Racism in America

[00:00:00]It is 10:00 right now at night while most other 24 year olds are out in a club getting turned or with their friends at a bonfire enjoying the summer breeze and the festivities that are in the in the city doing normal 24y old things. time outside late at night deep in the city center of Joliet, Illinois, speaking about a political issue that has been plaguing me and my people. I think I'm on the spectrum, man. I I don't really know how to begin this topic without without second guessing it. For me, I grew up in a predominantly white suburb and that's actually a really good suburb, in fact, and I didn't have a lot of minorities around me. Well, there were a couple other kids, probably like three other Mexican black kids in my class that I grew up with during elementary, during middle school. High school was a little bit different cuz I switched up and went somewhere different. So, I definitely had a a different experience in terms of minority exposure. But growing up in elementary and, you know, early middle school, I was around predominantly white kids.

[00:01:10]So, I thought like them, I spoke like them. I dressed like them. I try to completely assimilate. Not necessarily in assimilate. I wouldn't even use assimilate. I tried to integrate, I should say, because assimilating is like almost keeping your own culture and bringing your your culture into their culture, but still not completely changing it. But integrating is like completely getting rid of your culture and going all in on their tribe. So yeah, I definitely was integrated um rather than assimilated. I didn't really have a good understanding of what culture even meant. I'm I'm Filipino and black and I didn't meet any of the black side of my family growing up other than my grandmother and we're always very distant from her. But my Filipino side very prevalent, very much so in my life.

[00:01:59]And yeah, we we definitely were around a lot of Filipinos growing up, but still like the way Filipinos treat mixed kids, especially with darker skininned morenos, were treated still like a lot differently as well in the community. It honestly goes back to colonization uh and whiter Filipinos being more liked than the darker Filipinos, even though later Filipinos are dark. Whatever. This is colonization. This is how it happens.

[00:02:26]This how it works. But yeah, like Filipinos still have like that stigma towards darker colored people. It's just something that's normalized in society and their society, I should say. Not every society is normalizing that. So, something we have to deal with on a daily basis. So, even though I had the Filipino side growing up and and didn't really know the black side of my family, I will say this, it was a lot easier for me to get along with these kids. Even though like you know you could see skin color from a mile away and tribalism is so evident in our c in people and humans in general. So that was one thing that separated us but for me in the way I thought my mindset it was a lot easier for me to integrate with these kids and you know make friendships and and talk to the teachers and them kind of understand where I was coming from. So I I definitely had it a lot easier growing up. I had more access to better schools.

[00:03:21]I had better stores around me. I had a better community basically just because I grew up around white people, which was a privilege, you know, even though I wasn't white myself. And yeah, I just I I definitely benefited from being in a society like that. I definitely had a lot of help from my teachers, but you know, you still get made fun of, peers saying certain things. There's always going to be that that difference that stands out, especially when we have different skin colors. Like that's something kids can even, you know, pick up on. So yeah, I mean I I dealt with my fair bit of, you know, issues growing up, but it was nothing major I would deem major. Like I didn't get spit on. I didn't get smacked because I was black. I didn't get, you know, like how you would imagine like ' 60s black kids get treated. And it's not really necessarily like that anymore.

[00:04:10]Racism is still a little more uh it's it's a lot more passive nowadays is what I've come to realize. And and honestly working in a in a career and having my job right now, you start to really realize like, okay, the stigmas with racism has never went away, though. Even though like lynching, redlinining has slowed down, but redlinining still happens till this day, blockbusting, you know, some of these practices that were done from, let's say, even like the ' 60s, '7s, and ' 80s, cuz we like to think that racism ended in the '60s, like after civil rights.

[00:04:45]No. And we like to say that things have completely revamped, but that's not the truth at all either. I mean, it's still very much so in our system in America, and it's not really like openly talked about. I mean, and people talk about it, but I don't think people really talk about the specifics of institutional racism, especially at a workplace and workplace discrimination.

[00:05:07]I don't think a lot of younger kids are talking about it. I I think it's something that we've kind of thought that we moved on from that we learned in school like no we're not supposed to treat people differently and I will say this Gen Z does a beautiful job of it.

