You guys are making some great comments this week on the blog. One thing I was particularly interested in was this idea of the differences between races. Hank writes on his post about the difference between "skin" and "culture." I think this is very astute. We have to remember that what we call race is pretty much just the amount of melanin in the skin. All the other cliches that people have traditionally used to describe blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos, etc--hair, lips, eyes, etc.--are either generalizations or even racist. Think about it this way: Barack Obama is called the first black president. But he has a black father and a white mother. Why is he called black then? Probably b/c he identifies as black. If we think about the way that people self-identify, then we're talking about ethnicity (culture) and not race (biology).
I also wanted to share w/ you the map that I mentioned last week that shows ethnicity in NYC. What is the ethnicity of your neighborhood? Does the map reflect your assumptions about your own neighborhood? In what ways were you surprised by the map?
Looking at the map in my neighborhood, it shows that many blacks are around my area. In my neighborhood, I do see many blacks but when walking down the blocks I see more diversity. I see Whites, Blacks, Asians, and more races. I am mixed with many races and I do not identify as black, white, or any other race. I just say that I am Guyanese. I am mixed with six different races and am happy that I am very mixed. I am proud to have many different races in me because it shows that I do not identify as one race. I think some people just see skin and automatically think that you are black or white. Many people think I am Spanish by the way I look, but I am not. Sometimes people make assumptions about people's race and I don't like that. Some people love diversity and some like to be in their race group. Race is a very broad topic and many people have different options and no answer is right. Some people get offended, so some people do not like to talk about this topic but I think it's a great topic to talk about. You get to hear different people speak around diversity and their own race or races.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that race has no bearing on any physical properties other than skin-color. In my case, being half Chinese and half white, I don't think anyone would be able to tell that I was mixed if they saw a picture of my body, they might just think that I'm white. That being said, they'd probably be able to tell right away if I showed them a picture of my face. I don't think there's anything wrong with the fact that I look Asian, because I do, and to me racism comes when you start thinking that the differences are more than skin-deep. (i.e. racial IQ) Even if we do have different bodies, we all have the same brains, and that's the only thing that should matter to anyone.
ReplyDeleteOn the point of Obama, he can identify as whatever he wants, as long as that's what he is. You bring up an interesting point about identifying with culture, though. Would a white kid raised by black parents in a black neighborhood be "allowed" to identify as black? I don't think so. But should he be able to? I don't really know.