When
I wake up in the morning everyday and look at in the mirror, I see a round
face, jet-black hair, slanted eyes- typical appearance of an Asian girl. It
reminds me of my race in American society every day, which differs from most
people around me, black or white. Race is inherited. We born with it and die
with it. Race is permanent. We can’t change it. Race is social structured. We
give it different meaning in different societies. Thus, there is no fixed definition
of race, it is socially and historically constructed.
Traced back in history, race was created mainly by Anglo-European,
especially English societies in the 16th to 19th
centuries (p.81). Raw materials for the real racial concept are: civilized and
uncivilized, base of religion, territorial identity. Also, the central
historical fact is that slavery was absolutely central to the rise of the
concept of race, especially when chattel slavery that defined people as
property emerges. (p. 84) After African were slaved to Anglo-European, the
social relationship became embodied in the categories. According to
Roy, there’re two major prospective explaining the reason that race has so much
power- essentialist perspective and constructionist perspective. The
former emphasizes on genetic traits of race. Well-meaning attempts to eradicate
racial differences are bound to fail-racial differences are incorrigible. (p.75)
The latter stresses that race categories are invented by people.
There were five factors that European used to change from preracial
to racial forms: the rise of capitalism and egalitarian values, The English
cultural construct of “the savage”, the legitimization of racial concepts by
science and the enforcement of racial dominance by government (p. 85). They laid the foundation
of concept of race today.
American society is diverse. Race is a way
of understanding reality (p.80). It helps us explain social phenomenon and
behavior. It tells us why people are treated differently. The case of Redlining
shows that people tend to live with the same race. In America, skin color may
have an effect upon every phase of life, including job placement, earnings, and
most importantly, self-concept (Vontress, 1970). Here is the clip I watched in my psychology class. It indicates the identity crisis of the black children who is from a segregated school. It also shows how harmful the segregation can be toward children and the bias affects attribution.
A movie The Help tells us
a story about a white woman writer fight for the right of African-Americans
during 1960s when segregation still exists and people begin to shout for civil
rights. In a country with the motto of “All men are born equal”, inequality still
exits. Here are two clips in the reality TV show of “What would you do?”I want to share with you.
In the first clip, people called 911 simply because the two black
kids were sleeping in the car and actually did nothing. They ignored the fact
there were three white kids destroying strangers’ car. And there were more
people calling 911 when they saw black kids doing the same thing in the second clip. Although this
kind of experiment lacks of repetition and can’t be generalized, it to some
extent shows the existence of discrimination in contemporary American society.
I learned from Wednesday's reading that "All human identities are in some sense-and usually a stronger rather than a weaker sense-social identities". As human beings, we have same biological structure, same emotional feelings, same facial expressions. We suppose to love each other and care about each other. I feel really touched when I read the journal of one European American who is going to a black children community service center and found herself the only white teacher. "I was overwhelmed with questions. How would they treat me? I learned quickly that love was all these kids cared about. They didn't care what color my skin was or where I lived. "(Dunlap, 2000) Despite the fact that we are from different race, love is universal.
In conclusion, race is socially and historically formed and it
influences every aspect of individual’s life. We should ask ourselves why race matters that much from time to time.
As a society we have definitely come a long way concerning racism. Racism is not yet completely eradicated from our society because it has been embedded in our minds as to what is considered good or beautiful and bad or ugly. The experiment done with children and dolls illustrate how children are also affected by society's notion of what is good vs. bad. How can a child consider herself ugly just because her skin color is black. I was sad when the little girl chose the black doll as the ugly doll. This can lead to low self confidence when they grow up. It shouldn't matter what our skin colors are, we are all human beings alive and working towards our goals. A white skinned person shouldn't be superior over me just because I am black. We all attend the same schools, live in similar buildings, have similar goals and we even get the same grades. We are not that different. Just because I am black doesn't mean I am violent and have the will to cause harm to next white person I lay my eyes on. In watching the video about the lady showing the house the colored family I was happy to know that people will stand up and speak against rude behavior. Even if the lady wasn't going to sell the house to the family, she should have had the decency to allow them to take a look at the house without any of the comments she was making.
ReplyDeleteI was also sad when I saw the little girl chose the black doll as the ugly doll.My point is that is the problem with segregation. It's really bad that the social identity has the negative impact of individual's self-concept.As for me, I don't think people should consider me as the stereotype Asian,either. I don't want race define any people.
DeletePersonally, I believe that the variance within each of us is what makes the human race beautiful. One skin tone should not be the dominating factor and justify what is the meaning of beauty. I don’t want to offend anyone, but the first video of the children choosing between the two dolls actually is not surprising to me. People have been raised to think that a lighter skin tone is prettier or more beautiful. Here is a link to an article by Rajini Vaidyanathan BBC News, Mumbai, “Has skin whitening in India gone too far?” The article discusses about skin whitening creams and the effects on the general public. One aspiring actress could not get a role because the directors claimed she was too dark. Simply, people are being influenced around each other to assume that being “fair” or lighter is good-looking. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18268914
ReplyDeleteThe second video, I can personally relate. There are people who stand up for others based on a wrong action and there are those who don’t based on skin tone. Once my little brother and I went to Meijer, we decided to hangout near the pharmaceutical section/beauty section to look at products while we waited for our parents to finish grocery shopping. While we were observing some products a White American, elderly man, comes up to us and accuses us of shop lifting. We tell him that we are not and decide to walk away. He stops both of us and takes us to the Pharmacist working by the counter and tells him that we were shop lifting. The man also asks us if my brother and I are related, so I say yes. He then accuses us of lying because my skin tone is a few shades lighter than my brother’s. At this point, my brother and I are really offended and angry. He tells the Pharmacist that we are not siblings, my brother is dark-skinned, we lied to him, and we were shoplifting. After I explained to the Pharmacist what my brother and I were up to, the Pharmacist apologizes to us and says to ignore the man because he is prejudice and a racist. Even though, there are laws against discrimination, discrimination is still prevalent in our everyday lives.
