Racism seems to be a constant force in America. I don’t think that we are driven by prejudice (although a few people may be), but it is more of just a presence. I recently watched a “Primetime: Basic Instincts” show on ABC 7that exposed racism. The producers placed hidden cameras inside taxi cabs, and instructed the drivers, who were actually hired actors, to make extremely racial slurs. It was shocking to see that many of the passengers would agree with the driver, and even add more severe comments directed towards a certain group of people. Very few people seemed offended by the remarks, and the program only showed one example of a woman standing up to the driver and defending a racial group.
The show went on further to stage a fight between a couple in a park. Over 60 people just walked on by when the couple was white, but 15 people did step in to help. When the producers had African-American actors stage a fight, only 6 out of about 75 people tried to help, and most of them just told the couple to take it somewhere else. This shows that people make generalizations about certain races, and that prejudice is certainly present today. It is a scary fact especially when faced with these two scenarios; especially to see that racism that existed back in Mark Twain’s time is still carried on today.
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January 1st, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I find the statistic about the couple staging the fight quite interesting. It is appalling how people will react differently to the color of the couple’s skin. It is terrilbe what people will say when they don’t think that they are in the public’s view. I do think that the racism issue has improved from the days right after slavey but, unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. I enjoyed reading your blog.