This article may be a topic I shouldn't be talking about, however, I feel as if I, a white man, don't speak out about it, it won't matter. The groups being oppressed by racism are speaking their voices, and while myself and so many other white people are listening, their voices get drowned out because historically, America has never listened to the oppressed groups, so why would it start now? African-Americans, Muslims, and the LGBTQ community need allies and need the majority group to stand with them, to speak with them, and to listen to them because they want to change, and they deserve change, but America just won't hear them out.
Overt racism does not feel as if it is the issue anymore. No one is afraid to call out those being explicitly racist or hateful; it is all over Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat stories, example after example of a *white* person calling a black person the "N" word, calling Muslims "sand N words," and telling every Mexican that they will get deported and that Trump will build the wall to keep them out. There are countless examples of these instances, and in almost every one, the racists either get beat up or arrested for harassment. The problem no longer lies with the KKK, even though they still are a problem, white nationalists, or Nazis; no one is afraid to stand up to them even resorting to violence if necessary. However, that's not the main issue right now.
The biggest issue with racism in America at this very moment is the "unseasoned" racists. They won't call you the "N" word, but they will call you a thug, ghetto, hood, etc. It is these types of racists who don't outright hate minorities but will make quips, share hateful Facebook posts, and are quick to attack any wrongdoing of a minority and make it speak for the entire group.
The first example I want to use is Colin Kaepernick. He's been in the news a lot, and it's not for his playing. Last season, Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem as a peaceful protest against police brutality. He's now being blackballed by fans, owners, and teams out of a job in the NFL. People everywhere are calling him a thug, saying he disrespected the flag, disrespected the troops, and whatever else they could think of against him. The truth is, Kaepernick is probably the biggest patriot among us. Who else would truly be willing to lose their job to take a stand for something they believe in? "But Gunnar, he can't play, he's a bad quarterback." Is he though? In the 2016-17 season Colin Kaepernick started 11 games, played in 12. In those games, he threw for 16 TDs and 2241 yards compared to only just 4 interceptions. His completion percentage was the weakest spot and that was at 59.2%, not good, but not awful. His completion percentage ranked 26th, which put him ahead of 6 starters, former MVP Cam Newton included. So even his worst stat puts him ahead of 6 other starting QBs. He's out of the league simply because he made white people uncomfortable and he wasn't a league zombie, he took a stance and now he spends time and money helping the youth, but in the eyes of a lot of white football fans, he's still a thug. Black people are told rioting is not the answer, marching is not the answer, blocking traffic is not the answer, and that they should be more peaceful. Kaepernick was as peaceful as you could possibly be a protest, he was respectful, but it still wasn't right. He was told he needed to do it in another way but was offered no solution, because truth be told, his naysayers had no alternative because he was doing what they had been telling others to do for so long, but it still wasn't good enough. It was never going to be good enough for them because they couldn't take someone taking their advice against a cause they didn't and still don't believe in.
Another example of unseasoned racism is the justification of black people murdered by the police. The exact topic that got Colin Kaepernick out of the league also makes white people uncomfortable. The murders of Trayvon Martin (not killed by police, but same line of thought), Tamir Rice, Christian Taylor, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Laquan McDonald, Philando Castile... the list goes on, none of these went unpunished (except for Laquan McDonald's case which is going to trial, but has not been completed yet). In all of these cases, the cops went free, with the #AllLivesMatter Klan chiming in about why these people deserved to die. Philando said he had a registered gun, the cop asked for his ID, he reached for his wallet the cop shot him. The opposition said he shouldn't have reached for his gun, despite the fact that he and his girlfriend both said he wasn't. Tamir Rice was playing in the park with a BB gun by himself, the cops shot him within 3 seconds of being there. Freddie Gray was in handcuffs in the back of a police van and he died of a spinal injury, all the cops were let off in some form or fashion despite his death being labeled a homicide. Christian Taylor, someone I knew and played football with, a great kid, made one mistake either being slipped something, or smoking weed laced with something and began acting out of the norm and ended up vandalizing a car dealership. His killer was fired but was not charged with murder. In all these instances the minor incident that led to the killing is always justified because the cops can do no wrong. When it comes to the murder of civilians, cops become the judge, jury, and executioner, and #BackTheBlue KKKrowd has no issue with it.
The final example is drug use and how it is treated among whites and blacks. White people can smoke weed and it is perfectly okay, they can't do any harm, even getting a Today show segment titled "Marijuana Moms." Marijuana use among white people is widely accepted and I believe is the reason states want to legalize marijuana. However, black people do not get this same luxury, they're called again "thugs," unfit to raise children (back to this in a moment), weed makes black people "lazy" and it's why they rely on government assistance. In Philando Castile's case the cop, Jeronimo Yanez, said of Philando Castile: “As that was happening as he was pulling at, out his hand I thought, I was gonna die and I thought if he’s, if he has the guts and the audacity to smoke marijuana in front of the 5-year-old girl and risk her lungs and risk her life by giving her secondhand smoke and the front seat passenger doing the same thing then what, what care does he give about me?" According to this cop, weed makes black people violent and unpredictable. However, we have Senators like Cory Booker who introduced a bill to legalize weed on a federal level, which could also be the beginning of justice reform if handled correctly. Mandatory minimums and for-profit prisons thrive on black people's drug use, the same drug use that is used as much or more by white people, but who gets charged with harsher sentences? I'll give you a hint: it's not white people. The 13th amendment abolishes slavery unless convicted of a crime, so Nixon passed harsher cannabis laws, which disproportionately affected African-Americans. When Reagan dealt with the crack epidemic he sentenced crack harder than cocaine, and guess which demographic used cocaine? The people who were the same color as it.
The standards are different between white and black people. Even with Obama being President, racism has not died, it's just taken a more subtle tone in America. A justification for murder, harsher drug charges, and penalties for speaking out against the status quo are all examples. While we can physically see and hear black people speaking out against injustice, it is often ignored while they are told they have it good enough, that we've had a black president, and how affirmative action is reverse racism. There are so many white people willing to listen and to help, but until our generation is allowed seats in office, we have to keep pushing our current representatives. While there are leaders like Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, and John Lewis, there needs to be more common support, more white support, more willing ears to hear the arguments and not just listening to respond. Until then, we will keep fighting the same fight and make no progress.
