"My goal is the eradication of white supremacy," said Tim Wise, a leading social critic and activist, who gave a speech at St. Olaf on Mar. 6 entitled "Undoing White Supremacy in the 21st Century: Individual and Institutional Racism."

As an example of institutional racism, he explained the unequal distribution of health care by saying that 10,000 people of color die every year because they received inadequate medical assistance. He pointed out that this statistic does not make the news and is not a major concern for the American public.

Wise also put forth a call to action for all whites. Most of the "majority race" may not be contributing to racism, but they're not fighting it, either, he stated.

He added that in a 1996 Gallup poll, six percent of white Americans believed racism was still a problem and in another poll, 12 percent of white Americans believed Elvis was still alive. He commented that whites would rather believe Elvis is alive than believe what minorities are telling them about their experience.

Wise also talked briefly about the separation of races in America. "White folks are so unbelievably isolated from people of color in this culture," he said. He added that 80 percent of white Americans live in communities that have no minorities.

He gave an example of how white students don't often choose to go to historically black colleges and universities because they fear feeling isolated and out of place. He pointed out, however, that blacks experience these feelings everyday.

On college campuses, where Wise has lectured over 200 times, he said white students often question why they don't have student unions for their advancement. In response, he said, "[Whites] have two: Fortune 500 and the U.S. Congress." Wise believes the dominant group in terms of numbers and power does not need its own organization.

Historically, the term "white" did not exist until the late 1600s, Wise said. When poor Europeans were socially on the same level as black slaves, their separation by race gave them a stake in the system and placed them ahead of the blacks. He also said that minorities did not add to European culture, but rather whites added to their culture, which was already in place in America.

In terms of the country's criminal justice system, Wise said that minorities are disproportionately stopped, searched and ticketed by law enforcement officials. For example, black women are nine times as likely to be searched in international airports, whereas white women are two times as likely to be in the possession of drugs.

"We profile people of color because we can," he said, adding that very often, black people commit crimes and it is turned into a racial issue.

He pointed out that when whites commit crimes, the public and media do not ask what is wrong with white families, white communities or white schools, but we they ask those questions when minorities commit crimes.

"We have this absurd image of what danger is," he said, explaining how whites often cross the street or clutch their bags when a minority approaches them.

Wise also talked about the stereotypes, and how American society often pegs blacks and other minorities as people who use drugs and commit crimes. However, whites are seven times more likely to have used cocaine and heroine, eight times more likely to have used crack cocaine and 34 percent more likely to sell drugs. We must undermine these stereotypes, he said.

The final part of Wise's speech dealt with the racial representation of biblical figures. "I don't know what color Jesus was; none of us know," he said, but he pointed out that the first depictions of Jesus were of dark skinned man. Some of these depictions are still in the Vatican, he added.

"We have to understand how our history shapes all of us," he said, and ended by stressing that we have no excuse to not fight racism.

Wise is the founder of the Association for White Anti-Racist Education (AWARE) and is a member of the Leadership Council of the Sourthern Anti-Racism Network. He is the author of Little White Lies: The Truth About Affirmative Action and 'Reverse Discrimination'.