“I don’t know why this is an issue,” a young White man said.
“Everyone should be treated the same. Everyone IS treated the same. For racial
minorities to say otherwise just isn’t true. We’re past an age of prejudice.”
“Actually,” a Black young man spoke up. “That couldn’t be
farther from the truth. A measure of racial justice can be partially determined
by the proportion of people who are incarcerated. There are simply more Black
people in jail than White people.”
“Maybe Black people are more likely to be criminals,” the
White man replied.
“Or maybe Black people are more often charged and convicted
of the same crime and tend to get longer sentences,” the Black man cocked an
eyebrow.
“Can you show the proof?” the White man said.
“How about you do that? A special assignment. Rather than
asking him to do the work for you, you can look it up and report back to us.”
Their professor interjected.
“That isn’t fair…” the White student began.
“Neither is your attitude. He’s right. Maybe you should
reconsider bringing such views into a sociology class,” she said before
resuming her lecture.
Campbell had watched the entire exchange with a strong
curiosity. As class went on, he kept looking back to the young Black man,
intrigued about his perspective. After class was over, Campbell approached him.
“I never considered that perspective before,” he began.
“A lot of White people don’t. That’s privilege for you, you
know?” the young man replied.
“To be honest, not really,” Campbell shrugged.
“I know,” the young man lauged.
“You do?”
“More than a hat rack,” the young man pointed to his head. “What’s
your name stranger?”
“You don’t pay attention in class do you…” Campbell
responded. “I’m Campbell.”
“Nice to meet a fellow smart-ass. My name is Aaron,” the
young man replied. “Do you like coffee? I haven’t had my fix today.” They
walked to the campus coffee shop and continued their conversation.
