Tim Wise, a social justice activist for the past two decades,nearly filled Montezuma Hall Wednesday night when he spoke outagainst racism at the Cross Cultural Center’s presentation, “Racismand the Culture of Denial.”
Wise, one of the most prominent anti-racism speakers in the UnitedStates, had students not only laughing out loud, but standing andapplauding as he addressed the clouded vision of racism today.
“I have heard many speeches like Wise’s about racism and culturaldenial, but none have had so much statistical information or have hadsuch a great impact on the way I think,” political science juniorRita Kallas said. “I, myself, am Lebanese-Egyptian, so I face some ofthe discrimination that he talks about. Though, at the same time, Ihave never thought about it in such a critical thinking manner.”
Kallas said because Wise was speaking from the perspective of awhite male, not the usual target for discrimination, his words had aneven greater impression on her.
Wise said denial is passed down from generation to generation.
“I read the data and I read the surveys,” he said. “It isfascinating to see such disconnect between the perceptions of thedominant group and the perceptions of everybody else.”
He said because we are all from the same community, yet sofundamentally different, shows there is something going on in theUnited States that is very wrong.
Wise said he believes racism takes form in many different ways,systems and institutions. In his lecture, he addressed racism inregards to education, criminal justice and jobs.
The idea of education as the great equalizer has never been trueand was not the reason for setting up education in the United States,he said.
He said data indicates that oftentimes students of color are beingpunished, suspended or expelled for very minor infractions. Thereason for this may be because these same students are perceived asmore aggressive when they speak out or talk back to a teacher becauseof ingrained stereotypes.
He said children who aren’t discriminated against are getting awaywith the same, if not worse, crimes.
“This is a very dangerous thing, not just because it is racist andharmful to people of color. It is awfully dangerous to everyone elseas well,” he said. “If you don’t believe me, look at Columbine HighSchool.”
According to Wise, the criminal justice system is also beingaffected by discrimination. He said the system is not fighting thewar on drugs because it is only looking for the stereotypical drugusers.
“We are fighting the war on black people. We are fighting the waron Latinos. We are fighting the war on low-income persons -particularly low-income persons of color,” Wise said. “It has nothingto do with getting drugs off the streets. If that was our concern, wewould be stopping the folks who are most likely to have the drugs,and they look like me.”
According to Wise, there is a common misconception that being aperson of color gives a person an advantage in the job market.
Wise said this is astounding because no matter how strong or weakthe economy is, Hispanics are twice as likely to be out of work andtwice as poor than non-Hispanics.
Wise said he believes if one group is being discriminated against,another group gains its lost privileges.
“If certain people are being profiled racially, beingdiscriminated against in job searches and being trapped negativelylow in educational settings, then by definition, those of us whoaren’t being profiled are being preferred.”
Wise said he believes when it comes to potential threats to theUnited States, stereotypes imposed by racism are not only dangerousto those being discriminated against, but are dangerous to everyone.
“If we let down our guard to other potential terrorists, that endsup making everybody less safe,” Wise said. “Not just does it harmthose who are targeted, it ends up harming every single one of usbecause we are caught unaware and unprepared.”
According to Wise, discrimination in the job place has not onlyled to less productivity, it has also cost Americans more than $240billion a year.
Part of being a citizen in America is to do whatever is in ourpower to sustain the promise of equality, he said.
Geography junior Erica Burrell attended the lecture in support ofthe University Affairs Board, which co-sponsored the event.
“I think it should be required that people become more culturallyaware,” Burrell said. “This event as a result has made me more awareof racism, not only in the workplace, but in school and life ingeneral.”
According to Wise, there is a reason for everyone in the UnitedStates to care about this problem, whether they feel they are part ofit or not.
“History is not a video game that we can hit a reset button on andstart all over again,” he said.
After the crowd finished applauding, Wise ended by saying when weget tired of living in a world of inequality, we will get busy fixingit.
“The fact that the injustice was somebody else’s creation, thefact that the injustice was someone else’s idea doesn’t insulate youfrom the responsibility of dealing with it,” he said.
