Racism is an age-old stigma that our society has been dealing with. Black people think they've had it bad with racism from whites, and then there are those of both races. People of bicultural descent feel twice as bad when it comes to racism. They are persecuted by the white community because they are not white, and part black, and at the same time, persecuted from the black community for the exact opposite. "American society makes being biracial feel less like a blessing then a curse" (Courtney 7). It's hard for them to find a place where they fit in. But who is putting them under this pressure?.
Courtney describes how he feels in Freedom From Choice. He tells how his black friends call him "too white," and how he feels about marking down what race he is on applications. People see his skin color first, but that's not all there is to him. He doesn't want to have to stifle any part of his heritage. He's bothered by the fact that the two communities, which, separately he fits into fine, make him choose between the two. But why should he have to choose? Black people are against racism, but in Courtney's story, his black friends are the ones that make him feel awkward about having white friends. This is the same as "discriminating" against his white friends.
Society is hypocritical when it comes to racism, the victims as well as the culprits. Black people don't want to be discriminated against negatively, but if they get something good out of the deal because of their skin color, then all systems go. If there were an all white college or school, black people would raise hell, and say that's segregation. Yet, there are all black universities - Delaware State University, Alabama State University, and Albany State University, GA, just to name a few. Why doesn't this get questioned? There's black history month, but what if there were white history month? The answer to stopping discrimination is not to put black people on a pedestal, but to treat everyone equally.
