Zero Sum

I was listening to a friend over the weekend go on and on about how white people are discriminated against. He likes to talk and sometimes I think emotion get the better of him and he ends up saying things that he doesn’t mean, so I thought. I say that because he is the only white person that I have ever heard say that. I know lots of white people and with many of them we have had conversations on the subject of race. He is the only one I have heard say that he has the short end of the stick.


Yesterday I was listening to NPR and they had Michael Norton on. He is the co-author of a Harvard Business School study that reveals that whites believe that discrimination against them is on the rise. Also on the show was the author of Color Blind, Tim Wise. This is the link to the show where you can listen to it. It is only about 10 minutes long.

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/13/137818177/racism-as-a-zero-sum-game

My friend talks about how he didn’t get a job because of quotas and how minorities get contracts just because of their race. How there are special awards for black people (BET). Even though that one is not true, BET gives awards to all races. He went on and on about how white people can’t do the same things as black people. I will agree with him on that point. White people can’t call their TV station White Entertainment Television. They have to call them ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, TBS, CNN, MSNBC, MTV, TV Land, Discovery Channel, History Channel; I think you get the idea. On all those stations you will mostly white people. That’s the way it is and that’s the way it always has been. Then came BET and if you wanted to see mostly black people you had a station to turn to. If you notice I said A station, meaning ONE. I’m not sure if he is complaining about black people having a station of if he is complaining that they use the word “Black” in the name. I guess I should ask him. The thing is, if black people had not been shut out then they would not need to create their own home. When you look at the BET Awards, it is a mirror image of the other award shows for white people. BET gives awards to mostly black people and 1 or 2 white people. Whereas the other award shows give awards to mostly white people and 1 or 2 black people.

Rather than complaining about the need to build their own home some white people are complaining about them having a home. When you look at how hard it was for blacks and other minorities to get anything for a very long time in this country. It is amazing to hear people who are upset that they have something. It’s like getting beat in the street then someone complain about you getting blood on the sidewalk. That person complaining is not looking or is unable to see the bigger picture. These people are looking at the result and not the cause.

I know this is not a comfortable subject for many people. I could be like one friend and prefer to not talk about it and almost pretend everything is fine. He feels that because most of the problems happened before I was born that it should not concern me. Some feel that talking about this only creates more of a separation between the races. I don’t know what the answer is but I don’t think ignoring it is the solution either.


What do you think?