St. Andrews by the Lake

Congratulations to John Brakke who was awarded the Clayton, Jackson, McGhie Scholarship for an essay he recently wrote about racism. John will apply this scholarship towards his studies at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. If you would like to read John’s essay, it follows:

Ending Racism: Racial Justice Begins With Each of Us

White privilege is the basis of racism. Since the establishment of the United States as a nation, white people have been insistent on maintaining the power that our forefathers brought with slavery and the mistreatment of American Indians. Racism is not accidental. The system of white privilege was and is designed to stay in power. The people who are continuing it are people who have a dominant white agenda and have no motivation to think otherwise. They know that if they continue to oppress people of color, they will be maintaining a level of superficial superiority that they have come to need. These people have the ongoing pleasure in calling themselves “smart,” or “better,” or more “classy.” They put themselves on these high pedestals by telling people of color that they are “dumb,” “poor,” and there is nothing they can do about it. As soon as this mentality rubs off on people of color, racism has won.

The end of white privilege is the greatest step we can take in demolishing racism, and it needs to start with each individual. Today, white privilege is still apparent because there is no motivation for many white people to change. This is where continued discrimination occurs. This is where the problem is. Good people know that racism is wrong, and there are a lot of good people in the world. But these people have grown up in a world of stereotypes, and this evil will continue to exist as long as these good people continue to do nothing to change the world. The people who need to make a difference are the white people who “aren’t doing anything wrong.” To me, letting racism happen even if it is not directly in your life is doing something wrong. If you do not care enough to do everything in your power to change the practice of white privilege, then you are doing something wrong. For some people, they may not be aware, or are too stubborn to admit that racism is in and all around them: children of color who are immediately underestimated or ignored because of their skin, racial profiling by government officials, discrimination when it comes to jobs, schooling, and other aspects of life. For these people, the first step is becoming aware. The next step is having the inner strength to say, “Enough is enough.” Everyone can make a difference. If people eliminate their fear of admitting that racism happens in their life, then we are one step closer. If good people start taking action, even if it is something as small as telling a friend when he or she is making unfair or untrue assumptions, then change is possible. When people begin to fully accept others regardless of race, and begin to judge on character instead of color, that is when freedom has won.