How to Achieve Anti-Racist Future Essay

Greetings, my dear ancestors!

With the development of time travel technology we, modern humans, were finally able to send physical objects back in time. I am proud that my letter was chosen among many to be sent to you. I am sure that you may question the authenticity of it or even think that this is nothing, but a silly joke. However, do not hesitate to believe me for I will tell you what will happen next with your (or I should better say “our”) society.

In the twenty-fifth century, people of Earth no longer care about race. To be exact: I had to study this topic prior to writing a letter for you. It is not that today we are all white or brown: the color of skin is not the concern of our modern society. I am sure that it may be difficult for you to understand this. Therefore, I wrote a letter explaining how we (or I should better say “you”) were able to achieve anti-racist future. There are three dimensions that I would like to stress.

The first dimension is social. Long ago, in the twenty-first century, you believed that you lived in what you called “post-racial society”. It is true that many of view acknowledge that many of obstacles that people of color used to face before were removed. However, believe me, you lived in highly racialized society: the issue of race of extremely important for you whether you supported it like white supremacists or rejected it (Bell et al 133). Even your idea of “colorblindness” was an excuse to refrain from discussing the issue of race: you thought that if you ignore the problem it will disappear. However, that was not the case: the United States of America views race as an important aspect of the life of a person.

What is even worse is that people of color suffered from oppression that was supported by the patterns of the social activity directly or indirectly. Of course, I am talking about institutional racism. Now that you celebrate diversity and inclusion you are not willing to admit that even your greatest leaders initiated programs that for some strange reason gave preference to those who belonged to the white majority. Consider the New Deal: we all will agree that Franklin D. Roosevelt was an outstanding politician and one of the most popular presidents of all time. This is even true for your time. However, one of his greatest achievements, the New Deal, placed the African Americans at a tremendous disadvantage (de Jong 22). You may think that the government was helping all people struck by the Depression and other negative factors. However, the evidence shows that the number of white farmers who received help from the government was disproportionately higher than the corresponding number of their African American counterparts. This set this community back in terms of economic performance for many decades.

Do you think that you could achieve anti-racist future like that? Absolutely not! Think about the consequences of this policy: when War on Poverty started, many scholars believed that the African American community is poor because it is natural for them. What a barbaric way of thinking! No wonder you were not able to deal with institutional racism: you were not even able to see it right in from of your eyes. Therefore, here is my advice to you: the issue of race should not affect the social life. The longer you put emphasis on the color of one’s skin, the more you are fixed on it. If you want to leave the concept of the race behind you, you should not apply this term to people.

All this leads to another dimension that I would like to discuss – the theoretical dimension. I understand that it will be rather difficult to talk about it, but I do my best to explain it as simple as possible. It is essential to embrace the new perception of the race to achieve anti-racist future. I suggest that you imagine your understanding of this concept as an iceberg. One tenth of an iceberg is above water and can be identified, while the majority of it is hidden under water. So, the part that you can observe directly is everyday racial reality (Markus and Moya 33). If you take a walk in a big city, you will be able to see that there are numerous people who belong to different races. The same can be said about entertainment: you will see all kinds of people. Therefore, diversity is a fact of life.

Now, let me address that is hidden from you. These three concepts prevent the American society from entering anti-racist future. The first concept focuses on the idea that race is a biological term. I do not even know where to start when refuting it. Let start with the simplest example: there are people whose dominant hand is right and those whose dominant hand is left. In addition to that, there are people who are capable of using both their hands equally well. So, why do not you identity Right-hand race and Left-hand race? If you think that this idea is absurd, do not you think that White race or Black is equally absurd (“How Race Was Made (Seeing White, Part 2)”)? A person has no power over the color of one’s skin or the hand one uses. This should be perceived as something that irrelevant to the perception of one’s personality. Therefore, the first step in the theoretical dimension is to stop paying attention to this characteristic.

