In the last few chapters of Bonilla-Silva’s Racism Without Racists, topics such as affirmative action are discussed between interviewers and respondents. Interviewers tried to gauge who was supportive of affirmative action and who was against it. From their answers, he then made connections to their gender and age. What he found was that most of the respondents who were supportive of affirmative action were younger females and blacks of all ages. Those that were against it were generally white and didn't agree with the inequality that whites were now receiving because of the affirmative action. Through all of the interviews it was made clear to the reader, or at least to me, that those who were directly affected by racism or those who grew up what we think is a less, discriminatory era were supportive and those that were on the other side of it were opposing. To me, this struck a chord personally because as affirmative action is in place to prevent black people from being discriminated against in the workplace and in university admissions, there are other groups that have been affected by tragedy that do not receive those same benefits. For example, one side of my family is Jewish and I had ancestors from Poland and some other European areas that were directly affected by World War II and the Holocaust. If they had not moved to the United States before Hitler came to power, I may not even be in existence. However, although my family has suffered from religious prejudice, I do not feel like I am owed anything. It was recorded that six million Jews were executed, yet there aren't any known organizations out there now that have anything to do with repairing the damage done and giving any benefits to the families affected. If certain groups are being compensated for discrimination, then all groups that have experienced similar tragedies need to be compensated as well. If that makes things too complicated, then everyone should be treated equally across the board. Discrimination will always be present; therefore, when one group receives more of something than another, the cycle continues. By eliminating anything extra for any one group, this makes discrimination even less likely. By eradicating specialties among any one group, no one is to blame for favoritism. Just as there is discrimination against Blacks, there is discrimination against all races. Therefore, favoring one group is unfair to others. By helping one race, another is being hurt. If this were equal among other groups, then Germans today should be discriminated against because their ancestors most likely participated in the Nazi regime and crucified the Jews in Eastern Europe. I do not feel like the hatred towards Blacks is fair; however, adding benefits that ends up hurting other racial groups is not fixing the problem. With every benefit given to the group discriminated against the most, the more everyone is reminded that prejudice beliefs are continuously being recycled. Not any one person today is to blame for the awful things that happened either in slavery or in the Holocaust, so this is why everyone today should be on the same playing field.
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