Growing up white in America, I thought the best way to be culturally sensitive was to have a colorblind mentality. Through reading about race, cultural competence, inter-generational effects on the legacy of racism; I see the colorblind approach is not an effective strategy for understanding racial differences or seeing the full magnitude of racism.
I naïvely believed that identity and race have a cultural basis in American culture. However, that belief has shifted as a result of our exploration of identity. But now it is clear to me that much of the need for a racial identity stems from racism and oppression by the dominant group (whites), rather than created by a subordinate groups (non-whites) and they're varied cultural backgrounds.
(Please see Color of Fear film clips- links below)
I now have a greater understanding of my neighbors. I live in East Austin in a traditionally black neighborhood, and have been saddened by the fact that I felt that my neighbors who many of them have had families who lived in the neighborhood for generations, were unwelcoming, insulated, and avoidant when I reached out to them.
The racial prejudice of white American has done more damage to our society than I ever before imagined. It goes much deeper than the mistrust my neighbors have for me. The evil of racism goes beyond just physical and emotional violence (lynching, internment camps, etc.) inflicted on nonwhites. It spills over into society as a whole with wide reaching negative consequences.
The racial prejudice driven attempts of some white Americans designed to grow and promote white dominance and superiority, has created crippling problems for our society. By limited educational resources and opportunities for advancement of nonwhites, we are now faced as a society with more poverty, higher crime rates, despondency (especially among young African-Americans), racial tension, and inadequate education. All of these social problems jeopardize us as a nation, and is reminiscent of the seed of greed that has led to our current financial collapse.
I now have a fuller understanding of the impact racism has had in contributing too many of our social problems. I think that there are no easy fixes, because it takes much effort to change people's beliefs enough to begin to create legislation that is racially fair. Until all people are treated just a fairly none of us will have the luxury of being Colorblind.
The Color of Fear by Lee Mun Wah, a powerful movie examining closely the issue of racism. Considered by many to be the best film of its kind, exploring the conscious and unconscious behavior of racism. The film explores different issues of race in the U.S. through a dialogue between 8 men of different ethnic backgrounds. The trailer for the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rbfh5oM3EQ&NR=1
A powerful scene from the movie:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vAbpJW_xEc
If you'd like more info on internment camps I found this great documentary on PBS, their is historical info, and a timeline that goes well with the article we read: http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/documentary/index.html
I really like the videos that you posted. I think it's a cool thing that you realized something about yourself. Most people wont ever mention that they have been using colorblindness as a way to understand racial differences. I think it is important that when talking about racism that we come to this idea with an open mind otherwise known stereotypes will begin to come in. I look forward to continuing talking about race this week in class because it is a topic that is not talked about enough.
ReplyDeleteWow...thanks for finding and posting those clips, Carol. That was powerful insight to understanding white guilt and the fallacy of being "color-blind". I too struggled with the naivety of this, in fact I actually believed that by attempting to disregard race I was actually being more socially just. However, just because you know that everyone should be equal regardless of minute differences, doesn't fix the fact that our society has institutionalized racism. You hit the nail on the head when you said that this attitude is a luxury. Being "color blind" detaches those who are white from actually acknowledging privilege and realizing that the American dream of equality and individualism is not true for many--an entitlement that others will never experience.
ReplyDeleteI have a bad habit of reading pages upon pages of Youtube argument comments, but the responses for this video were moving (in the most terrible sense). Even though the videos were made in the early '90s, reading people's reactions makes me wonder if any progress has been made. Of course Youtube comments are a small sample of people and there is MAJOR participation bias, but it's shocking to see that there are people that adamantly believe that there are no benefits attached to being white...
I think that the problem is larger than we think.In reading section 4 about all the "isms" that it touches more than we thought. I watch a movie Gangs of New York which showed how the Irish were marginalized in our early history. news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/03/0320_030320_oscars_gangs.html ·This article realy captures the deprivation that was very visible then. Watch the movie and see how ethnic overtones have shaped our system to where they are today.
ReplyDelete