Race is without a doubt one of the most sensitive topics in America today.  Society tries to acknowledge all the different ethnicities, but when a country is filled with people of all different races its difficult to not clash.  Decades and decades pass and still there has been such a slow modification of behavior that it seems hopeless that things will ever truly change.  The only changes that can be openly seen is that shift on who gets “picked on.”  Ethnicities are like children on a playground, someone is always the little guy who isn’t like everyone else, and so he gets ignored, mocked and discriminated against.  In reading “The Sting of Prejudice” I agree with Aurona that the definition of “white” as a classification was very interesting to read about considering that Jews and Italians weren’t always considered a part of that.  It wasn’t until darker immigrants made their way to America that Jews and Italians became a part of the “white” population.

Race comes from our own ideas, culture and how we were raised.  That’s why in a country such as ours we have such a strong sense of racism that stems from older generation’s teachings about who we should associate with, be friends with and even who we should have relationships with.  Even today I’ve seen interracial couples that are still looked at with raised eyebrows.   And if race wasn’t a big enough issue, class can be just as annoying.  How many movies, books, and TV shows have I’ve seen that deal with a similar story of a person from a wealthy background falling in love with someone of a lower class than them and having to go through problems caused by family, friends and society until in the end love overcomes every hurdle.

Treating people different based on their ethnicity, religion, race, color, and class has been around for ages and sadly won’t be going away anytime soon.  It isn’t a problem that can be solved the way it is at the end of the movie Hairspray, where everyone sings and dances together after racial segregation was removed from the show.  If problems like this could be solved so easily, we all wouldn’t care where someone was from, we wouldn’t prejudge people and we wouldn’t assume or guess what a person’s ethnicity was by the general features that they have (like saying that someone with Asian features is automatically Chinese).  We (all of us and myself) prejudge people based on what we’ve been taught, and its something that’s hard to shake off.  But I believe that we are capable of teaching ourselves to be more open, a least a little bit at a time.

As I read through this week’s material, I started to feel a bit convicted.  I know that I am guilty of generalizing when it comes to race.  Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way biased or prejudiced against any certain race or ethnicity!  I just found myself thinking how oftentimes I may see someone from Latin America or Brazil or Puerto Rico and simply think of that person as “Hispanic”.  Or I will see someone from Taiwan or Cambodia or Korea and think “that person must be Chinese.”  What horrible and wrong assumptions I sometimes make!  Each ethnic group has it’s own look, culture, and ways–there is no way that any two could be lumped into the same race!  As the saying goes, we are all different, and while we should all be treated equally, that does not mean that all should be “placed” into respective categories based on color or anything else.  And that certainly does not mean that any should be discriminated against in any way, no matter how subtle.

I found it interesting that some of the immigrants were aware of the discrimination they were likely to face in America, yet they came anyway.  Many claimed that it was because they knew they were coming to America to work and make money, and that’s basically all.  I’m not sure if I could ever find happiness living and working among people who judged and discriminated against me day in and day out.  I mean I guess I would try to ignore it, as some of the immigrants recalled doing, but ignorance only blocks things out for so long.

I also found it intriguing that the authors spoke so much about the black-white divide.  Clearly, it is impossible to fit all of the people in the world into these two very broad categories.  But why does it have to be this way?  Why can’t people just be the way they are without having to be placed into either group?  For as the readings touched a lot upon, it is more than just being labeled “black” or “white”.  With these colors comes certain connotations and judgments.  The Latin Americans and Puerto Ricans described how they would try to accent their different customs or mannerisms in order to separate themselves from black people.  Because they knew that being labeled “black” meant a whole lot more discrimination, hatred, and bias.  This was, and is, such a shame!  Aurona’s cheesy words should be more of a call to action.  And with that, I have some cheesy words of my own: Change starts with YOU.

I think that it is valid to assume that more racism exists in America than any other country. The reason for this assumption is that the majority of America’s population is composed of immigrants. As a result, it contains a largely diverse crowd—and once there are differences among people, often times, discrimination arises. In contrast, the immigrant’s homeland is heavily made up of natives. Aurona mentions that first generation of immigrants experienced a greater degree of discrimination than their parents, due to the fact that they were exposed to more racial divisions. This is very true, in that you will find immigrants leaning more towards family businesses and living ethnic enclaves, a result of chain migration. But their children may be sent to American public schools, attend diverse after-school programs, and inhabit areas not exclusive to a specific nationality/ethnicity.

