Racism Still Alive in SC
I went to South Carolina for spring break this year and wasn’t quite sure what to expect in terms of racism. I figured that it would be very tame compared to what I’ve heard about in years passed. But certain things that I saw disturbed me a bit. As my friends and I were driving to our house we passed a breakfast place called, Tar Babies. At first nothing really hit me about the name, but as I looked at the sign closer I saw that there was a painted picture of a black baby on it. This sign was referencing blackface from what I assumed. I then figured that the place had to have been long closed, but later on in the week as I walked by it, it was open for business.
Another thing that caught my attention was in one of the gift shops I went into. The store was selling all the typical beachy type things that said Cherry Grove, South Carolina on them- necklaces, bottle openers, tank tops, etc. But in with all of that was a bin of key chains of confederate flags. I was again caught off guard by seeing that.
Last but not least, one afternoon as we were deciding where to stop for lunch we passed by a small seafood shack that had a sign on the door that read, “no colors.” This was even more absurd to me than the tar babies restaurant. Of course we did not stop there but stopped at a taco place down the road and asked the owners if that sign was real. And the owners of the taco place were not even surprised at all to hear that a sign like that was hanging outside the seafood shack’s door.
So, while I loved the warm weather and southern hospitality that I received while I was down there, I wonder if I would have been treated completely different if I were black.
Wow, I am astonished by the fact that there remains“no colored” signs on the doors of South Carolina. One would imagine that by 2015, with a Black president, overt instances of racism would cease to exist, yet they remain. Americans have a long way to go in terms to becoming more open and accepting of people of various religions, races, and creeds. I think a perfect example of this close-mindedness on our campus is of a anonymous voice on Yik Yak who claims that “criminal” deaths should not be honored, in reference to the golden flags placed on our Quad. My friend and I were both outraged when we read this comment. I helped install the 2,500 evidence flags for Immigration Week. Each one of those flags represents the life of a person lost on the U.S. – Mexico border since 1999. These only account for the known deaths – there are countless more that remain nameless and not found. I think people need to understand that this is not a political statement; this is about humanity. People don’t cross the border because they want to be exposed to harsh conditions, or because they want to sign the lives of children away to coyotes, or because they want to be confronted by gangs … they take the risk of going on this arduous journey because their current situation is bleaker than any danger the desert could pose. Few people realize that Latin Americans are escaping conditions of poverty and crime that THE UNITED STATES has created, as a result of the countless dictatorships that we installed throughout the region for over 50 years. So in the words of my friend: “We are reclaiming the dignity that you tried to take away from them. They are not criminals, they are heroes.”
This is horrifying to me. However, I think this speaks to a conversation we had earlier in the semester about Dear White People and whether or not we live in a post racial world. I have always been aware of the fact that racism is still alive, but I always viewed it as being more subtle. Your anecdote here just proves that there is nothing subtle about racism in 2015. I actually cannot comprehend that this is able to exist in the United States and that its not surprising in any way to the people that live in those states. I feel like I live in a completely different country than the one you just described.