“Perhaps someday people will look back on this era and wonder how people in the 20th century considered distinctions among black, white, yellow, brown and red in the same quaint terms people today look back on those who thought Irish, Italians or Jews were distinct immutable races (98). I find it extremely interesting looking at how we construct race. In today’s reading about race (Making Societies), we can see that a lot has changed in terms of ‘racial’ tolerance and how different people fit into different racial groups today. Yet even though a lot has changed, there are underlying concepts of race that existed in the past that continue to shape how we perceive and judge each other today. For instance, the female realtor in the clip is a reminder that to some people race is of utmost importance when interacting with others. It may be ignorance or prejudice, but some people refuse to realize that our differences are mainly phenotypic holding all other factors constant. Conversely, the guests in the house represent people who recognize diversity among people but do not use it as their first basis of judgment. As for the actress that Twani mentions, it is disheartening that her skin tone rather than her talent is a determining factor for employment in the film industry. Perhaps the conception that some features are more popular/accepted than others means that this will continue to happen for years to come. However, in the same way that I was made more aware of how socially constructed race is, we will become more inclusive of the diversity that exists among us.
ReplyDeleteYuting, I remember watching those videos in my psych class and I can’t believe how race has so much affect on our lives. I agree with your quote, “Race is permanent. We can’t change it.” Race is definitely something that helps ‘define’ us, but does it truly define us as our own individual? I would have to say no. After watching the “What Would You Do” videos, it is clear how people differentiate situations based on the race of an individual. I think its a little bit ridiculous to have more 911 calls for two African American kids sleeping in a car, while there are three white boys breaking into and vandalizing a car at the same time. Whether or not a person is African American, Asian, White, etc, it shouldn’t make a difference on whether or not you call 911 in a situation like that.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to your videos, this quote from our readings stood out to me... “For example, why do African American men commit more “street crimes” than their white counterparts? Statistically they do. But if we ask why and simply answer, “because they are black,” we are imputing to African American men a criminal nature in being black, a criminal essence.” It’s like regardless of the situation, it always looks worse or is a scarier situation when an African American is involved, but we don’t ever have a true reason why that is. We just simply say, because they are black. In regards to your conclusion, I think this example proves that race most definitely has an influence in an individual’s life, however, I don’t think that it affects every aspect of our life, especially depending on the individual’s race. Most comments are “because they’re black or Asian”, but not usually white. It is usually aimed towards any other race, which leads me to believe that race may influence every aspect of an African American’s life, for example, but not every aspect of maybe a white person’s life. Race is a very different viewpoint from several different cultures and has major changes in severity of how it affects our lives. I just think we should keep a specific race in mind when dealing with how it actually effects the given individual’s life.
I read the article that was mentioned in the assigned reading last semester in my Latinos in the Media class, which was written by Michael Omi and Howard Winant. In the article is states, "Everybody learns a combination, some version, of the rules of racial classification, and of their own racial identity, often without obvious teaching or conscious inculcation. Race becomes "common sense"-a way of comprehending, explaining and acting in the world" (Omi p.13) I found this quote extremely interesting because it's true. As humans we have been exposed to categorization and stereotypes all our lives, in one way or another. Even if an individual is not racist, I still think race comes across their minds on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteAs I thought about the question, " why don't we get rid of race to solve the problem?", it made me think of how it seems so simple but yet it is complicated since race is based on history. It sounds ideal but history has a huge contribution to one's identity. If we were to get rid of race, what would all the historical events become, lets say the civil rights movement for instance. It just makes me realize that stereotypes and categorizations have been recycled too many times that regardless of the era they will always exist, especially since the media focuses on certain representations.
Like Twani, I also was not surprised by the video of the children choosing between the black and white dolls. Not only have people linked a lighter skin tone with beauty, but also, I think with the social status. Growing up, my parents have always told me that I have a darker skin tone. I know that in Asian culture, skin color is significant in determining a person’s status. A darker skin tone would symbolize the working/lower class, whereas a whiter skin tone would mean a higher status.
ReplyDeleteI find that racism is still apart of our society and everyday life, even though a lot has changed. For instance, in the “What Would You Do? Vandalism” and “”What Would You Do? Real Estate Racism” videos, we saw situations in which racism and discrimination can happen today. Moreover, prejudice and discrimination is still apart of everyday life that can happen anywhere and anytime, such as going grocery shopping, like in Twani’s case.
I think the above doll experiment represents the durability of the rigid barriers Roy discusses in today's reading. The racism portrayed in the “What Would You Do Video” on real estate that we watched for class does seem to be a harsh dramatization, as remarked by one of the white observers who said she had never “experienced or seen anything like that.” Even so, the practice of using physical characteristics as identifiers still very much exists in the modern day, and the reality is that discrimination has merely changed its shape into a more subtle one, nonetheless persisting as a cultural practice. This exists in the form of social structures—institutions that reinforce the hierarchy by making minority status an inherent disadvantage in the natural lottery (employment discrimination based on race, education, etc). The fact that children still preferred a white baby or attributed positive characteristics to these dolls based on their whiteness seems to be a clear indicator that the elimination of race as a social factor is still a long time away (if it is even possible).
ReplyDelete