The readings pertaining to the multiracial transition of New York City into majority-minority neighborhoods illuminated on the racial groupings of West Indian Blacks and African Americans. Americans who cannot see past their skin color constantly group these two groups that seek to differentiate themselves from one another due to their different cultures and traditions together as one race. Rodgers goes into discussing the political relations between West Indians and African Americans. it doesn’t make sense to me why the two groups would have any political alliance between them. If they were to do that then the rest of the population will definitely group them together as one race and culture. This is counter-productive to their goals of differentiating themselves to preserve their culture and heritage.
A similar argument can be made with the racial groupings of many people such as labeling of all Asians as Chinese, all Latinos as Mexicans, and all Muslims as Arabs. The stereotyping of any group is offensive, but as we become a more integrated community it becomes harder to identify oneself to someone who would not understand the complexity of their identity. As Americans become more multiracial it is important to understand key differences to peoples identities as to not offend anyone and realize that people are different as individuals. People can choose to self-identify with whomever they want and they can call themselves whatever they want. It is not the job of the rest of the population to judge on whether they are acceptable to their society. There only needs to be a mutual understanding of people’s different needs and whether society accepts the groupings of people is irrelevant.
