I didn’t really know what to expect when I first opened up “Be More”, I didn’t know what the website would advocate, so I was a little surprised when I saw that it had to do with the issue of race. And I guess that the reason I was surprised was because the issue of race seems too big to tackle, and that is exactly what this organization seems to focus on. Over the past few weeks I’ve discussed the issue of race in this class along with in a couple of others. And after all of the numerous discussions that we engage in, I always come out of them feeling somewhat enraged and wanting the system to change. But after I think about it for a while, I always come to the conclusion that race is just to big if an issue to take on. It doesn’t seem even remotely plausible that we could eliminate race in society because of the large role in plays in everything we do. It seems impossible to erase the role of race completely. But the fact that people are willing to take on the challenge is inspiring. And it may make people see that if there are people out there up for it, then it can happen and the cause just needs enough people to join in. And the fact that they have a year in mind makes the whole goal seem even more concrete and realistic.

One area of the website that I really appreciated was the section that defined terms that most people usually relate to and commonly mistaken for race. It defined terms like race, ethnicity, and nationality. And this rings true with me because it irks me when people get these terms mixed up. By race I’m considered Asian, and though I don’t always feel connected to this label, arguably by definition of race it is accurate. As for the difference between ethnicity and race, this is where I find the confusion. Ethnicity has more to do with where your roots are, and where to some extent you identify with culturally. Nationality is where you were born. I’m always annoyed when someone asks what my nationality is or if I just hear the question being asked in general. I know what they’re trying to ask. They can’t distinguish where exactly I’m from based on what I look like so they resort to asking what my nationality is. So when I answer with “American” I tend to come across some very confused faces. It’s almost as if they’re challenging my claim. What they fail to distinguish between is ethnicity and race. I guess this can tie back into the idea of race, in some weird way people still have an image of what being “American” is, so when they see someone who they believe doesn’t physically fit that mold and they find it hard trying to squish someone into another, they ask about their nationality, assuming that this person wasn’t born in America and instead hailed form some other place. But I also realize that sometimes it is not done maliciously, and people just aren’t aware of the difference between the two terms, which is why I applaud “Be More” for outing these definitions out there. I think it is extremely important that we all become familiar with these terms in order for us to move forward in this society.