What is the reality of racism? I think that racism emerges from the psychology of man—to have a desire for an “other.” The only way for someone to be considered superior is if there is a different someone deemed inferior. How so? Two people with differences lying between them, and one who has the desire for supremacy will use the difference as a means to degrade the “other,” thereby raising himself.

“After a few generations other immigrants to this country lose their race identity and become Americans only. Generally, the Jews retain theirs, undiminished, so that it is observable by all men” (Foner).  The Jewish desire to maintain identity and refusal to assimilate automatically creates the “other” status for the Jew. Perhaps this could explain the racism directed towards the Jew.

I agree that overcoming racial discrimination must be initiated and enforced by the citizens as opposed to the government. If the government passes laws prohibiting racism then it is true that people would not explicitly express tension and hostility among each other. But that won’t necessarily truly change the reality of racism- people will just act with fear of punishment, and not because of morals.

American society is obsessed with outward appearances. No one cares where you’re from or where you fall in the socioeconomic hierarchy, it’s all about what you look like. This week’s readings discussed the prejudices faced by many ethnic groups based on skin color and the socially constructed paradigm that is race. Our society is so contradictory because on one hand it ostracizes people who make “racist” remarks and values “political correctness” but on the other hand it teaches us to stereotype (and sometimes fear) people who are different from us.

As a result, the majority of Americans (myself included) are, to a degree, a bit racist. While I may not consciously act on it violently or verbally, I hate to admit that I’m one of those people who cross the street or look down when a large, darker-skinned guy or group of guys walk past. While I know prejudging is wrong, I can’t help but feel afraid to take the train through Brooklyn late at night. In high school, I would walk a mile or so out of my way to take the bus down Union Turnpike instead of Hillside Avenue because my Mom was afraid for me to commute alone through Jamaica.

The truth is, while many stereotypes are blown way out of proportion, most are true to a degree. The poorer neighborhoods, often inhabited primarily by the city’s Black and Hispanic “minorities,” often do have higher crime rates. As a result, many white people look down on these “minorities” and feel uncomfortable when taking the train or walking through “bad neighborhoods.” I know people who have been robbed on trains and physically assaulted and it totally scares me. What terrify me most are the violent hate crimes than occur for basically no good reason. Why anyone would just randomly attack someone on the street because of his or her skin color is beyond my level of understanding. The way I see it, it’s a cycle: racial profiling, stereotypes and prejudices lead to frustration, which lead to violence, which leads to fear, which brings you back to racial profiling, stereotypes and prejudices.

Another thing that I find perplexing is how a group of people can project their anger at one individual onto an entire ethnic group. While the stories mentioned about Michael Griffith and Gavin Cato are terrible in themselves, the violent acts committed in retaliation only make the stories worse. You can’t hold an entire group or “race” of people responsible for the actions of a few stupid or racist individuals. I think that racism continues to exist because people continue to feed into it and because of the human propensity to stigmatize individuals of certain non-existing groups. That’s the other thing: the categories of Black, White, Asian, and Hispanic aren’t even real! They are just words assigned to group ethnically very different groups of people into more general groups. The whole issue of racism just frustrates the crap out of me. I know its naive to say but why can’t we all just start over and get along.

In the beginning of Bobb’s article, he says West Indians have three truths about American society: 1. American society is racist. 2. They don’t have this racism back home. 3. They need to ignore the racism in America.  While I agree that American society is racist, I cant imagine that there wasn’t any racism back in West India.  Racism is a world issue and is present in every society, not just American.  If, in fact there wasn’t racism back in West India, the only reason I could think of is because it is not such a big immigrant country (at least to my knowledge), so most people there are West Indian and there isn’t so much variety and therefore not an opportunity for racism.  If there was an opportunity for racism by the influx of many different immigrants, I bet there would have been racism.  Besides, its not like West Indian society was perfect and considered everyone equal either.  Although they didn’t have discrimination based on race, they had discrimination based on wealth and economic status.  Although wealth discrimination isn’t as bad as racial discrimination, they’re both very similar in that they are both classification systems meant to create hierarchy in society with some people superior to others.

It was really sad when in the interview with the West Indians one of them said that they never realized the racist comments people said to them and they laughed along because they thought the person was being friendly and making a joke. I felt really bad, and it kind of reminded me of the play we say last semester, The Indian Wants The Bronx where the Indian didn’t understand the boys teasing him and making racist comments.

