Danica Flash

P.4
Racial Equality, Not Really About Equality

Woke culture today has made many drastic changes in our society today. There are

more LGBTQ+, women’s, and minority rights than ever before. However, the biggest

movement with the most successes would have to be the racial equality movement.

This is due to many police brutality, workplace discrimination, and social impertinency

being talked about everyday in the media. When you hear racial movement

organizations, the media, and those around you fighting for the so-called “cause” they

often say they simply want equality. They explain how they want more representation in

their communities and to have more recognition in society for their work and culture.

To investigate further, the question that must be asked is “what is the true definition of

racism?”. This is done because many of the mixed opinions and sensitivities of others

can dilute factual information. According to Starr, Michael. “Racism occurs when

individuals or institutions show more favorable evaluation or treatment of an individual

or group based on race or ethnicity,” according to this article, the basis of racism is

discrimination of another race by favoring another race. However, there are others who

believe it is otherwise. According to Braveman, Paula “beliefs that produce, condone,

and perpetuate widespread unfair treatment and oppression of people of color, with

adverse health consequences.'' There is a clear ambiguous definition amongst people

because according to this article, discrimination can only happen to people of color

instead of any race. When comparing these two sources, the clear difference is that one
is stating that racism only happens to people of color and the other is neutral and states

that racism can be towards anyone regardless of race.

Health affairs is what Black Lives Matter and other racial organizations utilize as a

source for the definition of racism. Whoopi Goldberg does not have any direct political

dfsadgrsgor racial affiliation so she has a very neutral answer. By definition equality is

based on fairness and same opportunities and treatment regardless of race. I can

conclude that many of these political movements' true intentions aren’t based on

equality and are in fact biased and based on political power and are tactless towards

making decisions on the betterment of equality. There are often even jokes about how

lackluster people treat many of the movements and racial equality ideas. According to

McGrinn, Steve link McGrinn shows the irony of how many of these movements are

treated more for people's own personal ego instead of being thoughtful of others who

are struggling to make equality true. The term “fight the power” was used while they

were in bed to show the parallels between how people take action and their words.

McGrinn utilizes pathos to show the truth about how others feel by relating the topic to

something all of us are guilty of and do everyday.

While we are not perfect people, we shouldn’t judge others based on their beliefs. It is

true that there is a lack of care for true equality and there is more of a selfish agenda. It

is important to recognize that we all are equal people no matter what our skin tone is.

No one should be higher or lower than that. It is clear that these racial equality groups

don't have a belief or a true feeling of equality; others simply base their “wokeness”
based on their own ego and fail to represent others in an equal way. What we can do to

better ourselves is put our egos aside, including our racial ones and try to not group

others with a race and identify as individuals instead of a group.

“Definitions, Examples, Health Damages, and Approaches to Dismantling.”

healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs, Feb. 2022,

www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01394. Accessed 9 Feb. 2023

Starr, Michael. “ADL Changes Definition of Racism After Whoopi Goldberg

Incident.”jpost.com, The Jerusalem Post, 4 Feb. 2022,

www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-695487. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023

McGrinn, Steve “ I've used 'Systemic Racism', 'White Privilege', 'Post-Racial Society' and

'Marginalized' 2020 (link), Jan 30, 2021