Racism is a subject that seems to come up fairly often lately, and with it, there are some white people claiming that "reverse racism" is just as much of a problem. However, the idea of reverse racism completely contradicts what racism means.
Racism comes from more than just prejudice. It also comes from privilege and power. In our society, people who are not white do not have near as much privilege in society. Reverse Racism would imply that people of color have suddenly gained the privilege that white people have had since the beginning of the United States.
White people make more money than other races, white men make more than black men and white women make more than black women. Anyone who is white is far less likely to be racially profiled than anyone else. Keep in mind these are generalizations, but they have statistics to back them up.
This is also where people have to keep in mind that prejudice and racism are not the same thing. Anyone can have stereotypes and prejudices, but they don’t affect white people in the same way. In fact, it barely affects them as a whole. However, stereotypes about other races can make a huge impact in jobs, schooling, and just walking down the street.
White people have privilege that favors them over anyone else, and it makes sense that people try to rectify this.
This is where people start bring up things like affirmative action because people have tried to rectify the racism of the past so people won’t have to suffer from it in the future. They’re trying to even the playing field a bit more and give people of color a chance in the world that they might not always have just because of something as simple skin color. This can be mistaken for white people losing their jobs to people of color when actually people of color are now getting a fair chance.
They’re not taking positions from white people, they’re getting the chances that they already should have had.
It’s the same when people complain about making spaces for people of color, like a Black Student Union when there is no White Student Union. Instead, places that are specifically for a certain race are meant to be safe spaces where they can discuss issues that specifically affect them. They aren’t pushing people out of a space but instead creating a space where they can be themselves and have sensitive conversations.
People aren't trying to push people away, they're trying to draw people together. That's not racism, it's unity.
There is more reasons than this, but that does not change the fact that reverse racism isn't real. Racism is an issue, reverse racism is not.