Something I found really interesting was in Lessinger’s article when he mentioned that the first generation immigrants saw themselves as white and felt comfortable in the lap of luxury while their children, the second generation immigrants, felt the racial reality of America.  I thought this was so interesting because in the beginning of the semester we were talking about how it was so hard for first generation immigrants when they first came to America and how they were outcasts of society due to not knowing the language, the currency, and the other social things that make up American society, while their kids had an easier time learning the language, going to school, making friends and assimilating into society.  I would have thought that the first generation would NOT feel comfortable or think of themselves as “white” because due to all the barriers such as language, they would feel like outsiders, while their assimilated children felt like “whites”.  However, the second generation’s assimilation and proximity with Americans led them to be faced with the racial reality and become more aware of their racial “differences”, while the first generation was secluded enough that in their mind they didn’t notice these differences and race classifications.

Some of the minority groups who were victims of racism themselves, actually helped contribute to the continuation of racism by being racist against other minority groups.  For example, in Bobb’s article he talks a lot about the West Indians’ experiences with racism in America, but meanwhile the West Indians are racist against another minority group, saying “I can’t believe the Americans consider us black, we are higher than them, etc” and generally looking down on the black minority group.

As other people were saying, racism is socially constructed, and therefore it won’t stop until we, the people, put a stop to it.  The first step to ending racism is to start banding together and stop hating on other groups.  When whites discriminate against the West Indians and the blacks, and the West Indians turn around and discriminate against the blacks as well, they are supporting the idea of racism, as if they’re saying to the whites, “You’re right, you’re superior to the blacks, but look, so am I, let’s be racist to them together and don’t be racist to me because I’m like you.”  Instead of doing that, the West Indians, and all other groups should band together and stop seeing themselves as higher than other “races” and should try to put a stop to all racism, not just racism against their particular race.

I think this week’s readings were very important because it allowed me to see how far the nation has progressed. Although discrimination will never truly be erased, it is evident that at least it is not openly accepted liked it used to be. I thought it was interesting because we had discussed segregation during the beginning of the school year when we talk about slavery. But now, I can sit in a classroom and discuss racism and prejudice with my peers who come from all different backgrounds. I think that is a wonderful thing.

The readings this week were also extremely eye-opening, because I never truly knew where racism sprouted from. I always thought it was just because people were different. For example, I always was made fun of when I was little because of how my language sounded when I spoke it. Kids in my school would scream “Ching, Chong” at my face and then walk away laughing. However, my most vivid memory of openly displayed prejudice was when I was walking down the street and a woman on the other side of the block began yelling at me and my sister, telling us to go back to where I came from. I was horrified, but it made me wonder why I was a target, when I had done absolutely nothing wrong.

However, now I begin to realized that racism is much more than simply being different.
I think other, more profound reasons create opposition first. And then this eventually creates hate which is carried down from generation to generation. The idea of “classism”, for example, is definitely one of those reasons. As William said, “No matter the race, people want to have success, achievement, and opportunity, which is one reason why different ethnicities came to America in the first place.” For example, when the Italians and Chinese first came to America, they were definitely discriminated against only because they were taking jobs and using the resources that the Irish had initially “claimed”. When situations like these occur, it is easy to be angry at others who have not physically done anything wrong to you, but are just simply associated with the group that did.

Like Aurona, I found it interesting that the children of West Indian immigrants experienced more racism than the immigrants themselves. One would have thought that the newly arrived immigrants would face more racism, since they have just arrived in a new place, and are not accustomed to their new surroundings. This just goes to show how strong immigration networks can be, and how much insulation it provides.

And like Alex, many things that I read for this class can relate to what I am reading in my anthropology class (or vice versa). Last week, we were reading about drug dealers in East Harlem, and this week, we are learning about how race is a social and cultural construction. As we were learning in anthropology, race is really only “skin deep”, and it isn’t biological in the sense that each race is different. There are as much biological variety within one “race” as there are between people from different races. Thus, the concept of different “races” was created by society, and Alex makes a good point in that it is our responsibility to remove these concepts of inferior and superior races.

As William says, people of different races come to America looking for success and achievement. Everybody should have an opportunity towards achieving his or her goal. Race and ethnicity shouldn’t matter. Immigrants, like the West Indians, shouldn’t face more racism when the want to achieve more upward mobility. And it shouldn’t be even harder for the native-born children of West Indian immigrants to move upward financially.

I was horrified when I read about the two Indian men that were beat up in 1987, especially since one of them suffered permanent brain damage. 1987 feels more recent than it actually is. When I told my sister about this, she said she wasn’t surprised, since it wasn’t too long ago either that people were still segregated. I guess in some ways, it is amazing that we progressed this far that quickly. But at the same time, it doesn’t seem like we have progressed too much. I don’t think it is possible to abolish racism completely, but I think we will soon get close enough.

