Bigotry has been around
for as long the history books can depict.
Whether it be wars over religions, political views, or cultural ideas,
the inability to be tolerant of other people and their beliefs had been the
downfall of many civilizations. But what
will the future look like? I’ve found many
solutions surrounding the problem that is bigotry, including uniting
small-towns, decriminalizing African-American men, and much more. All of which
have optimistic views on the future.
Overall, however, I believe that bigotry will remain in existence, whether
it will be greater or smaller or even about the same things, I am unsure. But one thing I am sure about is that there
will always be something to fight over as well as people who are willing to
take their beliefs to the next level and hunt down those who don’t agree with
them.
Small-Town America:
Finding Community, Shaping the Future, and was written by the author,
Robert Wuthnow. Wuthnow is an optimistic
man who believes that America still has a fighting chance at unity. He hypothesizes that the small-towns of
America will unite and be able to achieve great things on a much smaller scale
in order to resolve national crisis.
This book was intended for every citizen of the U.S.A in an attempt to
persuade them in uniting and making great bounds towards a better future. This writing manages to be a very cliché yet
also realistic goal for the citizens out there who actually want to see America
change for the better instead of remaining the same structural mess that it is
today(White and Cones).
Small-town gatherings are the only way that any progress
can be made in America.. When faced with
the predicament of uniting America, Wuthnow has this to say, “I am completely
aware that it is near impossible to
unite an entire country” (Wuthnow). Though it is futile to try and unite the
entirety of country as big as America, it is much more likely that small towns
will be able to work together towards common goals. This will help defend against bigotry for the
most part, though not everywhere, by allowing majorities of like-minded people
to join together and work towards common goals.
Another
reason uniting an entire country is completely unrealistic, is that no one’s
voice is ever adequately heard (Wuthnow).
When there is such a big population full of differing opinions, the
average person starts to become invisible and unimportant. However, when living in a small town, there
is a much greater chance of having your ideas fairly spread amongst the
community. Also, there are simply too
many different wants and needs in America for any remote chance of everyone
being happy. Differences in opinions and
political beliefs has always separated America’s peoples (Smith). Which is exactly why uniting in smaller
groups is a good idea so that rage doesn’t ensue when the majority of the
population doesn’t get what it wants/needs.
Small-towns are ideal in this situation because even when living in a
horrible town with people who completely disagree with you on everything, there
is always the option of moving. If there
were a major law passed by the president that mistreats someone, it can be
really hard to get out and go somewhere because moving from country to country
can be very difficult. Oppositely, if
one desired to move to a new town, it would be dramatically easier to move.
Saving Jamal to Save America:
Presidential Authority to Decriminalize the Future Male Majority,
by Ahmad Smith. Ever since
African-Americans gained the right to vote, white people have taken every
chance they had to deem them as bad people (Smith). This idea has stuck around for a very long
time, yet only recently is it finally addressed. Now, when police act out and murder innocent
black people, they are finally starting to be brought to justice, when before
they were given warnings or, at worst, suspension. This created a society in which it was taught
that being black meant that your life doesn’t mean as much a white persons
life, and that if a black person gets killed, it’s not that big of a deal. Sure, now things are better, and remarkable
progress has been made, however, there is still much more that needs to be
done.
In order to have a chance for equality in America,
people need to start changing the way they think and stop making such rash
judgements due something as trivial as race.
This idea that black men are more violent than white people is an
incredibly ignorant statement with a lot of negative side effects. Stereotyping a group of people as dangerous
is an incredibly harmful stigma for said group, because now whenever someone
gets into that mindset that black people are dangerous, they will be overly
cautious to compensate with their fears.
This can lead to harassment, exclusion, calling the police, and even
murder.
A
solution to this, as well as a pathway to a better future without bigotry, is
to set a precedent to cease criminalizing people due to race. Now, of course, this problem can’t be stopped
by just saying “stop”. However, if this
problem were dealt with on a presidential scale, there might be a much bigger
impact (Smith). If there were to be
bigger prices to pay for hate crimes and better ways to keep track of how
police were handling said situations, than there would be a brighter
possibility of equality and fair treatment in America. Fortunately some improvements are already
taking place. Police are now required to
wear cameras so that everything they do is recorded in order to prevent inappropriate
conductions of police power. Even with
the advances made, there are still numerous cases of police brutality and that
simply needs to be stopped as soon as possible if we want there to be a better
future, and if things do change, there very well might be.
