In current events, every time the word “race” is brought up it means someone is trying to achieve a political agenda. We’re not appreciating the way people identify themselves but rather condescending those that are different and making them feel insecure about their distinctiveness. It is important for individuals to link their national identity, ethnicity, and race to have a true sense of self, and no one different should be allowed to make people feel ashamed of it.

There is a constant need for people to racially identify others. But why? I think about it like this: if two are sitting together in a pitch dark room and enjoyed each other’s company, why does that have to change once the lights come on? People are people. In “Racial Formation in the United States,” Omi sums it up perfectly, “It demonstrated how deeply Americans both as individuals and as a civilization are shaped and indeed haunted by race.” People of different races are forced to be try and be what seems normal and hide their difference to protect themselves from being out-casted. When I think of people being haunted by their own race I can’t help but think of the Holocaust. An entire race was blamed for economic trouble of a country; it’s always easier to blame others for your problems, and it’s even easier to blame those that are different and stand out.

In Candelario’s “Black Behind the Ears” the paragraph Ramberto’s recollection dismays be the most. When the waitress says, “Oh, they’re not colored, they’re foreigners. You can feed then,” I feel as though as people we have all failed our mission! Because their not of a certain race you can’t feed them? If they were colored would they digest the food any differently? The times of discrimination when there were separated bathrooms and restaurants still boggles my mind. Engraining the feeling of indignity in a young colored child’s mind because of the color od his skin is immoral and unjust; he or she needs to be proud of who they are and the potential that they have to accomplish.

I interpret the Dominican saying, “We are all black behind the ears,” a bit different the than the author. I believe that people have their differences whether they wear it “behind their ears,” where no one will ever look, or on their sleeve, where everyone can see it. Citizens of the world, and especially citizens of America, a diverse country, should give everyone the freedom to wear their diversity on their sleeve and not be afraid. No one should have to pretend to be something that their not, similar to the way the Dominican people were by not defining themselves as African American in the 1960s because of the fear of rejection.

What I appreciated most from these two articles is the focus on a person’s pride in their roots. I know the struggles that my family went through to get to where they are and they faced discrimination and were humiliated and I use that to motivate me every day.

I believe that within the teaching of tolerance has to be the teaching of accepting differences. They say that children are the friendliest and don’t care about race, ethnicity, and differences and that’s because they’re not brainwashed with non-sense to highlight differences and make judgments based on them. If adults treated others the way children treated each other, the world would be a much happier place.