JOHNSON CHAPTER ONE

Rodney King’s Question
In this chapter, Johnson starts by citing Rodney King’s experience which occurred in 1991. Rodney was a black motorist who suffered a brutal beating at the hands of police officers in Los Angeles. His assailants were acquitted in spite of evidence that included a video tape of the incident. Because of this, King uttered the exasperated plea, “Can’t we all just get along?”(P1).
This is the question that Johnson tries to answer in this chapter. He also tries to explain why we can’t get along and what the solution could be. He states that King’s question formed an eloquent summary of the current state of our racial dilemma. Johnson states that the truth is that we can’t get along. This is evident through segregation in housing and schools which is so stubborn and pervasive, and the average wealth of white families is almost 14 times that of blacks. The effects of racism are everywhere and are especially evident among middle class blacks “who believed that if they went to school and worked hard, race would no longer be an issue. But they soon discovered that nothing seems to protect them from white racism” (2).
Johnson then talks about the problems of perception and defensiveness that usually arise as a reaction to the language of race and the entire set of social differences. He points out that the issue of not getting along is not only seen in the color line, but is also evident “across differences of gender, sexual orientation, disability status and numerous lesser divides”(2). To the issue with difference in gender, Johnson points out that men’s violence and harassment aimed at women is almost becoming epidemic. The differences are also seen in the work place where the glass ceiling blocks women from attaining executive positions and also in the income gap which is narrowing at a ‘glacial pace’ as Johnson puts it. Johnson further states that “men dominate virtually every major organization and institution, from corporations to government to organized sport and religion” but they rarely feel responsible for domestic work (3).
As for sexual orientation, society believes the only right way to go is heterosexism. Therefore, those who are oriented in other forms of sexual orientation, i.e. gay and lesbian, receive a lot of physical violence and harassment. The disabled are also “vulnerable to abuse both within and outside their homes” (3). They have to deal with a lot of stereotypes that are labeled against them and serve as a barrier for them to develop their abilities. Such stereotypes include the belief that disabled people are not intelligent, are damaged, helpless and inferior human beings. The environment around them makes their lives even more difficult because they cannot easily access buildings, buses and airplanes, therefore making it even more difficult if not impossible for them to attain the information necessary for their development. As a result, they are most likely to drop out of school and find jobs that will pay them less than the minimum wage (3). All these environmental conditions and stereotypes end up in a “pervasive pattern of exploitation, deprivation, poverty, mistreatment, and isolation that denies access to employment, housing, transportation, information, and basic services needed to fully participate in the life of the society” (3). All these are examples showing how much difference there is amongst our selves.
To such differences, Johnson states that some people argue that we cannot get along due to some variation in human nature. They say men and women are so dissimilar that the level of getting along that now exists is actually a miracle. Others argue that there is only one natural sexual orientation- heterosexual, therefore all the rest are unacceptable. Others still argue that the more capable will get more than the less capable because this is how it has been and will always be.(3).
But in order to make a difference in all these issues, Johnson suggests that we need to talk about the problem using the right words to describe them. Instead of being defensive and uncomfortable when such issues of race, gender, disability are brought up, we should be receptive and discuss openly of how we can make a difference. And to be able to do this, we need to work as a whole.
I totally agree with Johnson, but my question is, when and how are we going to come together as a whole to make a difference? I do not mean to deny the fact that we can make a difference if we come together, but to be more practical, I believe change has to start at the grass root level which is us as individuals. If each one of us can struggle for the change and then come together with everyone else, then the battle will become easier because we all will be one minded.