Race matters. In politics, in schools, on television and in church, race matters. On the cover of a magazine, race matters. Of the character in a children’s book, race matters. Our society has driven steadily past the question of defining ‘who’ you are to try and address ‘what’ you are. No matter the importance, the benefit or the relevance, race matters.
As a cognitive society we seek to understand others, addressing gender, socio-economic background, sexual orientation and race. We, as a people, feel the need to categorize one another to better understand each other. She is a short Asian who wears glasses. He is a tall, gay brunette. What is lacking from those definitions is the attempt to really know someone and look past all the presumptions associated with a person’s physical demeanor.
As definition, race is a social construct. Being that, it is also cultural.
Race’s roll in the media is defined through the eyes of the viewer. Society censors itself through the selection of preferred media outlets, movies, television shows, etc. We see what we want to see, thus our definition of race fits our mindset. Granted we live in a world where messages are spit on our doorstep daily, we can choose what we want to see and what we want to believe.
The demise of human intelligence does, unfortunately, coincide with the lack of ability to connect with another being of a different race. It is the inability to understand the concept that a fair-skinned redhead may share a more similar genetic makeup with a dark-skinned person of African descent than the dark-skinned person’s cousin. We are not that different. What makes us different is our mind-set, our background and our knowledge of the world around us.
And now I’ll finish this ‘preachy’ blog with a much similar ‘preachy’ quote from The Beatles, who said “I am you as you are me and we are all together.”
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"Our society has driven steadily past the question of defining ‘who’ you are to try and address ‘what’ you are."
ReplyDeleteThis is a very unfortunate thing. I get a little confused though. I have heard professors before give the average questioning mind hassle about asking where someone is from. I strive, when meeting foreign people, to find out who they are but am often perplexed by the question where they are from, or 'what' they are. Ultimately it doesn't really matter where they are from and will not affect how I talk to them, but feel awkward, or rather led to feel embarrassed by professors or people with this mindset, when asking where someone is from.
Don't know if that made complete sense.
"It is the inability to understand the concept that a fair-skinned redhead may share a more similar genetic makeup with a dark-skinned person of African descent than the dark-skinned person’s cousin."
Kind of sketchy but I get the gist. How foolish it is of people to pass negative judgment on people differing only .1% from themselves. The grief people get for having more melanin in their skin. Simply ludicrous.
mt
Understanding difference as equitable is the issue. I want to include what I am listening to right now, it seemed so apropos, it is from the musical rent.....
ReplyDeleteHow do you document real life
When real life is getting more
Like fiction each day
Headlines -- bread-lines
Blow my mind
And now this deadline
"Eviction -- or pay"
Rent!