interview_1

The speaker discusses racism, its definition, and its impact on individuals and society. They believe that racism affects everyone to varying degrees, but minorities, particularly darker-skinned individuals, experience it more. They mention that racism is deeply ingrained in American systems and causes pain and a sense of unwelcomeness. The speaker believes that people have different understandings of race and that it matters in different ways today. They express hope for a future where race doesn't negatively impact individuals and where race isn't pushed down. The speaker criticizes the revocation of affirmative action, stating that race does have personal and institutional effects. They also criticize the banning of critical race theory, seeing it as harmful and limiting critical thinking. The speaker shares their personal experiences with racial disparities in their community. They believe that solutions can be found beyond affirmative action, such as community education and legisl Jesus Christ. Okay. I didn't know it would do that. Okay. So. My first question, how do you define racism? I define racism as people who hold certain beliefs and express those beliefs about people's, like, ethnic background, cultural background, and, like, personal beliefs. And when faced with, you know, opposing ideas to the racism, instead of looking for a better answer, looking for, you know, if they're wrong or not, they double down on it and insist that their bigoted beliefs are true. Okay. Who do you think is affected by racism? Of course, I think everyone is affected in degrees. Racism itself is deeply harmful to our culture as a whole, but, of course, people of minorities, darker-skinned people, are affected by it more in different ways, and things like class, sex, also play into it. Okay. How do you think racism plays into their lives? It definitely depends on where they're living. If we're talking about specifically in America, racism has been very much founded in the foundations of our systems, of the ways we live, what's expected of our culture. So it's, from my understanding, a persistent pain, a persistent feeling of, like, unwelcomeness, harm, that changes their very identity. I mean, it's the reason why African Americans are called African Americans, is because of, you know, being brought over here and treated as slaves. What do you think race is, like, if you could, like, define race? Race is a, from my understanding, a cultural identity that includes, obviously, the culture, the ethnic background, and religion at times. Okay. Do you think most Americans have a similar or, like, different understanding of race than you, and, like, do you have a reason for your thoughts? I think most people have a different idea on most things, especially race. Obviously, America's quite a big country, and we also differ a lot in our own ideas and beliefs. We're a very, you know, diverse country, ironically, and that makes, like, pockets of similar beliefs all around the country. So, yes, I do think they have very different ideas on what race is. Do you think we're in a time in history where race is starting to matter less, more, or the same than it has in the past? I think it matters in different ways now, because I think, honestly, the advent of the Internet, more knowledge is being spread to more people. We're now looking back and criticizing and, you know, re-analyzing the past that we came from, where race mattered in a completely different way, and we're challenging that and wanting race to matter in a more positive way and changing the systems that we live in. Do you think we'll ever reach a point where race doesn't matter, or is that even a good goal to achieve? I think it definitely depends on what we're talking about matters. I think race should matter to individuals, should matter to institutions when that race is being oppressed. Do I think we'll reach a point where race isn't a harmful thing to identify with, where race isn't pushed down? I do think so. I think as generations are getting more and more deeper understanding of these harmful systems we live in, that they'll push for it. I think it'll be a slow change, but I do think it'll be a change over time. So what do you think a good goal would look like if not, like, getting to a point where race doesn't matter? I think a good goal is, well, race doesn't stop you from anything. It doesn't matter in the sense that you don't have to worry about it, you can only love it and enjoy it and experience it. There isn't pain that's tied to it in your common day-to-day. Okay. I'm sure, as you know, last June, the Supreme Court revoked Affirmative Action. In essence, race can't be used as a secondary consideration when you're applying for things. They can only be permitted as a personal essay if you're applying to a college. How race has affected them personally, what do you think about that? I mean, I think it's narrow-sighted. Obviously race affects people personally, but it affects people institutionally. I mean, you know, within these people's grandparents' lifetimes, a lot of these colleges didn't let Black people in, didn't let minorities in. So, to think that that doesn't have an effect on how these people apply today, I think is ignorant at best and negative at worst. What do you think about states like Florida trying to ban critical race theory? What do you think the effects of banning critical race theory would be? I think places like Florida thrive a lot on their politicians maintaining their power through fear-mongering and playing to a cult of tradition, this idea that these new things are harmful to what made us Americans, what made us Floridians, what made us whatever. What was the second half of the question? Like, what do you think the effects of banning critical race theory would be? I mean, extremely harmful. I think it's almost similar to banning things like sociology or, like, fine arts. Obviously those are significantly less of, like, direct importance, but these classes, these educational spaces that aren't teaching you directly applied, like, job skills that a lot of our education system has become, they're teaching you, well, in the name, critical thinking. They're teaching you these methods of analyzing the information around you to criticize yourself, criticize others, criticize our pasts, to, like, be able to process things in a, you know, open and full way so that you can come to a more prompt conclusion instead of sticking with your own harmful ideas that you just feel comfortable in. Do you think, like, where you're from has impacted your views on race? I do. I live on the Newington-Newport and Bordeaux in Connecticut, and that is an interesting place because Newington is kind of a white, democratic place where people are kind of progressive, but they're still very much stuck in their ways. And New Britain is very much more minorities, more black people. And so growing up, I was kind of on the border of that, so I would see directly the effects that, like, you know, white people are able to live in these nice suburbans, and minorities are living in, you know, more urban, like, closed-in areas. And I think that kind of showed me, like, the effects of these systems of how they're still, like, today. They're still around today, and white people benefiting more, and black people are all shunted to the side. What do you think could be, like, a solution past affirmative action now that it's been repealed? Like, do you think that there's a solution to the issues that repealing affirmative action has created? I think there's always solutions. I think there's always action to be taken. If they won't let us educate people in the schools, then we can educate them outside of the schools. We can push for, you know, community education, using community service, what they're meant for, for helping the community. We can push, again, go back to legislation, push for it again in our schools. You know, being in a democracy, we can do that. There's always more solutions for these problems. And this is going to be the last question. Do you think reparations are something that you should consider in the United States past, just people vocalizing about it in the middle-class level? I mean, absolutely. This country got most of its wealth off the backs of minorities, off the backs of broken-hearted people, and that wealth should go back to them. Okay. All right, that's all my questions for you. Well, let me turn off the recording. How do I record off? Channel. General. General.