In his book White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, Tim Wise describes the importance of being born white in 1968. After all, prior to 1968, it was legal to discriminate against people of color in housing. From colonization in the 1600s until the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act, racial privilege was "codified in law" (Wise 3). Prior to 1964, whites in America pretended, albeit poorly, to be a nation based on equality (Wise 3-4). The conversations surrounding race (and religion and gender and sexual orientation) have changed as a result of economic, political, and societal forces (i.e. the media). And while some may believe that the nation's first black president is a sign of drastically different times, there remains much work to do to achieve true equality for all cultures, religions, and persons of all sexual orientations.
Prior to the enactment of the civil rights legislation that exists today, people of color were routinely discriminate on an individual and an institutional level. Legislation that prevented discrimination in housing, voting, and other facets of civil society have made a world of difference in the lives of people of color. Today, the media continues to bring attention to the gaps between people of color and their white counterparts (i.e. the recent report on the widening wealth gap in the face of the recession). However, people of color continue to lag behind their white counterparts in educational attainment and wealth acquisition. In part this is because discrimination was built into the United States government and its effects did not fade with the enactment of a law or even several laws. Tim Wise said it best when he said, "It doesn't mater that today's whites never owned slaves, never killed any Indians, and never stole land from Mexico. We are here now, and so are the black and brown descendants of those persons of color whose ability to accumulate assets, professional credentials,...