"Something about the subject..."

"Something about the Subject Makes it Hard to Name"
Gloria Yamato
(Argument)

**This author Gloria Yamato argues that the problem of racism lies within out systems and institutions. This means that it is not accurate to blame the problem of racism as an individual problem because it goes way beyond that.

      "Racism is the systematic, institutionalized mistreatment of one group

       by another based on racial heritage"

**She goes into further detail when she talks about how the oppression of these groups, and the different types of racism. I found it interesting to read about different types of racism. 

• I always heard of the aware/blatant type: "outright racists will, without apology or confusion, tell us that because of out color we don't appeal to them".
• Then there was the aware/convert and over racism: "Apartments were suddenly no longer vacant or rents were outrageously high, when black, brown, red, or yellow persons went to inquire about them. Job vacancies were suddenly filled, or we were fired for very vague reasons"

• The one I found to be the most interesting was the unaware/unintentional racism: "We're gonna give you the opportunity to fix it while we sleep. Just tell us what you need. Bye!!" This stuck out me because I find it sad that some people think they are truly trying to stop racism, yet, in their own words they are truly blaming the victim. That quote shows that the intentions are there because there is help being offered, but by saying give you the opportunity to fix it, says that its the victims fault. Once they fix it, then us while folks will follow along.

**The basic idea that Yamato is trying to stress is the fact that there are so many different forms of racism that need to be addressed on a systematic basis. Going one person at a time on an individual basis will not get us anywhere in fixing the problem. Some people say "that's life"- but with an attitude like that nothing will change. In order to truly defeat the idea of racism, Yamato says "Racism must be dealt with on two levels, persona & societal, and emotonal & institutional"

**On the last page of this article (pg 30) the last two paragraphs I really liked. (I know not everyone in the class was reading this article so maybe those of you who haven't read it should!) These paragraphs were aimed at Whites who want to be allies to people of color and People of color, working through internalized racism. They are interesting because Yamato tells group one about how they can educate themselves and not to expect people of color to teach us how to become non-oppressive. She then tells the second group to expect and insist that whites are capable of being allies and can learn.

**I typed "definition of racism" into youtube and i found this video that i think goes great with this reading! Definition of Racism

Let me know your opinions on what some of these people have to say :)