Thinking About Post Modern Racism

The majority of chapter 3 is dedicated to an analysis of Racism in the 21st century, to properly engage in this discussion however requires that Taylor first go to great lengths to outline the historically context for post modern racism. Having done so, he launches into a complex explanation for how and why racism takes form today, this we quickly realize is a convoluted synthesis of implicitly and explicitly biased structural systems that operate to the benefit of one race or the detriment of others. Since Post Modern Racism is so multi-facited and often painstaking concealed or distorted, it is often difficult to pinpoint its cause and effects. In light of this, Taylor alters his angle of pursuit, focusing instead on the evolution of racial policy in the decades following the civil rights movement. Although the fight against explicitly racist systems and institutions was won decades ago, the battle for equality is decades if not centuries from over. This is owed largely in part to the obvious implications of American history in regard to race relations, but of the other detrimental factors in play, there is one that hasn't emerged until very recently. This is oriented in what Taylor refers to as Post Modern Racialism, or, more simply, racial policy in the age of legal equality. Taylor himself outlines the negative implications of Post Modern Racialism very eloquently near the beginning of chapter 3... "Post-modern racialism doesn’t so much ask us to ignore race completely as to ignore what actually makes race matter. What we usually call “race” tracks a variety of patterns of advantage and disadvantage, but we’re supposed to ignore these connections and think of race only as an aesthetic and cultural phenomenon." Taylor, Paul C. (2013-04-17). Race: A Philosophical Introduction (Kindle Locations 2086-2089). Wiley. Kindle Edition. Essentially, what he indicates is that we have gone to such great lengths to develop a racial unbiased system of governance that it has become taboo to shape policy along racial lines in almost any way, despite the overwhelmingly apparent patterns of racial advantage and disadvantage. This unwillingness to address the lingering disparities between races has generated what Taylor calls a society of "anti-anti racists", people who acknowledge racial differences in culture and aesthetic but draw no such distinction in regard to the implications ones skin has on things like social mobility and finical well being. For much of my adolescent life I would say that I had fallen into a post modern way of thinking about race. I don't know if I would call it racism because I certainly didn't harbor any animosity towards any specific race, I think a better term for categorizing it would be ignorance. Growing up attending a small private school in the New Jersey suburbs didn't exactly grant me a clear perspective on just how much of an advantage I had as a well educated child of white middle class parents. And not that I had much of an interest in politics at the time, but I likely thought that the system was unbiased and for the most part, fair. My experiences in high school changed that however, for one I had the opportunity to befriend and even live with students from all reaches of the social and financial hierarchy. But it was the American born, pure blooded Dominican boy from the Bronx whose friendship led to social education few kids like myself will ever have. Franklin was the son of 34 year old widow, his mother gave birth at the age of twenty and her husband was shot and killed less than two years later in the midst of a high stakes drug deal that involved nearly $100K of cocaine. Despite this, Franklins mom raised him as best she could with the help the extended family and despite their location and financial situation managed to get him enrolled in charter schools as well as scholarship programs that specifically aided students of color from the inner city. At first I thought "how unfair, these kids get special programs and full scholarships just because they are black and latino." but then I visited Franklins home, and I realized that there was so much more to the picture then I had previously been aware of. His area of the Bronx is made up almost entirely Dominicans or African Americans living in low income housing, and every time I visited him I was well aware of the fact that I was the minority. On top of that, it was clear that few of his relatives or family friends had the resources for advancement. College was only a possibility with a full or nearly full scholarship and that involved good grades/test scores, something that the schools, parents, and entire culture of the area didn't seem to foster all to well. It began to become starkly clear to me that the entire education system (in regard to programs such as No Child Left Behind) was actively working against the students who needed it most, students from low income families who for the most part were non white. On top of that, I was brought face to face with an advantage of my own that I had never considered, which was just how much of a difference ones financial status and education level made in regard to both what I was able to achieve and what I valued. Later on in my high school career I would have the run in with the Law that I have spoken about in class before that would shine a light on the fact that the legal system operates on a similar degree of bias and the advantages my white skin gives me is truly significant. These experiences have transformed the way I see the world and have served as my motivation to pursue philosophy and will continue to shape the work I do moving forward. Ultimately, Its easy to be fooled by ones surroundings into the assumption that the system is an unbiased one, but you need not look all that far to see just how broken the scales of justice and opportunity truly are. Having left the cave in this regard, I can say with utter certainty that the advantages and disadvantages associated with race are still wildly prevalent, they have however been carefully camouflaged. Racial policies are notoriously controversial ones, but to avoid acknowledging and addressing these disparities is to actively contribute to a system that perpetuates them further.