Category: Discussion Board 4

Given the different text & videos I have reviewed for the week I have realized a wide variety of information when it comes to how life was back in the day, compared to how it is now & that fact that race has been a social construct for years and years now. For example in the video titled “A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race” a vast majority of asians, no matter what age they were, were always getting discriminated by everyone and being called racial slurs, all because they did not have the same culture & religion. On top of that they would also get mistaken for other ethnicities such as Hispanic people which furthermore adds on to the fact that social construct truly exist because if you did not look, acted, and dressed as the average American then you were basically not accepted in the community. Unfortunately this lead to many asians Americans to try and copy everything the Americans did to try and fit in so they would not get discriminated against. This goes to show the amount of years this has been going on and the fact that is still happens this exact moment and people are still blind from it is disappointing. It makes me even more uncomfortable that hate crimes and discrimination like these are usually never handled with. For example look at how the someone as big as the Presidentcalls Covid 19 the Chinese virus and has not been held accountable yet, which leads to his followers to actually believe the nonsense he says. However I did like the statements the “Race: The Power of an Illusion” was trying ti give off which was basically that we should not let differences in appearance and lifestyle separate the fact that the vast majority of us are extremely similar when it comes to just simply being a human, such as physically, Mentally etc. If Society thought like this then I believe race would not be a social construct but due to the racism and discrimination that has been going on for centuries as all 3 sources went on to prove, Race is a social construct. The only way we could get past the fact that its a social construct, would just be to stop all discrimination and racism towards everyone. & If these types of actions keep on being committed it should be penalized a certain way.

After watching “A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race” I see that many Asian Americans, regardless if they are East Asian, South Asian or Middle Eastern or Turkish are discriminated against. They were chastised and ridicule for their race, heritage, ethnicity, ancestry, nationality, religion and culture which was very bleak for them. Being called names and racial slurs from a young age, even from other kids their own age is cruel. They were mistaken for other races such as Native American, African American and Hispanic/Latinx and received the same prejudiced as those groups of people were just because some of them have brown skin and someone asians are called yellow as well. They are forced to believe that they need to assimilate with White/Caucasian/European Americans so that they will fit in better. White Americans from early times and still now today, mostly from the south have absolutely no qualms about spewing hate and ignorance to Asians and all other cultures just because they are different.

Watching “Race the Power of an Illusion” people are judged based on the color of their skin. It is unjust, no one deserves to be treated that way. The day and age we live in now people need to learn to stop being so awful and bigoted. We need to break the cycle of hate. We weren’t born to steal. People are taught to hate and this needs to change in America as well as the rest of the world we live in. I am truly ashamed to watch and here such atrocities in the media as well as real life from my own experiences as well as my friends as family.

According to “A conversation with Asian Americans on Race” many people suffered unfairness because of their skin color. They say that through our community we should recognize the privilege of our skin color, and that we should play a role in fighting against everything between how complacent, complacent, whether the system is between white supremacy and anti-blackness and systems that sustain the two. Also, I don’t know why the word “American” is distinguished as “Asian American,” “Latin American,” or “African American” before the word “American.” obviously it can be distinguished when talking about where their hometown is. However, if you live in the United States, you are all the same American. You’re not American just because you have different skin colors? That’s nonsense. Is it a society where only people with fair skin are recognized as American? In the documentary “Race: The Power of an Illusion” people say that people with the same skin color thought they would have the same gene, but rather because people with different skin colors thought they had similar genes, it had nothing to do with the genetic characteristics of ‘racial’ that we can visually identify. I think people should be judged by their inner qualities, not extroverted ones.