Black Man Emerging: Facing the Past
and Seizing a Future in America. I
believe that the only way that we as a civilization can move past this major
conflict without breaking down is if we learn from the horrible events that
happened in the past as well as from what’s going on right now, and use this
knowledge to promote peace and equality.
This topic is very black and white in that America has only two options,
either change until there is more equality or stay the same and threaten the
chance of getting worse (White).
In
today’s world, racism is everywhere in America and greatly affects everyone’s
lives (White). It is up to the American
people to acknowledge what a horrible path racism can lead to and why they
should do everything in their power to change the way we think in order for a
better future. As long as we don’t
forget what our African-American neighbors have gone through and still go
through today, then there is a possibility that America can finally live up to
its title and be the “Land of the Free.”
Racism,
as we know, isn’t only directed towards African-Americans. There are plenty of Americans who either came
directly from or whose relatives are still from; south Asian, Arab, Muslim and
Sikh cultures, as well as much more (Iyer).
And what all of these people have in common is that they all face
immense amounts of bigotry in their lives.
The fact is that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, anyone can be
American. It isn’t exclusively a
birthright. Also, it’s clearly evident
that some of the immigrants that live in this country are much more “American”
than most. What with all of the crimes
and corruption that happens in this country by the hands of “true” Americans. Maybe it’s time for someone else to get a
chance rather than the same people who are too afraid of change to see what’s
best for their country.
What’s funny is that I may not have to dream
of change any longer due to the fact that the inevitability of immigration into
America means that there is a great chance that the population will be mostly
mixed in the future (Iyer). Think about that, a country with no races, just one
big salad bowl that gets so mixed that the salad turns to an even and
consistent color. The amazing thing
about this is that this creates hope for a truly united country where everyone
is the same, thus equal-- hypothetically.
However,
this also raises the point of whether or not being the same is the best
solution. This future has many benefits
as well as many negatives. Surely there
won’t be any race wars if there aren’t any races, but that doesn’t mean society
won’t find something else to kill over.
And while this perfect mixture of races may be inspiring and unifying,
it also means the possible loss of dozens upon dozens of cultures that survive
in America. However scary this may be, I
will stick by my previous statement, “Maybe it’s time for someone else to get a
chance.” If a complete change is what it
takes to make America a better, more equal land free of bigotry, then I am more
than willing to support that.
My
fifth and final source is a personal interview with my mother, whose name is
Catherine Joyner. When asked whether or
not she thought bigotry would prevail, she said “Optimistically? No.
But realistically, yes of course it will be around in the future.” My mother tries very hard to be hopeful for a
better future and she also tries to be a part of that future by convincing the
people around her why they shouldn’t spread hate but rather, love. If we all were able to just stop and talk to
each other like humans, than maybe we would have a chance to be better. But since Americans are unable to do this,
they will not learn will not improve.
In
conclusion, it is great to try and come up with as well as implement new ideas
to stop bigotry in America. In fact,
trying to stop the evils of this world is possibly the most humane thing we can
do as a society. However, as Catherine
said, “There will always be bigotry in some form or another… Whether or not
racism and homophobia stays around, there will always be something… People need
an outlet, and that outlet always ends up being one another.”
Works Cited
Iyer, Deepa. We Too Sin America: South Asian, Arab,
Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future. New York:
The New Press, 2015. Print
Smith, Ahmad R. Saving Jamal to Save America: Presidential
Authority to Decriminalize the Future Male Majority. 2013.
Print.
White, Joseph L., and
James H. Cones, III. Black Man Emerging:
Facing the Past and Seizing a Future in America. New York:
Routledge, 1999. Print
Wuthnow, Robert. Small-Town America: Finding Community,
Shaping the Future. New Jersey: Princeton UP, 2013. Print.
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