Post #5

“The White Problem in American Studies” was an illuminating experience for me. Before I came to Cornell I had a lot of ideas about why some people were rich and others poor, and I think it’s easiest to dismiss poorness as a consequence of laziness and stupidity. I never realized the role our society and government’s infrastructure played in keeping some people “down.” I liked the way the article started by mentioning Richard Wright’s inversion of the question of the “Negro problem” instead as a “white problem.” I’ve heard this phrase (Negro problem) used so many times before and never really thought about what it means to call a group in our society a problem. By shifting the focus from whites to blacks, white supremacy and power goes largely unnoticed while black poverty is magnified. Until now, I never thought that the best way to help blacks equalize with whites was to reform white society.

I liked how Lipsitz used some historical context to show how Americans came to be somewhat calloused to exploiting people starting back in colonial times with the Indians. This continuing trend unfortunately seems engrained in our national character and persists today⎯especially evident in Bush’s idea to erect a massive wall to remedy the “Mexican problem.” One thing that really surprised me was that Lipsitz points out how some of the New Deal acts excluded workers from coverage and channeled benefits primarily to whites. Learning about the New Deal junior year I always saw it as tremendously positive because this sort of underlying bias is never presented in the text book. Furthermore, the information concerning real estate was really shocking to think that this is going on today. I guess the best way to solve of these bias issues (besides enacting legislation which of course would be most effective) would be simply to bring awareness. In fact after I read this I posted my idea for a show on the Tyra Banks website.

Especially when Lipsitz talks about the issue of seniority in the workplace I can definitely see how blacks have had a really tough time recovering from all the restrictions put on them, not only during slave times but also in the years that followed. I’ve always been in favor of affirmative action. But at the same time one thing I have to mention is the fact that my grandparents were very poor immigrants who were Italian living in Boston and discriminated against. Yet one generation later, my dad was able to be economically much more successful than them without benefiting form any sort of affirmative action programs. But maybe comparing my family to blacks, who obviously suffered a lot more persecution, isn’t fair.