It is utterly exhausting being black in America — physically, mentally and emotionally. There is no respite or escape from your badge of color.
The contemporary division between whites and blacks in America arises out of the white conviction that the civil rights movement achieved its anti-racist objective and recognized the basic rights of blacks, and the black conviction that despite changes in the law, racism remains the central problem. Some whites do not deny the existence of racism, but view it as greatly abated, more a case of "The way we were", rather than "The way we are now." Blacks, by contrast, tend to see racism as different in appearance today but not in reality; for them, racism may have burrowed underground but it remains deeply embedded in the national psyche and in
American institutions.
This perception gap between blacks and white on the issue of race which some people once termed a conflict over the nature of reality is politically dangerous because it Balkanizes the society into hostile camps that cannot effectively communicate with each other. A break-down in goodwill can make a negotiated peace difficult, and the possibility of conflict becomes real, with a future event supplying the trigger. Moreover, it is important to figure out whether blacks or whites are right in their assessment of American racism, because no issue of social justice is more important for a multiracial democracy than whether it treats it minority groups fairly. Charges of bigotry against blacks are worth examining because they are paradigm case white racism.
Most of us take for granted that what we call "racism" is based on irrational hostility that its sources are "prejudices" and "stereotypes," and that their consequence is unwarranted "discrimination."
One of the profoundest ironies of the past few decades is that as laws and policies outlawing racism and discrimination have been instituted and expanded, charges of racism have increased. Many scholars and activists assert what most African Americans seem to believe: the America remains a deeply racist society, and racism (although more camouflaged in its expression) may even be on the rise.
Discrimination so rampant must spring from racism that is deeply ingrained in the white psyche. However unpopular they are to utter, such views occasionally find their way into the public domain.