Wednesday, January 21, 2009
RBG Ch. 2: The Experience of Racism
Even though there have supposedly been many advancements towards abolishing racism, it is still blatantly apparent in U.S. society. After reading this chapter as well as some testimonies about personal experiences with racism, many minorities are still scared to reveal, ethnically, who they really are. For example in WL Ch. 2: Jews in the U.S.: The Rising Costs of Whiteness, Melanie Kaye stated that "People are always asking me 'what are you?' They don't know I'm Jewish but they know I'm something (98)". This statement opened my eyes to see how in the U.S. we are so used to racially defining who are. Without race where do we fit in with one another? The U.S. is such a diverse nation and it sometimes is difficult for individuals to find their sense of self. Many people of different racial backgrounds come into U.S. soceity not fully knowing and expecting the racial assumptions place on themselves and their culture. Placing people in racial categories is easy, therefore, we do it all the time to get a sense of who we are and where we belong in this society. Racism is so engraved in our history it will take a lot of time and effort to etch it out.
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I think that in some cases, this racial categorizing can be a good thing. I don't necessarily think that it is always racism, but I think rather than pointing out and criticizing the differences people have with one another, we should identify these differences and celebrate them. Interesting post, I liked your thoughts on how people question their self identity!
ReplyDeleteI think the need to know “what” people are is an interesting one indeed. Why do we need to know what race people are? “What are you?” I’m human. How about that for an answer? If you must ask at least fraise it better. I feel like “What are you?” and “Where do you come from?” are really pretty rude questions to ask. “You don’t have to answer this but, what is your ethnic background?” might be a little more polite. Where do you come form makes it sound like you think they aren’t American just because they are a different race than you. You assume they came from a different country when really they are probably American born.
ReplyDeleteKnowing and learning about people’s different cultures is a good thing, but I feel like the only reason people ask what race people are is so they can make assumptions. They want to know what you are so they can better explain certain attributes are know what to expect using stereotypes taught to them by society. “Oh your Japanese, you must be smart.” I think that is where racial categorizing becomes racism is through stereotyping a race.