Sociology teacher presents, confronts America’s racism
Professor Jared Olesen speaks during his presentation on “Racism without Racists,” discussing how Americans choose to turn a blind eye to race as a substitute for treating people equally.
Students poured out of a class room on Feb. 11 for Professor Jared Olesen’s lecture on “Racism without Racists.”
Olesen gave five explanations, along with examples, of a typical American’s display of racial inequality: abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural racism, minimization racism, and reverse racism.
While these are not forward racist comments, they still produce racism. He proved that America has built racism into its systems.
Olesen’s use of the word ‘colorblind’ refers to people turning a blind eye to race as a way to bypass stereotypical racism. This, however, is not the answer.
He ended the lecture saying “Strive to be anti-racist.” ‘Anti-racist’ should be an action-provoking term used to take responsibility, opposed to the regularly used phrase “I’m not racist.”
This term instead should be used in a way to confront a world of racism, live in that world, and to actively dismantle America’s racist systems, he said.
