no denying the gruesome reality that hatred of people based on skin color still exists.

To the African-American community, however, this was old news. Abuses of power, habitual harassment and outright police brutality have become, for many Black people, a way of life. People who live in urban communities seem to bear the brunt of the abuse, but it is not confined to the inner city. Racism does not respect the boundaries of class, zip code, or education level, as many Black celebrities will tell you. Neil deGrasse Tyson, for example, one of the most brilliant scientists of our time, posted a note on Facebook describing the harassment he has endured over the years at the hands of police for simply being Black.

So, while the George Floyd murder was not news to the Black Community, for many white people, it put a visual to what some had already known and to what some had feared but refused to believe — racism is far from over in the U.S.