A recent experience caused me to question whether blatant racism is still as rampant as minorities think, or are we overly sensitive and too anxious to accuse someone of a different background from ourselves of being prejudice?

This weekend, a friend of mine explained to me why he enjoys driving a Scion xB. His main determinant had nothing to do with it’s smooth handling, spacious interior, or amazing sound system; rather, he responds,

“I get pulled over less. The police see a Scion and assume it’s a white boy. I haven’t gotten a moving violation since I’ve had this car.” 

As true as this may be, I’m left wondering, are you sure it isn’t because you have matured as a driver?

When you’re randomly selected to be searched at the airport, is it because you are the 99th passenger to pass through the check-point, or is it because of your olive complexion? If you are in a West Coast Customs-style Toyota, are you being pulled over because you ran that stop sign, or because of the flag hanging from your rear-view mirror? When you and a group of friends enter a clothing store, are you being followed because the sales associate desperately wants your business to boost her daily commission, or is it because your brown skin labels you “thief?”

I’m on the fence about it. I believe institutional racism is still very much alive and kicking. There are things that have been set in place years ago to help “the majority” maintain a certain amount of political power and economic control that are still effective today. However, I fear minorities sometimes use the concept of racism to ease their conscious when something happens that they don’t understand or in an attempt to deflect their wrong doing.

I’ve invited my friend Whitney (@whitneydaniell) to voice in on the topic. Here’s what she has to say:

“Unfortunately, I believe that minorities are quick to pull the race card due to habit. Since many minorities have suffered great prejudices at the hands of others, sometimes it is hard to overlook the obvious even when the obvious may be a little far fetched. 

The examples I always use are the crowded store and the empty restaurant. If a group of minorities walk into a crowded store, and while they browse they happen to notice people staring in their direction, most times they will assume it is because of race. However, sometimes I fall victim of staring at people in crowded stores just to see what they’re looking for– to see what they’re picking up. It usually has nothing to do with race.

The other example, the empty restaurant, is usually people complaining about where they’re seated. Stating that their seating arrangement is because of race. From working in a restaurant, I know that during slow hours there may only be a few servers working and, therefore, seating is based on which section a server is working; it has nothing to do with race. 

Even though most things that happen in everyday life have nothing to do with race, I believe that minorities pick out the racial issue because that’s all they know. Minorities know that they’ve been oppressed by another race, so now everyone is staring at them in the store. Or, because white people once enslaved blacks, now we must always sit in the back of restaurants. It’s a sad reality that will never change. It will always be about race despite how non-black and white the issue may be. If all you’ve ever known is, how different you are from the next, and then of course it is going to be second nature to point out those differences.”