[00:05:20]Yes. But we still have to recognize this issue and we still have to keep you know talking about it in an open space because and I'll make this example because even if someone is white, right, and they're in a predominantly black neighborhood, they're going to get treated a little bit differently. Like it's just tribalism and and that's completely normal. But it's the fact that we can talk about it like, "No, he's white, but he still has uh the same faith, the same morals, the same um understandings as the people in the black neighborhood."

[00:05:49]Like that if we have an open conversation about it, kids are going to be more understanding of the situation at hand rather than just looking at someone and judging them based off of an appearance. And it's also too like media as well is still portraying certain stereotypes is what I feel. And especially with rap music and you know, white kids still having that same fascination with black rappers and wanting to live that lifestyle. Like that's still a thing. That's that hasn't gone away. And I really do believe people think that racism has completely gone away. It's just as prevalent as it's ever been before. It's just I think it's a lot less overt than it it used to be. Like it's more passive. And you know, I I see it. I honestly do. And for for me personally, I don't think that white people are just racist. Like I don't think it's solely to white people that are racist. Like I think for me, anybody can be racist. Any race can be racist to another race. I don't make that assumption and be like, "Oh, all white people are racist and you know, they they don't have a heart." But the system forces white people to be together and and go against minorities.

[00:06:59]And it's something that I feel like there are a lot of people that have lighter skin that have challenged this.

[00:07:05]I I'll make this point cuz there are definitely those white people that have challenged the system like 100%. Like you know, no disagreeing with that. And I you know, and there's also black people that have challenged the system.

[00:07:17]There's black people also too as well that have gone with the system. So, we have to have conversations about these topics because we really have to talk about the specifics of race and we have to talk about this because not every white person is deemed as like a white American. Not every white American has the same beliefs as each other as well.

[00:07:36]And let me bring up a good example. A North African, right? Someone who's from North Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, what's that other one?

[00:07:47]Western Sahara, which is Morocco now.

[00:07:50]Marco's going to get mad about that one.

[00:07:52]But Sahar's going to be mad about that one. But even though they have lighter skin, it doesn't mean that they have the same beliefs as an American. Like it a black American and a white American have more similarities than a North African and a white American in terms of religion, in terms of values. Like we're westernized, you know, especially black Americans. Morocco was colonized in by Spain. It was colonized by the French.

[00:08:16]It was colonized by uh the Arabs at one point. So it's they have and honestly they have more of a a Middle Eastern influence. I from what I've seen honestly they they like to say we're amaz I'm sorry but Amazigs and you know and try to have their own unique identity. From what I've seen honestly they have more Middle Eastern values from what I've seen. Way more Middle Eastern values. That's not a bad thing inherently. I don't there's going to be people who argue that and get mad at it.

[00:08:42]It's like it's whatever. I I think Middle Eastern culture is so beautiful.

[00:08:45]I really genuinely do, but they have more of a Middle East influence. And what does America have to do with the Middle East? Like in terms of influence, like we weren't really influenced by the Middle East, not necessarily. And I don't think that we share the same morals as those people.

[00:09:05]I don't think everyone wants this. I don't think that it's something that white or black people want. I don't think that. I really genuinely don't. I just think it's something we've gotten so comfortable with that it's been in society and we can't get it out of it because it's in our institutions. It's like and a lot of people don't like change, especially older people. They don't like change at all. They like to keep the system the way it is. That's something I've noticed, you know. So, can't blame them. That's just the way age gets you. But right now that we have young people coming up into office, we have young people coming into politics, young people coming up into corporate positions, let's not think that way.

[00:09:42]Let's try and make a better a better change in this world than, you know, what we have right now. Let's try and employ people based off of, you know, a love for people and and based off of um intelligence and and based off the content of the character. Let's let's base these factors and let's use these Time to get out of Juliet.

[00:10:08]I'm going to go home, relax, edit this video, [ __ ] maybe play some Mountain Blade Battle Lord. That sounds like a [ __ ] good Saturday night to me.