Racism in Tatum's Book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

Blatant acts of racism have colored our nation's history for many years. The reign of the KKK and other hate groups is, for the most part, at an end. According to the vast majority of white Americans, racism has been ended. Egalitarian values have emerged and are advocated by many people-especially those in power, which in this case would unofficially be white people, according to Dr. Tatum. However, Tatum believes that racism is far from being put to rest. In fact, she argues that it is quite prominent in our society. While this is true, she also believes that "because racism is so ingrained in the fabric of American institutions, it is easily self-perpetuating. All that is required to maintain it is business as usual" (Tatum 11). So, according to Tatum, while racism is just as prominent as ever in today's society, it goes highly unnoticed by those who perpetuate it, and perhaps even by those on the receiving end of the problem.

It is very difficult for someone who has been the recipient of both white and male privilege to have a staunch opinion on this matter, since racism from the other end of the spectrum is virtually impossible for me to experience. How, then, can I judge Tatum's definition of racism? She has experienced what she has, and I have experience what I have. Obviously, these two sets of personal experiences have been far different thus far. While I cannot judge how she arrived to her definition of racism, I can in fact provide insight from the opposite perspective. My experiences, just as she argues, have been up until recently that racism is virtually eradicated, and all people are equal in the eyes of society and its individuals. Therefore, her definition of racism is eye opening for one such as me. Having given the topic quite a bit of thought, it seems to me that while all White people may be racist, the question of White racism should be extended much farther: are all people racist? Because of our roots and historical ways of thinking, I think this could very well be possible. The fact of the matter is, racism does still exist. However, specific individuals cannot generally be at fault for this. Racism exists today because of our ancestors and the choices they made. The question then, is, what must be done do obliterate racism from the United States, and in turn, the entire world? Perhaps we will never have a complete answer to that question, but there are small steps our generation could take in the right direction. The first step might very well be the most difficult, and that is to convince the general populace that racism still exists in modern society. This knowledge must be made available to everyone, and then, we must persuade those in power-or perhaps, White people-that action must be taken by them for any progress to be made. We must each individually do everything we can to eradicate racism before any egalitarian ideals can be truly experienced in the world. Therefore, it is every individual's responsibility to take action. Perhaps, because of this simple fact, racism will never be completely eradicated, and any kind of progress at all will be very slow-as it has been throughout history. The general populace is uneducated, ignorant, and apathetic, especially when it comes to subtle issues like this one. Unfortunately, then, if we are to make any progress at all, it will come in small, forced pieces that will not amount to anything for a very long time. That is not to say we should not care-in fact, quite the opposite is true. We must all care; we must all take action.

Works Cited

Tatum, Beverly Daniel. "Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?" and other conversations about race. New York: Basic Books, 1997.