'Color of Fear' addresses racism issue differently for student
Tony Lee
Guest opinion
I attended an AWARE meeting Monday night completely unsuspecting of what I was about to experience. I saw a documentary entitled "The Color of Fear."
There are few life-changing moments, but I can honestly say that this was one of them. The fear of racism is something I thought I was aware of as I am a first-generation Chinese American. When the film was over, I felt extreme uneasiness. I cou ldn't exactly qualify it at the time, but I knew something was wrong, and I found myself trembling from emotion.The film is about an ethnically diverse group of men brought together to discuss racism. Quickly the film turns to the ethnic members trying to explain their feelings about racism to David, a middle-aged, white American. In the beginning I empathized with David. Here was a group of minorities unloading its problems on this single Caucasian man. David, in trying to empathize, said he couldn't und erstand why these minorities had to make race an issue. David said he has never thought of himself as better than others for being white, let alone an oppressor of others. A very reasonable, open- minded opinion I thought. These are the thoughts and opini ons of many close friends of mine, white friends.
Growing up in a white culture I think I assimilated its thoughts as my own. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. Just because people disagree it doesn't make things right or wrong.
As the movie progressed, the true danger of racism was realized. Imagine you are in a film club with three other members. Each week your group votes on what film to see. Every single time the other three vote the exact same way. All is fair because everyo ne gets a vote.
But after four or five weeks you begin to wonder if you should even bother voting because you lose every time. You begin to feel powerless, like you don't even matter. The other three don't see a problem. In fact they ask you, "Why don't you just vote the way we do?"
In doing so, you lose your voice, your opinion and soon you really don't matter. This is the dynamics of racism. When we say one man's opinion verses another we don't account for the disproportionate number of opinions. You see, as a minority my opinion d oesn't matter to society. If I vote one movie and the others another movie, we will never get to see my film. The majority always wins, this may be fine in film clubs but what about our society. Don't I count?
This is the problem minorities face and it does not help that the majority tells us, "There's no problem with racism anymore." Not to them, they get to see whatever movie they want. This seems to be a common anger among all minorities in that we feel we d on't have a say. When a black person feels oppressed and a white person says, "Why do you feel oppressed? I don't feel like I'm oppressing you," the black man's problems are being discounted. Whites don't have to deal with blacks. There are plenty of all white neighborhoods, all white schools and all white country clubs. But how many blacks, who are working for Fortune 500 companies or the like, don't have to deal with whites. Deal with a majority that feels "There's not a problem with racism."
How do we fix a problem that the majority of us don't even recognize? Think about it, how would you like to feel that you don't matter and what's worse, everyone tells you it's your fault.
Speaking as a minority, my opinion is there is indeed a huge problem with racism and until the majority develops a "Social consciousness," we will always have a problem (but it's not my opinion that really matters). This is a very important film bridging the communication gap between races. It is critical we understand one another if we are going to become "The Great Melting Pot."
Anyone interested in seeing this wonderful film the AWARE group is showing it again at a future date. AWARE information can be found at AWARE's web site.
Tony Lee is a chemistry senior and a member of AWARE; his views do not necessarily represent those of the Kentucky Kernel.
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