Racism Without Racists Analysis

Discrimination has been found through out human history and in almost if not every culture. One of the most common, if not thee most is racial discrimination, or more commonly known as racism. In different ways both Bonilla-Silva’s “Racism Without Racists” and Diangelo’s “White Fragility” address this issue of racism; specifically the sub issues of racisms modern forms, such as the coded language, segregation, and the presentation of unequal opportunities. As well as how these new forms of racism are affecting the dominant “white” cultural ideas about racism or more so their lack there of in modern day society. The general conclusion of both was that due to the new ways racism prevents itself, white people are undereducated on the impact

Bonilla-Silva refers to old racism as Jim Crow era racism “…where racial inequality was enforced through overt means” (93). He then goes onto explain that racism nowadays is much more hidden, he brings up the idea of “smiling face” racism, this being not the denial of jobs and opportunities, but the idea of not letting people of colour know about the same opportunities, this form of racism much more discrete, therefor it is easily looked over and ignored by those who it does not directly effect. However according to many studies many people still live in segregated communities, attend either white or colored dominated schools. It is also shown that people of colour are still more likely to have less income, and be generally poorer then their white counterparts. This modern racism acts to make access difficult for colored people seeking better opportunities, but also holds the ability to claim itself as “not racist” if called out as such, because in the opinion of whites, there is nothing racist about missing out on an opportunity, despite the fact it wasn’t as openly advertised to people of colour, because ‘’they could have found it if they had looked harder’’. Because of this general overlooking of discrete racism, many white people are less willing to admit that they them selves are living in a racist society, not to mention that they might be facilitating the