Racism Yesterday and Today: More Similar Than You Would Think

On page 47 in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, there is a section that talks about the cotton farmers bring into town their cotton bales to be sold to a buyer. Ned Cobb, an African-American cotton-farmer from the mid-20th century, that the author has been periodically checking in with throughout the book, talks a bit about his own experiences with trying to sell his cotton in town: “Ned Cobb remembered selling cotton, too, hitching up the mules and taking a bale into town. But he tried not to take his cotton right to the buyer. He let a white friend do that as he found that this made a big difference in the price: ‘[C]olored man’s cotton weren’t worth as much as white man’s cotton less’n it come to the buyer in a white man’s hands’” (Rivoli 47). This section struck me as an infringement on the rights of Cobb to get equal treatment for his work as a white person doing the same work. I understand that the time period in which this happened; the country had yet to go through the Civil Rights Movement. Reading this section makes me think that that way of thinking is so old and outdated. However, you look in the news today, and there are still people that are close-minded and racist.
From the BBC’s website, BBC.com, I found an article that emphasizes the point that racism still is around today. It may not be as common place as it once was, but sadly it is still around. In the article, the Metropolitan Police (in London), have been deemed ‘no longer institutionally racist’ by the Justice Secretary Jack Straw. The fact that it is 2009 and institutions are just now being announced as not racist is sad. It’s been over 40 years since the Revolutionary Sixties and Martin Luther King, Jr. For me it’s hard to believe why any individual would be racist still to this day, which makes this article very hard for me to believe because it’s a whole institution—police officers to add to it! Mr. Straw talked about how he thinks that as a whole institution and going with majority that racism is gone from the Metropolitan Police. However, he says that, “If you ask me, do I believe that it’s [Metropolitan Police Institution] perfect as an institution and that black and Asian people, and indeed women, have the same opportunities in practice as white males, I think the answer is – probably not in some areas” (“Met”). This is completely unacceptable as a society. It links back to Cobb selling his cotton to buyers but making sure that he wasn’t the one that the buyers saw. The inequality that exists today, as it did back in Cobb’s time as well is horrible. To base any decision upon the color of a person’s skin is inhumane. Everyone is equal and if two people of different races are doing identical work, then they deserve identical compensation. Cobb deserved the same amount of money that was given to his fellow-cotton farmers who were white. It’s unfortunate that people still need to be reminded of this concept in today’s world.

Work Cited:

"Met is 'no longer racist'" BBC.com. 22 Feb. 2009. The BBC. 22 Feb. 2009
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