Racism in Womans Studies

Now we all know that racism plays a huge part in every day life in one way shape or form. Yes, it has died down a lot but there is a small amount of it living in society.

Barbara Smith writes about racism as a feminist issue in her article cleverly titled Racism and Women's Studies. Smith discusses racism in this article, but mainly talks about how white women take responsibility for their racism. She sees the change in how they, white women, take responsibility because she is a black feminist and sees things in a different perspective than the other women. She does state that racism is a feminist issue and can be explained by the "inherent definition of feminism. Feminism is the political theory and practice that struggles to free all women: women of color, working-class women, poor women, disabled women, lesbians, old women-as well as white, economically privileged, heterosexual women."(Smith, 1). Smith states that racism is not the fact that you can't be civil towards black people, but it is the act of how you act towards them. The fact that you cannot "look them in the eye and laugh with us"(Smith, 2), is a harsh statement. But she has a point. It is one thing to be civil towards someone, but not knowing how to act towards them is a different manner. If you cannot associate yourself with a certain group because you do not know how to act, then that is a bit racist. My thinking is that, if you can't relate to someone because of their race, gender, or sex, then you are being prejudice towards them. Smith makes a good argument.

Now I tend to not think of myself as being racist. I think I tend to give everyone a fair chance at getting to know me. Whether the outcome is that we don't become friends or that we become great friends is a different story. If you are nice to me, I'll be nice back. But if you are an asshole to me, be prepared for me to be an asshole back.