Today is Martin Luther King Day in the USA. Race relations have come a long way in the past 40 years, but there is still work to do. The major barrier to achieving true equality is that there are many white people in America who think that white people are superior to black people.
When I say many white people think white people are superior to black people, I don't mean it in a Ku Klux Klan/Nazi way. Most white people do not think black people are subhuman. Most white people don't hate black people. I think most white people subconsciously feel they are just a little bit better than black people.
If you want evidence that many white people think they are superior to black people, take a look at the affirmative action debate. People who are against affirmative action claim that it is unfair. They think people should be judged solely on merit when being considered for jobs and admission to elite universities.
Judging people solely on merit is a noble goal. It was Martin Luther King's dream, but it does not exist in corporate America. Being the most qualified candidate for a job does not mean you're going to get the job. You could get passed over for many reasons. Another candidate might have performed better in the interview. One of the other candidates might be a good friend of the hiring manager. The hiring manager might have been pressured to hire the CEO's close relative.
White affirmative action opponents have no problem with less qualified applicants getting chosen for jobs and admission into college. Hiring the CEO's nephew is fine. A university admitting a student because her father went to the school and donated a lot of money is OK. But if a less qualified applicant get chosen because he's black, they get upset. Why?
The answer is that white affirmative action opponents believe black people are inferior to white people. Slightly inferior, but inferior still the same. Getting passed over for a job by the CEO's nephew is OK because the CEO is a superior person. Getting passed over for college admission by the child of a rich alumnus is fine because rich people are superior. But getting passed over for a black person is considered an injustice. If these people thought blacks and whites were equal, they wouldn't be upset about getting passed over for a black person. They get upset because they got passed over for an inferior person.
