Race Relations

It is unbelievable when you think that the Freedom Riders took their trip only fifty years ago. Because the difference in race relations has overcome a dramatic change since then. It seems that the northern states were about the same as they are now. Blacks and whites were almost completely immersed in each other's cultures creating one big culture. The more surprising part of the 60's to me were how the southern states treated blacks. It was horrendous. I was in the South over the summer and saw almost no difference in race-relations between the north and the south. In fact, more people joke about racism up north then they are in the South. This might be because they are trying to make up for being so racist for so long or something else. I can not advocate for the South when talking about their race-relations but I can describe what I experience in the suburbs of Philadelphia. First of all, the area is an extremely diverse area. There is a good percentage of whites, blacks, hispanics, asians and even more. That being said, I do not believe that there are any social restrictions that would make any one of those races more or less likely to succeed in life. Also, the only time that I hear something racist is when people are joking about it. Now yes, people do joke about racism more than they should. But I honestly believe that anybody that jokes about racism do are not truly racists. By truly racists, I mean treating people differently because of their race or assuming something about someone because of their race. There are probably true racists at WHS, but racists are look down upon so harshly that those true racists are too afraid to show that their racist.