Hi Meltingpot Readers,
I'm totally a glass half-full kind of girl. Butterflies and glitter over doom and gloom any day. But I have to tell you, this round up story on The Root.com got me thinking. And then I got a little bit angry.
In the wake of Paris Hilton's recent run-in with the law where a baggie full of cocaine was found in her possession and she was allowed to go home anyway, The Root took it upon themselves to ask, "Would a Black Person Have Gotten Away with This?""
Compiling a dozen other incidents, that don't all have to do with breaking the law, The Root succeeds at showing just how unfair and deep rooted racism and/or White privilege must be in this country. Seriously, when you ask yourself, Would a Black person have gotten away with some of these situations, you just shake your head in disbelief.
Or maybe only I had that reaction.
Meltingpot readers, please take a look at the story on The Root and let me know if you think The Root makes a good point or if you think skin color has/had nothing to do with the way things worked out for the people in question. I'm really curious what other people take away from the story.
I'm listening.
Peace!
6 comments:
The racism and hatred in this country is palpable almost everywhere and even moreso since the election of our current chief executive. I have a tri-racial daughter and we moved from Key West to Sarasota County Florida in 1992 and listened to shouts of the n-word even unto 1999 when we relocated to the SF Bay Area for the multiculturalism and diversity. I have seen it in action my whole life and it is nowhere near gone, solved or even hidden in this land of ours.
Paris got away with that not because she is White, but because she is stinkin RICH and FAMOUS!
Not everything is a black and white issue. Sometimes, it's just who you know or how much money you have.
@Monte it is her color too, because if it happened to Kanye West, he'd be going to jail, same rules don't apply. It's because of her family too. Look at OJ, he was rich and famous, but he's in JAIL.
peace.
last comment, don't let the news fool you, only in NY and select cities in this country does it seem racism is gone. Obama almst lost that election if not for Cali it would not have been a landslide, as i recall that even, John Mccain and him were neck and neck... so America is still very biased, New York City and the news organzations do not speak for the majority of America which is farmland and small towns. The melting pot is the minority.
Hilton. Vanderbilt. Trump. Gates. Walton. Johnson. Surnames that literally mean money. Lots of it. Try billions. And what a coincidence, those families are WHITE. However, since we live in a celebrity-driven society, celebrities always get off easy. Case in point: Lindsey Lohan. A regular person would have done serious time if they'd done what she did. Instead Lindsey blames Paris for getting her into that sort of lifestyle. They were former BFFs by the way, just so you know. If Paris last name wasn't Hilton, no one would give a damn about her. She's only famous for who she is and what she has--a lot of bling.
Lynda,
Too true, too true. (sigh)
Monte,
You think so? Sometimes I think that is the case, but I'm not convinced that money can erase color.
Anon,
I dig.
Anon,
Point taken.
Dee.,
I agree that the celebrity angle is def. part of the story. We allow our celebrities to get away with murder. Some White and some Black.
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