As I was watching the video “A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race.”It made me think that in American society, the majority of  Americans are white. Americans of other skin colors, such as Asian Americans, Latinx Americans and African Americans, will be labeled in some negative connotation words,  while Americans with only white skin will be called Americans directly. It definitely makes me uncomfortable that people still face discrimination and receive unfair treatment based on the color of their skin. Also, in the “A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race”  all of the stories involved had depiction of their race just by someone analyzing or glimpsing at an Asian’s voice, skin color, attire, and culture. The “Race: The Power of an Illusion” makes some very good points.  Unlike what people in history assume that people of different races are fundamentally different, all humans are in fact fundamentally extremely similar. Obviously race is a social construct because it seems that you need to be the “right” race, meaning not anything darker than the clouds in the sky to be an American. For instance, in the documentary science was used to back up or “justify” the superiority of whites over every other race by comparing skull and brain sizes. This instance shows how enslaved Africans were really treated and shown to whites. Even though, we have “slightly” change for the better according to race, more needs to be done so that racism can not exist at all in America.

I was watching the video “A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race”. I think that in American society, it is common for Americans to be white. Americans of other skin colors, such as Asian Americans and African Americans, will be labeled In some words, Americans with only white skin will be called Americans directly. In the video, I was surprised when an Indian-American was called by a little white girl that her skin color was something disgusting. In my opinion, the reason for racism in American society comes from the establishment of the country, when slavery prevailed, although this system has now been abolished. But this may be the reason for the construction of the current ethnic society.

In addition, in the documentary, in my personal opinion. No matter who you are, everything depends on your skin color. As long as your skin color is white or light, then you will have some “privileges.” But if your skin color is darker, then you will be considered to be at the bottom of society without any rights or human rights. In my opinion, as long as you are not white American, you will be more or less discriminated against by others in American society because of your skin color. There are many people who do not understand the United States and think that the United States is a place where there is no racial discrimination, but they are people who want to live in American society. They understand that discrimination still exists today.

I think the “Race: The Power of an Illusion” makes some very good points.  Unlike what people in recent history have thought – that people of different races are fundamentally different, all humans are in fact fundamentally extremely similar. The biggest differences between races, such as skin color, are merely superficial and are not at all useful or important. The idea that race is a social construction is pointing this out – that meaningful distinctions between individuals are not associated with race. This is demonstrated by the DNA comparisons that were shown in the video, as people were not necessarily the closest genetically to the people that they look most similar too. This is also why I don’t think group identities are particularly useful. Similar to what is written in the article, the important characteristics of a person are very individual and are not at all associated with any race or group identity.

On the note of some of the experiences mentioned in ‘A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race’, It definitely makes me uncomfortable that people still face discrimination and receive unfair treatment based on the color of their skin. It is very unsettling and I wish we lived in a world where that doesn’t happen. The fact that in the Declaration of Independence it says “all men are created equal” yet African Americans were literally treated as subhumans, reminds me of the line from George Orwells ‘Animal Farm’, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”.  I think it takes more than just wishful thinking to create a society in which everyone is equal, and it is our responsibility to teach our children to treat everyone with respect and that nobody is inherently ‘better’ than anybody else.

          In the reading, race is a way of distinguishing people or assigning a person to a group of people that are also their skin color. Ethnicity in its own is defined as a self proclaimed sense of categorizing yourself  into a group based on your common presumed ancestry, history, or way of life. Culture is where a person acquires knowledge and how they grow to live life. By saying that race or gender are socially constructed, Dhingra and Rodriguez are saying that there is nothing written in stone that can automatically tell someone’s race or gender. Socially constructed is like saying society based opinions are written and have to be true if seen or by the way society describes a person’s race or gender by how they look physically. “Yellow peril” was a stereotype that depicted all Asians and Asian Americans as the opposite of a westerner, which was defiant, causing economic, political, and sexual threats to the West. In contrast, “Model minority” is the stereotype that places Asians Americans into this automatic high status, privilege, and expectation of success that surpasses white people.

          Moreover, race, ethnicity, and culture work hand in hand with each other even when different because each on its own gives others reasons to discriminate and cause problems of power inequalities. In the reading, it is stated, “There is no single gene particular to one race. The physical differences apparent between races, such as skin color, have no bearing on other characteristics, such as intelligence, facial characteristics, and so on… Yet in American society, these physical differences have been used to differentiate people into separate groups such as white, black, or Asian, both on an everyday level and at the level of government classification” (Rodriguez 19). Basically, people see another person on the outside and automatically assign them a race when in all actuality, the person can be mixed with black and white, ethnicity is Chinese, and could have culturally grown up Jamaican. The problem is this is something people would never know just by associating a race by the color of the skin. It also states,  “Moreover these categorizations are ordered in hierarchical ways, which has resulted in people being treated unequally” (Rodriguez 19). This week, I can reflect on what I have learned so far about peoples’ experiences migrating to America and the smaller things in life that they had to run into that changed the way they felt about Americans and everything they expected was not what they expected.

