Blog #8: Jamar Jones..."Where Do We Go From Here" Race Relations today...

 It is mind boggling how a simple thought of hatred can be taught to another individual and in turn it can reproduce so much ugliness in the world. Hate is something no human being is born with, but based on our upbringing or environment we can learn it and adapt it into our daily lives if we so choose. It is so crazy to me. I wonder will society as a whole ever take a stand against underlying racial divisions or is that thought a laughable suggestion? I found our discussion (after watching the conclusion of American X) about the subtlety of racism to be very profound. You can never escape it or avoid it, because you will never know if it is waiting to meet you around the corner. We have discussed this topic through films and text, and one play that I have grappled with really speaks to race relations of the present.

For me, Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris exemplified the mass issue of the subtleties of racism in our society. Racism swept under the rug can be even more jarring than outward and vocal examples of racism because you don’t know what it is capable off. I think in Act 1, Karl is a great example of an individual who likes to place his racism on a shelf. It remains on the shelf for all intents and purposes until he is forced to reach back and grab it. And in Karl’s situation, the racism spilled out of the container it was in and created a terrible mess. Park exemplifies why conversations of race should still be had today. There are so many unaddressed thoughts and ideologies various racial groups have about one another. This spans further than black and white. It is everyone. People are notorious for sweeping things under the rug…but after a while you can only sweep so much under the rug before someone notices the big bulge of dirt underneath. I think Norris was quite genius in trying to showcase several points of view in the story, and also how he connected the characters. As much as people move forward in life, the past can sometimes keep us changed. It was interesting how the characters from 2009 were still linked to those of 1959. That is why some of the same issues still remained. A cycle of racially dividing subtleties will always exist until people begin to actually deal with it. I wonder if it will take another 50 years for things to really progress in that manner. The rug can only cover but so much dirt right?

Is there something that we can do to progress forward with these various issues? I’m not sure. I hope so. To a degree, most people like to uphold some form of tradition in their life, whether that be in their morals or family practices or beyond. I see racism as a strange form of tradition or a continued practice by various people. It is instilled in certain communities by one generation, and it eases its way into the next. Highly toxic, in my opinion. As more things change, some things remain. And the hatred and racism that is underlying within so many communities, as seen in American X or Clybourne Park, should be one practice that is eliminated for good. Time will tell.