Reflection on the The Political Morality of Race Work - Essay Example

 Reflection on the Essay The Political Morality of Race Kwame Anthony Appiah, in his essay “The Political Morality of Race”, defines race as “...like all the major forms of identification that are central to contemporary identity politics: female and male; gay, lesbian, and straight; black, white, yellow, red, and brown; Jewish-, Italian-, Japanese-, and Korean-American; even that most neglected of American identities, class”. Over the centuries, a lot of different racial tolerances have been brought out into this world. Racial prejudices are not new in our modern society nowadays or even long before time. Most of these prejudices are only based on overstated perceptions. Why need for a specific racial identification if all can just live harmoniously together. Color is not a factor in judging someone. I strongly insist to use the coined term in the essay “badge of color”. It shows great insult. It tends to discriminate one race from the other just because of his color. I do not believe that a person’s racial identity is an issue that social division could be made. What can a White-American do that the Black-American can’t? Each individual has his own heart and feelings. The Blacks likewise get hurt as the Whites do. What difference can we tell? Everyone wants to be dignified, right? We may live in a society that is full of injustices. Equal dignity is not given to everybody just because they are women or just a kid. Or whether he got no education at all, he should be mock. Life revolves in a give and take relationship. What we want others do to us, we must also do to them. Now, if we want to be discriminated, then, go and find the most horrible insult you could give to someone. But, tell you, you won’t be happy at all. Appiah noted in his essay that “earlier in American history the label ‘African’ was applied to many of those who would later be thought of as Negroes”. In the colonial period, slavery in North America was somehow based on racial identity, being identified as an African, or, later, as a Negro, carrying the ‘badge of color’. People have in thought that “Africans had more in common culturally, socially, intellectually, and religiously than they actually did”. With this fact, humankind has established the “social heritage of slavery; the discrimination and insult’”. This is not only limited to Americans and Africans but as well as to the Oriental people. As what I have been saying awhile ago, humankind divides people with their race or color. As a result, three socio-cultural objects have been made in America alone, the black, the white, and the Orientals. This division, another term for ‘racial label’, certainly creates social effects which can cut a person’s self-esteem. Furthermore, the thought has psychological effects that can be more demeaning. Having ‘racial label’ do shape the way people think of themselves. As stated with the same source, “what people can do depends on what concept they have available to them; and among the concepts that may shape one's action is the concept of a certain kind of person and the behavior appropriate to that kind”. Helping one person think he is inferior among others may add more insult to injury and this indeed will result to final self breakdown. How devastating that would be! Culture and civilization also became an object in Kwame Anthony Appiah’s essay. These two has a function in further dividing individuals globally by racial differences. He defined culture as “the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought”. There have been Orientals, Africans, and Chinese people that were to adopt a culture and civilization different from their traditional one such as that of Americans but still there the differences are noticeable. It is said that every race has its own common culture. Like black Americans have their own common culture on “values and beliefs and practices that they share and they do not share with others”, as stated in the essay. It is true that each nation and race has its own culture. This may lead into some racial gaps in our global society. Yet, it is not simply a hindrance in having good relationship with them. Unless they wouldn’t do something terrorist act, what is wrong with dealing with them? All of us are both humans. We do need respect and equality. What is the United Nations for but to supposedly bring peace and equality globally? Why can’t other people bridge the differences and go on living life to the full together in accord? Civilization may play a great role in stereotyping minority race. However, it is not always good for some nations that view their race inferior to other. Countries that are well-developed economically were viewed by many as greater than anybody else. To mention some, USA and Britain are viewed as masters of the land. They run the world market. Majority of the known people in the world came from highly developed lands. Yet, this is not all reason to have a not so respectful treatment from anybody else. This is all absurd! We do not need to be a pure white American to be treated with justice. Each of us individually deserves the right of equality and justice. No one can claim either supremacy over any of his fellow humans. We were created equal. We are not even allowed by our constitutional law to coerce or exploit others. For those races that were treated inferior, why not fight for your right? For the rest of the races that feel superior, why do you need to put down even more those who you think are more inferior to you? What honor and glory do you then search for that act? I believe that every individual is different but that doesn’t mean impede them with the existence of social life they deserve to have. Why not put your self in one’s shoe? What you are doing to someone would somehow be hurled back to you. It is true that there are really these differences between different races, culture, and civilization but no matter how; we must take into account that we are all humans. We are all capable of feeling hurt. No one else has ever been so vulnerable into pains. Read More