What has been hinted at in this weeks readings, and hinted at in a few people’s blog responses, is that race is relative.  Like Ashley said, race does not exist- it is a manmade notion that varies from culture to culture and time to time.  Whereas  Italians, and Jews were horribly discriminated against a hundred years ago, they are considered “white” now, even considered privileged by some.  The same can be said for Asians and the change of society’s perception of them.  Culturally, West Indians and other races interviewed in the readings did not view themselves as a minority until they came to America.  The same can be said for me, the second I walked into a Chinese restaurant in Flushing- being the only one handed a fork.

What I also found interesting was the idea that in other countries, there is more of a presence of “classism”- discrimination based on economic status.  However, in America, economic status and ethnicity are closely correlated: this amplifies American racism to an unimaginable level! This factor also influences the thinking of immigrants farther up the economic ladder, like Asians, who (according to the readings) have started to dissociate themselves from the “minority”.  Ironically, as we read, there is no real “majority” race in New York anymore, but only whites associate themselves that way.  Or perhaps only colored people refer to themselves as the minority?  One really can’t generalize-but in sociology: you have to generalize.

This is why it is absolutely necessary for these articles, and for Foner, to accept and simply state racism as an unarguable truth like Praveena mentioned.  There are exceptions to every rule, but it’s safe to say that virtually everyone has been racist or faced racism.  As painful as it is to read of this situation in America, and as easy as it is to brush it off as a thing of the past, it is very real.

Racism and prejudice in general is still a prevalent part of our society today. As the readings describe, many times it may not be obvious at first what people are trying to convey (unlike at the turn of the century, where racism was blatant), but it still exists and can affect those on the receiving end. Immigrants attempt to assimilate into American culture, but they meet obstacles along the way, which in this case is prejudice. For example, in Bobb’s chapter, the West Indians are discriminated against not because of who they are but because of their outer appearance. They, like many other groups of immigrants, tend to live and work amongst each other to avoid the racism. Lessinger talks about two Indians in her chapter who started his own firm and business, “shielding himself… from direct encounters with prejudice.” Indians also tend to stay within their groups, but Lessinger mentions how many successful Indians branch out and move to different neighborhoods.

These are the two specific groups from the readings, but Foner covers pretty much the rest of the ethnic groups, such as Hispanics, who can fall between the white-black categories. It seems, at least to me, that every group of immigrants has gone through discriminations at a certain point in America. Foner mentions in the first part of the chapter that Jews and Italians were not considered white. Many of the American nativists believed that intermarriage between them and the “pure-blooded” Americans would, in a sense, ruin the population. They tried to prove why certain races were inferior to make their point. Now, Foner explains how these groups are changing again, where Asians might become part of the white race.

I think this shows, like Silky and Ashley said, that race is socially constructed. It’s unfortunate how many people go by this and judge others because of it, even though technically it should not be a real thing. But, like Allexa said, racism is a worldwide issue, not just an American problem. I don’t think that Aurona’s hope is cheesy, and America may one day reach that point of acceptance.

One interesting difference that I noted between West Indians and Indians was that while West Indians seemed shocked by the racism they faces, whereas Indians were not particularly happy about it, they didn’t seem too surprised.

The Indian sub-continent has long been subject to the racial ladder due to colonialism.  Most early immigrants from India, Lessinger says, are upper class and that’s because very few lower class people received any sort of opportunity to leave their home country.  These upper-class immigrants consider themselves to be white, and one often finds that social/economic class is indeed proportional to skin color.  Lower classes work out in the sun, while upper classes enjoy the comfort of their air-conditioned homes and office.  But being white in India or Pakistan is different from being White in the U.S.A.  While this may not have been a problem for first-generation immigrants, second-generations tend to be more race-conscious and proudly declare that they’re “Brown.”

Bob writes that immigrants must adapt to the new racial structures of a country, whereas people born within a country grow into them.  I disagree.  I say the immigrants accept the racial structures within a country, whereas people born within a country work to change them.  Second generation immigrants believe that as Americans, it is their right to do whatever necessary to improve their country and that includes fighting against racism.

Like Aurona, I found the varying definitions of White to be interesting.  I remember a conversation I once had with a friend of mine a while back.  She was pretty light-skinned but she complained how she was often teased for being the darkest one in her family.  I decided right then and there that I didn’t like her family.  Another interesting thing that I remembered connected to this is my history teacher once said that Italians were considered to be the Africans of Europe, because out of all the Europeans, they had the darkest skin.