It is disheartening to see the systemic and foundational decisions that are actively chosen in today's society. If we have this knowledge and we can see that the effects are not positive ones, then why do we continue to perpetuate these unjust decisions?
All people of color are discriminated against in the US, but the way the white overlords have treated black people is far worse, for more pervasive, with so many elements -- like bias and demeaning caricatures and games and music -- just utter dismissal of black people's humanity. It's hard to pull back enough to see it as it is going on in front of us. How many times have I participated without knowing it, without seeing what I was doing, how my actions and behaviors I didn't even think about were hurting people and ultimately damaging the country. I can't get my mind around it.
I'm shocked by the extent of discrimination against so many different racial groups and how similar patterns seem to be repeating.
I think part of me wants to think that there one "guilty party" - the unjust person that puts Japanese Americans in interment camps, develops degrading processes for Mexicans coming into the US, distorts water tests, etc. But this isn't just one person at fault. For things like this to happen, communities, nations have to permit it to. And that's scary to me. We as a nation, allowed this things to happen... and continue to.