A Level Playing Field?

Tonight at Charles Gallagher's discussion on race in the 21st century, Mr. Gallagher presented his idea of what racism in this century has come to. Today, as polls show, the age group of 25 is one that is "colorblind," in that it does not see race as a barrier. He presented his idea of what racism is today, in a culture that sees a "level playing field," where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. Gallagher has concluded that we are moving toward a type of racism that he calls "incidental racism." This type of racism is simply what the title implies: because of the way things are structured, discrimination or segregation just happen,they are incidental. Race is not the reason that segregation and discrimination occur, it is just incidental. People use factors other than race to explain differences in opportunities between whites and minorities. These differences include standardized test scores and prison statistics. For instance, there is a high number of African Americans compared to whites in prison for drug charges. The institutional racism explanation for this statistic would be that the government discriminates when pressing charges; however, incidental racism explains that police involvement in the city, where most African Americans live, is much greater than in the suburbs. The difference between the two schools of thought is the way in which racism is explained. This idea of incidental racism allows us to talk around the term "racism," as if to believe there is truly a level playing field, equal opportunity for all Americans, despite race, in the 21st century.
I want to believe in this rosy view of the world, that everyone has the same opportunities despite their background; however, it goes so much further than just the color of your skin. In this day in age, one needs the resources to succeed, and when one's family has been oppressed financially or socially, it is often very difficult to come out of those chains holding one back. Yes, we may see the first African American president, but to me that does not mean that racism is no longer an issue, that we, as a nation, are "color blind," and that the playing field is level. In order to truly give everyone equal opportunity, we need not just recognize race as a dividing factor, but we must look at how racism in the past has oppressed people and how we can bring those people out of oppression.