Racial Tension Beneath the Human Race

An article constructed by Dennis Prager, a blogger on the Texas Insider, caught my attention because it raised up a question of race and how the President has impacted it. In fact, Prager claims that Obama has had no effect on the racial tensions that do still exist beneath the curtains of the Zimmerman case and other daily happenings. Prager goes deeper into the subject of race, however, by pointing out that "racial tensions" are lies and are not portrayed in the fashion they are meant for. If the term "racial tension" were used properly, then this would mean both sides of the case should be morally equal at fault. Prager defends his view by bringing up the history of the 1991 anti-Semitic riots in Crown Heights, where journalists tied the incident of blacks attacking innocent Jews as acts of "racial tensions." Especially in today's society, Prager notes that "racial tensions" have steered towards blacks' relationship with whites.

In Prager's words,

"Once one understands that 'racial tensions' is a euphemism for a black animosity toward whites and a left-wing construct, one begins to understand why the election of a black president has had no impact on most blacks or on the left."

I personally do not believe that racial tensions have become as narrow as blacks against whites. Racial tensions will never disappear from the human race, but even more, will continue to exist between several different races, only hidden from news coverage; because of the United States' history of segregation of blacks and whites, it's only likely that these tensions will still be uncovered and unnecessarily emphasized. As history denotes, unfair treatment did not only concern African Americans, but Japanese Americans were internalized in camps during WWII, and even today, people are mistreated or faced with prejudice because of whatever ethnicity they may be.

When Prager states that the term "racial tensions" is used falsely, however, I agree in that it has been brought out of proportion in regards to the situation it is placed in. Racial tensions have become more publicized between how whites and blacks conflict with each other, yet the issue might not involve race in the first place, or the hatred towards the other side is only brought up because of the history behind race relations. This kind of publicity has ignited the assumption that much of this hatred still underlines the motives of many Americans; focusing on race blurs the lines of the incident when it comes to verifying and seeking the truth behind what actually happened. Even if the incident involves race, the tension usually leans towards the minority, emphasizing even more of the hatred that exists because of the history of white supremacy.

As for what has changed since President Barack Obama's election, I did not expect any racial tensions to improve on the basis that our president is African American. Prager's point that racial tensions don't improve because people hold onto the assumption that whites are racist speaks some truth -- when a case such as Zimmerman comes up, so much attention is placed on the color of skin rather than the center of the situation. These strained relations persist because Americans are not able to let go of the prideful, protective attitude they store towards their own race.