During my childhood I used to hear about the United States of America as the country of freedom, democracy and of course land of the rich people. It had a mythical unique stand among other countries. Even European countries could not be compared to the States. But when Chuck spoke last week, he certainly didn't speak of the land of the freedom, equality or democracy. I already have heard about the issues he pointed out, however, hearing someone's personal experiences, especially if this someone is as passionate as Chuck, made the Utopian American Dream dissappear for me.
Chuck pointed out the distinctive privilege for those who carry certain characteristics in the society. Although I was not surprised to hear that those who are white, male, heterosexual, and Christian are in a privileged status in the society, it still bothered me to hear about it. One of the reasons for this fact to irritate is the times we live in. In the 21st century, there shouldn't be segregation between human beings, but unfortunately, what I believe does not change the society we live in.
Chuck also brought up facts from history such as the segregation between the white race and African American race. What was most interesting was the specific examples about the segregation. I had heard about separate schools, buses and so on in a broad sense, but never actually listened to someone give specific examples of it. Chuck talked about the impact of segregation on people's ever day lives. For instance, there were separate elementary schools for people of color. What upset me the most was hearing the example of separate hospitals. I didn't know that African Americans actually died in certain circumstances, due to not being admitted to the "white" hospitals. I just couldn't believe that a doctor would refuse to treat a patient because of skin color. Wouldn't that defeat the oath doctors take?.
