Should our racial identity be defined by our physical attributes - Essay Example

First off, one of the most significant attributes among people is their color of skin. It is a standpoint for racial conflicts and discrimination, therefore. Thus, humanity is well driven by analyzing characteristic features of individuals in relation to physical attributes, but not those which are more vital. It is all about, an individual’s reason, passion, talent, use for the society, etc. Black or white, Asian or Indian, - all these attributes make a huge part of the contemporary society run into misconception in possessing different things and stratum within the society.

Living in America, many of individuals urge to create their identities in close relation to their physical attributes. In fact, it is taken for granted today, and no one can refuse that a person’s appearance is the core attribute to get well in this life. It is a “credit card” of an individual letting him/her know if he/she can go another step in the social stratification and in the career ladder as well. This is the truth of contemporary life. The society believes in this assumption just because it was delivered from one generation to another throughout the history of the United States.

Such impulses are so strong that it seems impossible to fight them or somehow reduce. Even with the African-American president, the situation has changed not a jot. As an Armenian, I feel responsible to pay everyone’s attention to the topic that is not new for everyone living in a multinational country. It is really difficult to pay people’s attention to more reasonable and constructive decisions while communicating the ethnical equality which makes all individuals and citizens united and, therefore, strong in the national idea.

However, communicating ethnicity is not suffice, as “the ethnic option is conceptualized in individual rather than collective terms” (Fong and Chuang 308). Thus, a person himself/herself chooses to either humiliate or defend somebody as it concerns with one’s viewpoints on life and social inequality. To say more, racial identity as well as racial discrimination is a result of the historical development of the mankind. In this respect the era of colonialism, expansion, and enslavement “imprinted” and allegedly justified the winners and the losers of the “ethnical race,” so to speak.

Individuals in majority are likely to put constraints for those in minority in order to make the presence and performance of the first pure, and genuinely more authentic. Unfortunately, the vast majority of contemporary people are perpetually haunted by various stereotypes regarding their identity. It seems taken for granted that African Americans and other minorities should stay behind the scenes of the national dialogue on equal rights just because they do not fit into a so-called “divine” image of a civilized person.

In turn, it hurts and, frankly speaking, destructs people’s self-esteem and identity (Burke 85). Thus, social forces are still ineffective in, first, discussing and, second, solving the problem of misunderstanding widely spread over different ethnical communities nationwide. It is a challenge for the nation; it is a challenge for every ordinary individual being a part of the nation as well. Strange as it may seem, a man’s appearance is a prerequisite to estimate his/her talents, goals, and preferences.

However, it sounds