          From the NY Times video, I gathered that out of the experiences of Asian racializion, each person that spoke on an experience has been disenfranchised in that moment that they reevaluated. Even to a person that would not understand the meaning of race, you can tell that everyone in this video was hurt by the comment about race they have heard growing up in life. All of their stories had involved a depiction of their race just by someone analyzing or glimpsing at an Asian’s voice, skin color, attire, and culture. One story that gave me an epiphany was when Rinku said “When my parents talked about Americans they clearly meant white Americans, when they meant any other type of Americans they named them, they said Black people, or Latinos, or Native- American Indians was the language they would use for Native people, so I understood early on that a real American was a White American, everybody else had to be qualified” (Rinku). Obviously race is a social construct because it seems that you need to be the “right” race to be an American just like society dictates what you can be in life based on race. Another story that actually shocked me came from Hasan as he said “My first experience with race was, when I was six years old I fell in love with this girl named Janis Mallo and I went up to her in the sandbox and I was like, “Janis I love you!” and she was like, “You’re the color of poop!” And that was memory number one with racism, and I didn’t know what that was, I just took that literally and was like, “What? Ahhh it’s not rubbing off,” like it was very terrifying” (Hasan).

          In the documentary, Purdue states, “we don’t realize that race is an idea that evolves over time, that it has a history, that it is constructed by society to further certain political and economic goals” (Purdue). I believe that in this statement, she evokes the influence society has over the meaning of a word so powerful. The definition of race is so easily distorted and altered around with that even the government use of the word is negative because they start to categorize people to their strengths and capabilities based on their race. For instance, in the documentary science was used to back up or “justify” the superiority of whites over every other race by comparing skull and brain sizes, which was completely ridiculous I think. That example alone proves that race is a social construct because from that time that whites were considered superior, America made sure that it would always be known forever by standing with white privilege and white racists without trying to change that superior vs inferior mindset. 

 

 

When I first watched the video I was truly amazed that no school teaches about the “Notes on the State of Virginia” written by Thomas Jefferson in 1781. The reason I found this so shocking was because even though this was the time when America was getting slaves through the slave trade, rather than European indentured servants, this could be a documented way of when racism began. Jefferson wrote “I advance it as a suspicion only that the blacks whether originally a distinct race or made distinct by times and circumstances are inferior to the whites in the endownments both of body and mind.” (Race – The Power of Illusion). He was the person who said that “All men are created equal” yet he seemed to promote slavery, while also promoting freedom and inalienable rights that only applied to certain people. This starts to dehumanize blacks while promoting the fact that whites are superior to them which later on starts to incorporate the idea that the Indians are another race inferior to the white. This allows for more rights for white people while everyone else suffered. Watching the opinions of these people who suffered it shows just how much racism actually does goes on. Many people are just expected to keep their head down stay in their lane and accept all these negative things that are happening to them. They also mentioned that Americans only meant white Americans and that any other race was identified and categorized. Lastly the article explains how many people are then based off of characteristics that stem from their ancestors as well as their homeland and are used for classifications. These classifications appear both in everyday life as well as in the government. When these are classified it brings up unfair treatment due to simple characteristics we are born with. People make judgements, assumptions and actions towards specific groups of people simply based on outward appearances before inward qualities.

Hearing their stories and listening to the videos actually hurt. It made me realize just how much of everyday struggles both past and present are swept under the rug and we’re not expected to do much about it. It also kind of upset me how much mistreatment different groups of people have to experience everyday due to a simple illusion. In the end we are all humans, we were all born into this earth, all have skeletal and muscles systems and yes created equal. Misconceptions and judgements about certain groups of people shouldn’t define the whole group. Everyone deserves equal treatment.