The next point that is closely related to the one that was mentioned before focuses on the autonomy of a person. Many people that an individual is the source of thought, feelings, and actions. In spite of the fact that in many cases that it true, I show you that sometimes disadvantages have nothing to do with one’s actions. Consider the following situation: a group of students was assigned to seats in the class. Then they were given small balls and asked to throw them into the basket which was placed in front of the class. Obviously, those sitting in the first row had to put little effort to hit the basket, while those sitting way back had to do their best. So, inequalities can spawn from the environment a person was born in. So, next time you think about why there are not so many wealthy African Americans, I urge you to think about the conditions they were growing up in.

Finally, the last point that I would like to talk about is that the idea that all people were made equal. Though this sounds perfectly well, they way you understand it distorts the original meaning and brings quite the opposite results. Thus, if all people are equal, why do you celebrate the European contribution to your culture more than the contribution of the African one? Why do people go to Europe for cultural experience instead of going to Africa where history was even richer? Here is what you need to do to deal with racism and achieve anti-racist future: stop comparing races. As soon as you start comparing something, you clearly indicate that you have two concepts that are similar to and different from each other in some aspects. Therefore, the more you compare, the more you will be fixed on the differences. This, in turn, will contribute to racism.

Finally, there is one last dimension that I would like to address in order to help you achieve anti-racist future. It is essential for the success, you listen closely. The practical dimension racism is something that prevents you from forming a harmonious society. There are several aspects that I would like to draw your attention to. First of all, think about your justice system. The number of African Americans in the prison is disproportionate to the number of any other ethnic group. Do African Americans commit more crimes? No. So, why are they in prison then? Because the majority of the party involved in the justice system are whites.  Does not that seem a little bit suspicious to you: a hypothetical African American offender will have a white prosecutor, a white lawyer, jury consisting of white people, and the judge is likely to be white. This should be changed for good.

In addition to that, think about the manner in which your government treats immigrants. In the majority of the cases, people who come to the United States for permanent residency are not white. That is why it seems that the white majority wants to protect its dominance and make sure that it does not lose its grip on power. That is why there are background checks, strict immigration laws, and stigma associated with migrants. Do you think it is possible to develop a mindset of a good citizen when everyone presumes that you are a terrorist simply because you are a Muslim? It is true that people tend to think in terms of stereotypes because that speeds up the process of thinking to a certain point, as some people might. However, this must not interfere with your decision making.

Finally, it is worth addressing one of the most common issues that deal with racism: discrimination. The latter can take various form and it is rather difficult to identify it, especially if you do not know where to look at. In spite of the fact that in twenty-first century America there was a lot of laws that prohibited discrimination, there were some other ways in which the employers were able to show preference to their white employees. Consider wage gap: Obviously, one could have hired two people representing different races, but one could pay one of them more, ultimately putting another at a disadvantage. With this in mind, it is clear that there are a lot of room for improvement of your laws. After all, they should be implemented,  not just spelled out.

Having examined all the points that were mentioned in the paragraphs above, I would like to state that there is still a way for you to make sure that you can achieve anti-racist future. I encourage you to focus on three major dimensions. The first is social: it is essential that you stop treating race as a characteristic that is essential for understanding who a person is. Obviously, the color of one’s skin is something that one can see easily, but it must not determine one’s fate. Secondly, it is essential to tackle the idea of racism in the theoretical dimension as well. You should forget what you think you known about race and approach this concept from a completely new perspective. Finally, there is a practical dimension that should be addressed as well. You should introduce changes in many aspects of social life in order to ensure that white privilege is eliminated.

Works Cited

Bell, Lee Ann, Michael S. Funk, Khyati Y. Joshi, and Marjorie Valdivia. “Racism and White Privilege.” Teachings for diversity and social justice. By Lee Ann Bell. New York, NY: Routledge, 2016. N. pag. Print.

De Jong, Greta. Invisible enemy: the African American freedom struggle after 1965. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.

“How Race Was Made (Seeing White, Part 2).” Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. N.p., 2017. Web. 08 June 2017. <https://documentarystudies.duke.edu/podcasts/how-race-was-made-seeing-white-part-2>.

Markus, Hazel Rose., and Paula M. L. Moya. Doing race: 21 Essays for the 21st century. New York, N.Y.: Norton, 2010. Print.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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