http://www.cc.com/video-clips/q0a05w/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-exclusive---ta-nehisi-coates-extended-interview-pt--2
In
this interview, Jon Stewart does an interview with author Ta-Nahisi Coates and
they discuss race issues in America, specifically the African American struggle
and their subjugation in America. Specifically, they discuss how America was
built on the backs of black slaves and their hopes that in the future,
generation by generation, white supremacy will be eliminated and everyone will
be on an even playing field. What sparked my interest most was when Coates asks
Stewart: "Do you need someone underneath?"
While
I feel pessimistic in my viewpoint and which it were different, I think the
answer is yes. There can be no top without a bottom. Without a loser there can
be no winner and without the poor there can be no rich. Idealistically, as
humans we should be ok with all being the same. We shouldn’t care about being
better than our neighbor. We should focus on the happiness of society as a
whole. But I don't think that is or ever will be the reality. Every day people
strive to be better than the people around them.
I
should note that this idea of individualism is a very American trait and other
countries focus more on the group aspects of life but even then I believe that
each group tries to be better than the others around them. Nationally even,
countries strive to be the best; to have the wealthiest and most productive
industries, so produce the smartest students, to attract the most tourists,
etc. We want to be better than other people and groups in every aspect of life.
To do away with a lower race or class would mean instead of winners and losers,
everyone would win a participation ribbon. Could we survive that way?
As
a white woman who is supposedly highly privileged, I’m not sure I have the
right to even discuss topics of race or where the line is drawn but here it
goes: is there not a huge hypocrisy to all of the race problems? In no way do I
mean any one should be disadvantaged because of their heritage, the color of
their skin, or where they come from. I am 100% anti-racist and think people who
spit at those who are different from themselves are disgusting human beings.
But after our class conversation, I couldn’t help but think about how
minorities, like black people in America, also discriminate against other races.
It is also difficult to discuss this topic without wilding casting stereotypes
but we will have to make due. How can black Americans ask to have an equal
society when they cast down Mexican Americans? At some point, it seems as
though people just want to climb the ladder instead of bettering society as a
whole.
In
the end, I think it comes down to a sense of survival and animal instinct. In a
wordly sense, we are nothing but animals. Humans are the “white privileged
Americans” of the animal kingdom. Is that wrong too? Should ants and birds have
equal rights as human beings? We are all flesh and blood after all. This idea
sounds silly because the answer is clearly no, birds and ants do not function
the way we do and therefor are cast down. Those same arguments could have been
the same words used by European countries as they colonized and enslaved the
“tribal, heathen” Africans. It became survival to judge people because of where
they come from and what color their skin is.
Is it right? NO. It is the history of our world and hopefully some day skin color won’t matter. The question is, once we as humans can over come the racial issues we have faced for years and still fight today, will there be something else that separates us? Will the Brunets become the new majority and take power or maybe people with outtie belly buttons instead of innies? As Coates says in this interview: “if the Jews were not there, they would have invented them.”
