Dr. J requested we find an application of one of the problem cases: I started by searching "Is President Obama black enough?"and found several articles. In this article (http://www.cjr.org/politics/is_obama_black_enough.php), he said, “I think if you look African-American in this society, you’re treated as an African-American.” This may seem like an obvious statement, but it suggests the importance of appearance. In a racialized society like ours, if you look black, you're treated as though you are black.
Many of us were torn about what qualifies the reality of race. Race in our society does not function as simply as quace and therefore, there will always be aspects of uncertainty. Even is someone is really a race that is unknown, I think the conclusion for most will come from appearance.
I quite strongly agree. Even if someone is only a quarter black, if their features LOOK black, that is how society will treat them. No one is going to break out the family tree before they judge someone.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I'm most torn about, however, is how to treat someone if they FEEL they belong to a certain race. I admit I tend to be judgmental about this. I don't think I could easily accept someone telling me they belong to a race when they have no strong cultural case to present. It feels like a betrayal if it's a person of color claiming to be white; it feels like a mockery, almost, if it's a white person claiming to feel like they are a POC deep down inside.
However, I sort of had to take seven steps back and realize that it absolutely didn't matter what I personally thought of their situation. They certainly didn't ask for my approval, and in the end I guess it doesn't really matter what I think of their own identity.
I also have problems understanding and accepting people who say that they feel like they belong to a different race, especially if someone is white. When you automatically get certain privileges as a white person, you cannot possibly have the experience as a person of color because we already have the upper-hand in society. Of course, you may also have details that are corresponding to the stereotypes of a different race, but that doesn't make you actually understand the experience.
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