One of the most controversial acts of racism that occurred in the United States was the House Bills the recently passed in Arizona. In particular, HB 2281 was an act that was passed to ban ethnic studies, Mexican American studies in fact. So why is the so called "freedom" country experiencing racial issues in particular states? The State Government agreed upon many other different bills as well, such as constricting the flow of immigration, and the alienation of foreigners by the use of asking about immigration status without any consent. Can anybody tell me why?
First off, the perception of race and ethnicity is a fluxuating ideology. One may define oneself as where they are from, but not by the way they protray themselves and what their physical traits may be. Race is defined as a classification system used to categorize humans into large and distinct populations or groups. Race is really the physical traits you inherit. Your gender, and the perceptions of society norms fall under this category as well. Now if you think about it, law enforcement in Arizona use this concept of race, and use this to utilize their "criminals" by the way their physical characteristics, and other protrayals to choose who to enforce. In society, racism as been around since the early beginnings of our colonization. Although we have come a long way and advanced in ways we could never imagine in the past, we also adapted new modern ways of racism that future generations will face as well.
Have you ever stumbled upon answering a question that goes along like, "what are you"? Well if you are cultural like me, this is a common question that will pop up your whole entire life. The way you answer can truely show who you are by the attitudes you express, and the roots you carry with you. Ethnicity is defined as the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has common cultural and national tradition. So does this mean that I am Korean? Or does it mean that I am Korean-American? Or maybe even Korean-Chinese because I enjoy chinese food? In modern society, the way you adapted with attitudes and cultural beliefs determine the ethnic values of your moral beliefs. Which is easy if you think about it because anybody with authority can racially depict an individual by the way they look and turn that analysis into the attiudes and cultural beliefs and morals to target specific ethnicities.
These, and many other racial issues will be the curruption the future generation will experience and will ultimately have to overcome. America has come a long way when it comes to segregation and racism. Although there is truely no way to stop society norms and the way others characterize themselves and others. But it starts with the individual to understand these differences, and see the true beauty of different cultures, attitudes, and lifestyles.
Naomi Ogaldez (AAS100):
ReplyDeleteI think you did an excellent job in this blog post.
People always ask me: What are you? Where are you from? What ethnicity are you? What is your background? Depending on the question, I give them a different answer, even though I know exactly what they are asking. I want people to actually think when they ask those types of questions because some people ask those questions without thinking about their questions. When people ask my ethnicity, I tell them I’m American, born and raised in SoCal. They usually get really frustrated with that answer because they were expecting me to say Latina or Hispanic, so then they ask: What is your background? Where are your parents from? Then I say, my mom is from El Salvador and dad is from Guatemala. This tends to upon up opportunities for me to educate them on the terms race and ethnicity, and how to properly go about asking these questions to people next time they want to know what they are. Some people are negligent about the significance of these terms, and I think if people knew the history of these labels, there would be more tolerance and acceptance of different demographics.
If you know exactly what they're asking, then I'd question what real sense there is in prevaricating about it. I'm half Filipino myself, so every now and then I'll get asked what my background is/where I'm from. My response is always "Filipino-American from California". In saying so, I've understood what they're asking, and have addressed their question successfully. To me, beating around the bush and making the person ask their question more 'precisely' seems a bit arrogant.
Delete-"Where are you from"
--"American from SoCal"
-"Um, well what is your background?"
--"Oh, well now, you see, my parents are from x and y and there's a difference between race and ethnicity and adsfshajsjsksks..."
- /Dang, I just wanted to know a bit about you, not have a cultural lesson/
Granted, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but the point stands that if you know the specifics of what someone is asking, it shouldn't kill you to respond accordingly. While I think it's good that we be mindful of others backgrounds and proud of our own, the question of "where are you from" should just be treated as that -a question, and shouldn't be read into too much.