Equality is Key

 Nowadays, its easy to over look simple aspects of how race effects society, however, in A Raisin in the Sun, many different aspects of how race impacts people’s everyday lives are explored. Throughout history, black people have been oppressed by systemic racism and many of those ideas are unfortunately still present today, but people of other races and descents (especially white people) very easily miss the injustice that is so obvious in society simply because it doesn’t affect them.

 

In most American schools where black students and teachers are a minority, issues of race are not brought up in the ways they should, which just emphasizes the division of students. In most schools, friend groups are generally based on race. There is nothing wrong with this, and some can even write it off as ‘naturalization’, but I can’t but personally wonder if this could be impacted slightly by the lack of acknowledgment of diversity in schools. While its extremely important to recognize and celebrate each other’s separate cultures and backgrounds, there should also be an small sense of unity in students. By doing this, it will help all students of all races to recognize both the positive things and the struggles of their peers who suffer from systemic racism, and overall raise a group of anti-racist people.

 

An unbiased point worth noting as well is that in the play, Travis is colorblind to race. That being said, Travis is also the happiest in his situation. He loves his culture, yet he doesn’t feel insufficient compared to other members of society. This is where the sense of equality and unity should come into place in our society, where everyone celebrates their own culture, and no race is looked at as inferior.