Hi!
This blog post is going to be a little bit different. Today I'm going to talk about my personal opinions about this book and what my thoughts are so far. First I'll be running through what was discussed in the last section of my reading (pages 262 through 305), Then I'll share my thoughts about this specific passage.
As I read the last passage (pages 209 through 262), I made the connection to today's affirmative action, talking more about its occurrence in jobs rather than education. When I began to read pages 262 through 305, I noticed that the author used the topic of affirmative action to transition into the discussion of other races and ethnicities. Specifically, past events that triggered racial biases and thoughts towards them. Tatum also expands on her idea of racial identity, intertwining the idea of several racial groups with the struggle of finding true racial identity. She states, "Asian Pacific Americans, Latinxs, and Native Americans are disparate groups, but they all share with people of African descent the struggle for identity where European heritage--or Whiteness--is defined as the American norm."
As Tatum continues to expand on the fact that racism is present in not just Black and White cultures, a part I found interesting was her connection with 9/11 and all the racism it caused towards Middle Eastern people. Tatum interviewed Aly, a Muslim student of Pakistani descent, and he described his experience before and after 9/11. Aly stated that after 9/11, "Having an openly Muslim identity in an increasingly hostile public arena is a daunting experience" and "[he found himself] being more on the defensive."
It oddly didn't surprise me that he got a tremendous amount of hate because of this incident. However, it by no means makes it okay. It's extremely unfortunate that when something destructive and something that has made a dent in society appears, people need a scapegoat to be angry at. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that these Muslims had to, and still, deal with this.
My overall thoughts about this book are positive. I think at this point, Tatum has provided lots of evidence to her claims, something that was waited upon for a very long time in the beginning (it even made me lose some hope in the book). For this specific passage. I really enjoyed how she branched out and talked about the racism Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African people face, rather than just being focused on the Black and White subject. She informs her readers about statistics on immigration between several racial groups (e.g., Mexican, Chinese, and Vietnamese immigrants), and the history of these ethnic groups (e.g., immigration history, population growth, and several acts such as the Chinese Exclusion Act). I've learned a lot from this book and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the rest of it.
Gabe,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that not only you are enjoying your book, but you are learning from it as well. I liked that you included your thoughts on the interview with Aly, stating that it didn't surprise you about the amount of hate, but in no way does it make that ok. Your book seems to be very informative and inclusive of other cultures with I find to be great! I am happy you have positive thoughts on your book and enjoy the amount of evidence and factual information it is giving you.
I think connecting it to what is going on now with COVID-19 would have been helpful. Your statement about people needing a scapegoat for their anger really hold a lot of value with how people are treating the Asian population right now. Not living through the terror attacks of 9/11 and the affect it had on the Muslim population may be harder to relate to than seeing the first hand racism on the Asian population.
Overall I feel like your post displayed your thoughts on the book very well. Again, I am happy to see that you are enjoying it as to that can make posting less onerous. Nice job Gabe!
-Meg
Hey Gabe, nice blog post! I liked your idea of society always needing a scapegoat. I think it's interesting how the image of this scapegoat has changed over time. Back in the 50s and 60s, it was probably black Americans being unfairly blamed for the issues of society. In the 1920s and late 1800s, it was immigrant Italians, Jews and Catholics taking on the blame for economic hardships. Nowadays, I think our ideas of scapegoats are really cemented around our political parties, ex. the Democrats did that - the Republicans did that in addition to some of the issues you talked about. Do you think if this pattern continues, people one hundred or even two hundred years from now being affected by discrimination will be completely different? I don't think so - I'd say that preventing discrimination is up to us. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that we might ever move past this human need to blame someone/ some group for the problems of society? What do you think would help people to move past that?
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