WJXT: Sociology professor breaks down racism in America

WJXT Channel 4

http://www.news4jax.com/news/sociology-professor-breaks-down-race-relations-in-america

Peaceful, violent protests erupt in Charlotte after police shooting

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - As tensions run high across the country after a second pair of black men were shot and killed by police in two separate cities -- Tulsa and Charlotte -- a local professor helped break down the tough topic of racism. 

Dr. J.R. Woodward, a professor of sociology at Florida State College at Jacksonville, who has been studying race relations for 20 years, said it's time for Americans to look prejudice in the face.  

The shootings have added momentum to movements like Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matters, as well as making some ask this question when they see police.

"How am I supposed to act?" said Woodward. "That doesn't necessarily need to be the dialogue or the question."

Woodward said American has endured "state-sponsored legal discrimination for hundreds of years."

"The economic institutions, the legal associations, the criminal justice system itself, has never been set up to benefit everyone equally. It's always had some people that it has paid a little bit more attention to than others and, often, that's been based on race. Not always, but often it has been based on race," Woodward said. 

Woodward said it's not as simple as saying "just comply." 

The Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation didn't end until 1965, so with integration only being 51 years old, Woodward said, Americans as a whole have a duty to address and fix prejudice that may still exist.

"Racism itself doesn't necessarily include or doesn't have to include ill intent or meanness. But, structurally, the society has been based in a way that supports and helps one group over another group, and that doesn't mean that whites automatically have class privilege or gender privilege or orientation privilege or anything else. But it does mean that racially, at least, they have a little bit of an easier road and less hurdles in their way," Woodward said. 

Woodward said the recent police shootings show that Americans still do not live in a post-racial society, and it's up to the police departments and U.S. citizens to fix the issues. 

"The statistics are pretty clear on the people who get pulled over, the people who get shot that are armed or unarmed. The numbers are pretty clear that we still have a ways to go in fixing some of these old legacies and these past issues," Woodward said. 

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