The Seattle Times released a project called “Under Our Skin,” which was started in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, police shootings and protests on college campuses. The project was having an assortment of people to discuss their feelings on different racial topics.
One of the topics you could click on to discuss was white privilege. This topic intrigues me because it is something some people can’t seem to grasp but something feels it happening all the time.
One man said “here’s the thing about not acknowledging white privilege, is that you internalize that superiority.”
I feel this is a valid thing to think about, that is why white privilege should be discussed so people are aware of it and the effects it has.
One topic I was more hesitant to click on was politically correct because I feel this topic is vague. People in the project claimed it is making sure you aren’t offending people, one girl explained how this can be ruining our communicational skills.
I kind of feel the same way that nowadays there are so many things that we aren’t allowed to say to people and we have to tiptoe around everyone’s feelings. But most of the time they aren’t even offensive things to say they just have now been developed to come off as offensive.
I was most surprised while watching the all lives matter aspect that everyone had such strong feelings about it. A lot of the participants were saying how people use this saying of all lives matter to avoid the racial aspect of the Black Lives Matter movement.
I knew that all lives matter, but I understood that the Black Lives Matter movement is aimed toward police violence towards Black people. But one participant talked about how people genuinely don’t know this, while I thought it was common knowledge.
It just makes me realize some people aren’t as aware of what else is going on in the world outside of their race. I feel this also caused some stronger feelings for me because it makes me upset when people try to avoid conversations about race.
Yes, conversations about race can be difficult but changing the whole Black Lives Matter movement to all lives matter, this is defeating the whole purpose of it.
One man said “when you say ‘Black Lives Matter’ you’re saying ‘all lives matter.’”
I agree with this and this is something more people need to understand too.
While listening to these people discuss these terms I realized as a journalist I should always be informed on the meaning and perspectives these terms can have.
Being able to have open conversations about any of the terms used in this project is something a journalist should be able to do since any reporter can be reporting on these topics.
To help with my future career, I feel I should take time in knowing and understanding these terms further. This project helped open my eyes to other people’s opinions on the topics, which exploring these different perspectives is a great place to start.
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