To the editor:
Race discrimination and sex discrimination are not equal; for the sake of attempting to reach a broader audience I will use it as a parallel. Ask a woman in your life – mother, daughter, wife – about a time she was treated differently because of her gender. If you’re a male, realize that you can’t truly fathom the negative treatment females face in our society because of the simple fact that you are not a female. Men don’t often think about the possibility of being raped because they are walking alone at night. Male dominated religious, political, and physical ideals for millennia have caused institutionalized sexism. Through many progressive movements, our society has accepted the reality of the inequality woman face in the workplace, at home, and with society at large.
Yes, men experience inequality too. I am not trying to undermine the inequalities men face.
A white-skinned person cannot fully understand the societal treatment a person of color experiences. Whites can turn on the TV and see their race widely represented. Whites have been able to vote 189 years longer than blacks.
The Black Lives Matter movement is shedding light on inequalities non-whites experience, which has caused some whites to feel they must defend their white privilege by denying its existence or by victim blaming. People of color are treated differently by society at large. No one wants to feel like a bad person. Instead of admitting that what we take in through our eyes (i.e. gender, clothing, height/weight, skin color) effects our perception/treatment of people, we deny or condemn the notion because is it shameful to feel racist or sexist or superficial. Rather than accepting that institutionalized racism exists, we resort to stating the obvious: That all lives matter.
Eddie Gomez
Peterborough