Privilege, Entitlement, and Implicit Bias Theme Analysis

One of Nic Stone’s strongest messages in Dear Martin is that white people in positions of power ought to recognize the socioeconomic factors that have contributed to their success. Because Justyce is one of only several black students at his prep school, he’s mostly surrounded by wealthy white teenagers who have never had to think seriously about race. This, in turn, gives the majority of Justyce’s white peers the false impression that racial inequality is a thing of the past, something that no longer keeps African Americans from succeeding. As Justyce’s friends adopt this viewpoint, they give themselves permission to underhandedly perpetuate casual racism, which rattles Justyce and makes him feel out of place in his own school. By outlining this insensitive and destructive dynamic, Stone suggests that white people with privilege should acknowledge their own implicit biases (prejudices they don’t even know they hold) and advantages, since pretending that racism no longer exists only makes it harder to address inequality when it inevitably rears its head.

The unacknowledged racism that runs throughout Justyce’s prep school is most apparent in his Societal Evolution class, in which he and his peers discuss whether or not the United States has achieved racial equality. “There are people who claim certain ‘injustices’ are race-related, but if you ask me, they’re just being divisive,” a wealthy and confident white student named Jared maintains. “America’s a pretty color-blind place now,” he adds. It’s worth keeping in mind that Jared himself has never had to confront discrimination based on the color of his skin. Sarah-Jane (otherwise known as SJ, another white student) tries to help him see this, but Jared remains unwilling to admit that the nation’s embattled history surrounding race makes it generally easier for hardworking white people to succeed over hardworking black people. Arguing that race doesn’t matter anymore, he points out that his classmate Manny (who is black) drives an expensive Range Rover and comes from a wealthy family. When he says this, he fails to see that a single example doesn’t prove that all white and black people have access to the same opportunities.

“I know you’d prefer to ignore this stuff because you benefit from it, but walking around pretending inequality doesn’t exist won’t make it disappear,” SJ tells Jared, pointing out that he and Manny could commit the exact same crime but receive different punishments. “It’s almost guaranteed that [Manny] would receive a harsher punishment than you,” she says. In this exchange, SJ expertly explains why it’s important to acknowledge inequality. Economic comparisons aside, she invites Jared to consider the fact that many police officers harbor implicit biases against black people—biases that lead to “harsher punishment” and, in some cases, violence. By drawing attention to this unfortunate reality, SJ refutes the claim that racism no longer brings itself to bear on black people in significant ways.

Despite SJ’s strong arguments, Jared still has a hard time acknowledging that white people on the whole have more privilege than black people. After class, he complains about the fact that Doc, the teacher of Societal Evolution, instigated a conversation about racial inequality. “Can you believe that asshole?” he asks his friends. “What kind of teacher has the nerve to suggest there’s racial inequality to a classroom full of millennials?” Jared is apparently uncomfortable with the very idea of discussing racial disparity, as he assumes it is a thing of the past and so not appropriate for “millennials.” This indicates just how unwilling he is to challenge his belief that the United States is now completely void of racism. This mindset enables him and his friend group to act insensitively when it comes to race and discrimination, doing and saying whatever they want because they don’t think racism exists anymore.

In keeping with this, Jared proposes that he and his friends dress up as “stereotypes” for Halloween, an idea that inspires a white boy named Blake to wear a Ku Klux Klan outfit. This puts Justyce and Manny in an extremely uncomfortable position, since neither of them want to criticize Blake’s costume, fearing that their friends will accuse them of being unnecessarily “sensitive.” Accordingly, they’re forced to swallow their reservations and pretend to accept this blatantly hurtful and problematic costume.

What Jared and his white friends don’t seem to understand is that they only feel comfortable dismissing the prevalence of racism because they themselves enjoy so much privilege in society. Their unquestioned comfort in their own skin makes them feel entitled to dismiss the entire possibility of racism in the United States. This, in turn, gives them the undeserved confidence to make light of very serious matters. In doing so, they simply perpetuate the very racism they claim doesn’t exist. This is perhaps most evident when Blake uses the n-word in conversation with Justyce and Manny. When Justyce criticizes him for “tossing the n-word around like [he] own[s] it,” Blake disregards the significance of what he’s said, eventually saying, “What is it with you people and the goddamn race card, huh?” When he says this, it becomes overwhelmingly clear that he feels entitled to say whatever he wants, refusing to recognize his own entrenched bigotry. Furthermore, he undermines Justyce’s right to speak out against racism, ultimately framing the entire matter as a joke. In reality, though, it is this kind of casual racism that feeds into larger, more systemic forms of discrimination.

Given that Manny is later killed by an off-duty white police officer simply for playing loud music in his car, it’s easy to see that Jared and Blake are wrong to believe racism no longer exists in the United States. While they might think they can jokingly use racial slurs, the truth is that these microaggressions only make bigotry even more commonplace. For this reason, Stone intimates, it is imperative that everyone remain attentive to the ways racial biases perpetuate themselves in all contexts. This, in turn, means that white people in positions of power or privilege will have to recognize that bigotry is still very much alive in the United States.