Tim Wise Blog

I really enjoyed watching this video. Tim Wise speaks about this issue so eloquently. He is very straightforward in making his points and yet he manages to not seem like he is being forceful. He is very realistic and while he talks about how far we have to go before erasing racism he does not sound pessimistic and also talks about how far we have come. Unlike many people Tim Wise realizes and is able to admit that racism is still a problem in America. In this interview he says "I'm cautiously optimistic and I mean I like to be hopeful but it's important that we deal with what's real". I think that this is a great way of thinking. With Obama being elected president I think a lot of people just thought this meant the end of the problems we have been plagued with but in reality it is not. It is okay to be optimistic about what Obama's election means to black people/minorities but at the same time realize that the problems did not automatically end at his inauguration.

There were a few things that stood out to me that Tim Wise said during this interview:


"We need to be on the lookout for the potential success of racism 2.0 or enlightened exceptionalism which essentially is the kind that allows folks to support Obama because they view him as so many said they did, as transcending race as different from the black or brown norm. And my fear there is that if the black and brown norm is still considered in a negative light the fact that we can carve out exceptions for certain people of color that make us comfortable is not going to get us the whole way towards racial equity- it's a start but we obviously therefore have a lot to do"

This quote really made me think- I myself have heard people refer to Obama as 'transcending race' and I think this is meant to be a positive statement for Obama but essentially, after hearing what Tim Wise says about this issue, it is not. The fact that Obama is said to transcend race from the black or brown "norm" is, I think, actually pretty negative. This is actually saying that there is a "norm" for all colored people, essentially stating that there is a 'normal' way that all people of color act. The fact that Obama is an 'exception', in many people's minds, to the way people of color behave is evidence how how far we still have to come towards erasing racism. This shows that many people view African Americans, and other minority groups, as a race where only a few people achieve greatness, like Obama has 'even though' they are black, not because they are simply great politicians, leaders, and individuals.

It is as if Obama has become president DESPITE the fact that he is black because of the negative stereotypes that still exist. If we flip this situation around however, Preside Bush (in my opinion) was able to speak like a complete buffoon throughout his presidency but his poor leadership was not looked at to exist despite the fact that he was white, in the same way that if Obama were to speak poorly his speech would be attributed to the fact that he is black.

This point also all goes with when Tim Wise said "We as white folks can be really articulate or really inarticulate and still be president".

Interviewer: "You have to be truly exceptional to break the glass ceiling"
Tim Wise: "The proof of racial equity will be the day when people of color can be a mediocre as white folks and still get hired"


I think what they both say in these two lines, and in some of the dialogue that follows, is really important. Why is it that a white person can be just mediocre while a black person needs to be exceptional in order to get any recognition? It's a double standard that I think a lot of people are not fully aware of. We've come very far in treating people of all races the same but I think a lot of people are blind to the fact that regardless of the progress made, it is still so much easier for a white person to climb to the top of the ladder.

This part of the interview is not only important for people of color to realize how hard they must work, but as Tim says, it is important to aspire to that standard (of Obama). It is also important, as Wise says, that we do not place a standard on people of color, that they must be as articulate as Obama in order to have something to offer because we may be missing out on some people who could contribute great things.

There is a close relationship between this contemporary issue and Brown v. Board of Education. The ruling of Brown v. Board ended segregation in schools legally, ut this change did not happen overnight. It took years for some schools to actually become integrated, both because it was difficult to do so and because some areas still did not want integration to occur. The same holds true when looking at Obama's presidency. the fact that a black man could become president just 50 years after segregation was legal says a lot for how far we have come. This does not mean that racism is no longer a problem. we have made yet another step in the right direction, but we still have far to go before racism is no longer present in America.