Can't we all just get along?: Part 6 - Working Together

Over the past few weeks I have looked at a variety of different attempts to deal with our racialized society. I contend that all of them have fallen short of what we need. Now I like to think about why they have fallen short and try to think about possible solutions.
I think all of the previous solutions indicate an attempt to meet the needs of certain racial groups at the expense of other racial groups. Colorblindness and Anglo-Conformity address the concerns of people of color. Blaming whites and multiculturalism tend to the needs of people of color. But none of these solutions deal with the issues of both whites and people of color. That is why I think they fail.
Solutions that deal with only the concerns of some of the racial actors will not be supported by the ones who are ignored. Thus attempts to foster a mentality of colorblindness will be resisted by people of color who realize how such a mentality limits their ability to deal with racism. However, efforts to engage in blaming of whites will not go far since whites will fight against this blame. Likewise solutions of Anglo-Conformity and multiculturalism fail to gain widespread acceptance across the racial spectrum. A lasting solution has to be one that can be widely supported by people of all different racial groups.
We need to change our mindset as it concerns racial issues. We need to stop thinking of only solutions that help our group. We have to try to think about the other players in this game as well. Thinking about how to create "win-win" situations is the only way we will find a solution that people from all the different races will buy into. And it is only when a solution has the support of both whites and nonwhites can we hope that people will work together to finally solve this racial thing that has troubled us.
We have to create an atmosphere where we can have solutions that people of all races can buy into. Creating that atmosphere is the goal that we have to strive for. For me it is the key to address the racial disharmony I have been studying for close to two decades now. In my next and final post of this series I will discuss that sort of steps we have to take to create the sort of atmosphere we need to find racial solutions that can be supported by people across the racial spectrum.



Sincerely,



Trouble-Maker