The Race Card and the ripple effect.

The Race Card is most commonly known as the act of pointing out a racially ignorant instance.

This term very explicitly belittles the issue, because of its connotation, it holds a cliché tone.
When the issue is truly due to race, it is difficult for it to be taken serious seeing as the “Race Card,” is so often played in our culture. The problem here is not with the ethnic population searching for an “easy way out” but rather, the issue has not changed at its core. I am speaking, of course about the R word. Racism is such a harsh word with a worse reality. For whatever reason it is advertised as dead, but I am here to tell you that this is not the case. It may be much less blunt, with that I agree, but it’s not gone.

The “Race card” is used as an expression to make a race issue into a case of racial reparations, “because I’m a minority this is the consequence,” whether the case is unfair treatment in a restaurant or seeking a type of favoritism in any instance. The problem is it dilutes the situations where it may be most true, it causes an “the boy who called wolf” scenario. It holds less and less power to where we, as minorities, are left to look as if it is the fall back argument we use to win. This is not to say that the race card is the first thing to come to mind in an unjust event, I will say however as a minority myself, in an unjust scenario, it is difficult to ignore the fact that I am a minority and you are not. It pains me to have to come to the realization that I am being treated differently because of something as silly as my ethnic/race/culture I know that I am different, but it hurts to know it is that big of a game-changer.
I do not think it is unusual for this mindset to exist. After all, it has been programmed in the minority neighborhood and community that we are different. From childhood we are shown the difference in our schools with innocent remarks from other children, “hey, what are you? Mexican?” As if the culture was not enough to serve as a constant reminder, we searched for labels.

Our culture, although different for every minority, has been conditioned to believe that success for us is as rare as the homeowner in our neighborhoods. The culture is changing, slowly but it hasn’t stopped.

It is difficult to point out true instances of racial ignorance when everyone feels that it is the only accusation a minority ever makes.
Let’s think worldly, there is much more at stake than the ego of one person in one instance, it’s the integrity of a culture, of a people.