We've made progress, but ...

I'm learning that you have to filter absolutely everything. Even the things that are labelled as good.

I had an ironic moment. I was in a review session for my Contemporary American Society class. Yes, you've heard about this class many a times, but for a moment we were talking about race. Racism. Genocide. Racial disparities in prison sentences. Racial perspectives during Hurricane Katrina. Basically, in smaller but still significant ways than before, we are people that still discriminate.

I think it's just become more subtle than it has been in the past.

So I got a little distracted during the race talk and checked a few blogs that I read regularly. (Shhh) I clicked a link to a non-profit organization fighting against human trafficking. On this website, I saw this picture:

Gasp.

In light of our discussion on race, I immediately noticed the subtleties of this picture. Why is the victim white and the oppressor a minority? Why is the good/innocence of this picture white and the bad/evil not?

These are questions I don't feel I can address. These questions silence me.

I've also come across a short video, A Girl Like Me, which addresses the way that black women view themselves and if they know their own beauty in light of society.

To me, the most devastating part of this was a doll study they did - check it out in the middle of the video (around 3:30).