Racism in the 21st Century

Charles Gallagher surely discussed the issue of racism in a bold and direct fashion. As soon as the lecture began, he looked out into the audience, and asked students to confess to issues of racism they have observed/experienced on campus this year. If this didn't grab everyone's attention, I don't know what did! Going into the lecture, I had a general idea of what Mr. Gallagher would discuss; however, I still found myself shocked initially.

The basis of the lecture circled around the question of how racism will look in the 21st century. According to Gallagher, the younger generation (aged under 25 years old) is being socialized to be colorblind. In other words, this younger generation is more likely to go about solving racial issues with more of a liberal perspective than the generation of our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.

Though Gallagher alludes to an improvement of racism, he eventually discusses some of the negative issues that are still apparent. For instance, he says that "taking race into consideration is racist." To support this idea, he incorporates examples based on the current presidential election. According to Gallagher, the fact that we have an African American man running for president is legendary. However, he still considers it "racist" that many people still consider Barack Obama's race before considering his abilities. Although I know it's true that Obama's race is taken into consideration quite frequently, I don't feel like using the term "racist" to describe people who do this is the appropriate term. I mean, it SURE IS A BIG DEAL that the final presidential race is between a caucasion man and an African American man for the first time in history; therefore, it seems like many people's normal behavior would be to notice Obama's race. I do, however, agree that the term, "racist," could be applied to people who hold Obama's race against him, and who choose not to vote for him, solely because of his race.

In all, I appreciated Mr. Gallagher's lecture. I feel like he aims to encourage young people to be more open-minded and respectful towards others and their diverse backgrounds, as well as to inform them about the prospective path of racism. Although Mr. Gallagher was quite bold in his discussion of racism, such an impacting topic may very well require strong delivery, in order to make the overall message more effective.