The harsh reality of racism

“Racism has become so inherent in our system that it has become normalized,” Qwameek Bethea ’21, president of Furman’s chapter of the NAACP, wrote in an op-ed published online June 28 by The Greenville News. “There are racial borders in our health care system, our education system, our financial systems and our criminal justice system. What are we doing to address that?”

“I attend a predominantly white college. I live in a predominantly white neighborhood. I have had the opportunity to see and experience things that most of my Black brothers and sisters have not, but that doesn’t change anything. I am a Black man in America. According to the NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, a Black man is three times more likely to be killed by police than a white man, and five times more likely to be incarcerated than their white counterparts.”