We are living in an era of political correctness, which has been the source of much controversy over how much of it is necessary. There have also been many new “hot topics” arising within the issue of racism such as cultural appropriation, edgy humor and Diversity in the media and pop culture. Most of it however would come down to a new fad called “white-shaming.”

Ethnic minorities have been blaming white people even when it’s unjustified. Now many people would find this offensive because they assume I’m white, talking negatively about minorities but wait… I’m not white! To many, my being of an ethnic minority would make it okay that I said something edgy which brings me to my first point: White People are not always being treated equally.

Have you ever been watching a show and a black character said something like “this white lady’s crazy.” Now imagine a white character saying “this black lady’s crazy.” It’s offensive. Now I understand that in the past, as well as now, white people have not always treated minorities well, which in a certain sense prohibits white people from saying things like “this black lady’s crazy.” However, at the same time, society is much more likely to be offended by something a white person says than what someone of a minority says. Someone who’s of a minority can make a joke about white people being nerds or complaining too much, but if a white person makes a joke about a certain minority, it’s disgusting and racist. Of course there are certain things such as slavery and the holocaust that are not to be made fun of if we really want all ethnicities to be equal in society, why are we only allowing minorities to make edgy jokes and again, that’s all they are: jokes.

Another problem with racism in society is that we expect things from white people that ethnic minorities themselves are not even fulfilling. For example, white people are always blamed that they cannot tell different types of Asians apart. If I showed an Asian a German and a Russian, chances are they would not be able to tell the difference either. It’s not a bad thing it’s just that when you’re a part of a race, you know more about your race than others. I don’t expect a Nigerian to be able to tell the difference between a Pakistani and an Indian, just like I don’t expect an Indian to be able to tell the difference between a Nigerian and a Kenyan.

The last issue I would like to present is cultural appropriation. This is when people from one culture use different aspects of a different culture. Most often it’s a “problem” when white people do it. People find that when a white person raps, they’re stealing from black culture. People find that when a white person gets a tattoo in Chinese, they’re stealing from Asian culture. Why is it that we don’t allow people to appreciate and embrace other cultures without telling them they’re racist.  We should always acknowledge from which culture something originated but that doesn’t mean we can’t partake in it. This idea of cultural appropriation does nothing but separate people when we should be trying to bring people together.

Overall, nobody should feel ashamed to be in their own skin. Every ethnicity should be respected. We should always try to learn about new cultures but we should never be afraid to do it because we’re worried about saying the wrong thing. Who knows if we’ll ever reach this ideal state of racial equality but we should never stop trying.