According to “A Conversation with Asian American on Race” asian-Americans confront stereotypes about their community.
They explain some examples of racism they faced while growing up. They forced to hide there Asian American religion and to be Americanized. One male in the video shared his story of when he was a little boy, a white American girl called his skin color a disgusting word. These type of comments stay in the minds of individuals that went through racism. They also explain that Americans stereotype of Asians being very smart and achieving and being privileged more in America.In the first minutes of this documentary, historian Theda Purdue shares that, “we don’t realize that race is an idea that evolves over time, that it has a history, that it is constructed by society to further certain political and economic goals”. In my opinion she is trying to stay that it doesn’t matter hoe you look and that your race doesn’t define who you are. White and black people had different views in people eyes just because the color of there skin was different. Whites were more privileged and considered more powerful while blacks were considered lower in society. This week I noticed that along with these people in the video explaining different racial experiences, many of my friends and family members went through similar experiences.This makes me angry because people immigrate to America thinking they won’t need to worry about discrimination and racism. However, people are still differentiated and still have to go through racial experiences.

When Theda Perdue states that “we don’t realize that race is an idea that evolves over time, that it has a history, that it is constructed by society to further certain political and economic goals,” she means that race doesn’t necessarily have to do with how you look, but is rather used in political s to allow certain races to gain power while making others inferior. A persons status in society and the level of respect they would receive was determined from their skin color. As the documentary later states how the lower class consisted of black people, while the higher class consisted of white/pale people. Of course those with the paler skin would have greater opportunities in society, and would always have more power and control of politics, as the system was made to benefit them.

Indigenous populations and enslaved populations were racialized  in different ways. Indigenous populations were seen as white peoples with tanned skin due to the sun. They were seen as white, but because of their culture, Europeans viewed them as “savages” that needed to be civilized. For that reason they were to be wiped out so that the Europeans can settle in and not have to worry about these “savages.” Those who weren’t wiped out were forced to be assimilated into the European way of life, and follow Christianity. Enslaved populations were seen as inferior, and white Americans use science to justify that as well. Pro slavery advocates would claim that Thomas Jefferson’s phrase “all men” did not include black peoples, so therefore they weren’t seen as equal to the white man. These groups being racialized in such a way were just excuses for the white man to claim superiority over other races. They used religion as science to say they were superior than other races.

White Americans started using science to justify their racism towards poc and to claim racial superiority. They compared skull sizes, skull capacity, and brain capacity, to justify their belief on how the white American is the most superior man.

Filipino people were racialized as well. They were seen as inferior, similar to how Native Americans and African Americans were seen as inferior to the white American. Upon the US claiming the Philippines as US territory, they believed that it was their duty to civilize these different nations and they believed doing so was “the white mans burden” but it had to be done.

The video “A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race” discusses the experiences Asian Americans faced growing up in America, and the stereotypes and racism they faced. Some people stated how when people refer to Americans, they usually see Americans as only white. Asian Americans are also often told to hide their Asian identity and only told to associate with their American side. Many people have also had experiences during their childhood in which people would use derogatory and racist words, and make disgusting remarks about the color of their skin. And many of the times, the Asian Americans were ridiculed by other white Americans. The video also discusses the model minority myth, and how Asians are stereotyped as being smart, over achieving and privileged in American society.

Dhingra and Rodriguez define race, ethnicity, gender etc as social constructs, that are used to establish inferiority or superiority based on ones appearance, their origin/ancestry, and their gender.

The yellow peril is a racist term used to stereotype East Asians and create the fear that they will invade western lands and force them to adapt the East Asian way of life. East Asians are essentially seen as a danger to the western world.

The term model minority also stereotypes East Asians as being smart, wealthy, hard working, overachieving members of society. They are seen as the ideal minority group and that other minority groups should see them as an ideal example of what minorities should be like. This myth is also stereotypical and gives the false narrative that every Asian must meet these criteria’s or else they are seen as failures in society.