Racism and Prejudice: An Analysis on Maysan Haydars Veiled Intentions - Essay Example

Section Racism and Prejudice: An Analysis on Maysan Haydar’s Veiled Intentions The Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl byHer Covering written by a feminist writer, Maysan Haydar, arises themes of great questions. One of these themes brought to attention by the article is the theme of racism and prejudice. The issue of racism has long been repetitively studied throughout the history. It became one of the reasons in wars fought by countries and most of the time, discriminations. The concept of racism has long been a topic of argument between people and it produced prejudices between people whether of different biological features or ancestral origins. In the article, it can be clearly seen that the author, Maysan Haydar suffered judgments from other people. Her article was about her experiences from wearing veil as a part of their culture in Islam. She related on her article: On a New York City bus a couple weeks ago, I sat with another woman, also veiled, but wearing a traditional jilbab (a cloak that women wear over their clothing). A girl two seats over remarked to her friend, while flipping her hair for effect, that she couldn’t understand how we could dress this way. “Me, I got to be free.” (Haydar 184) Hayder had been a witness of prejudices of culture that people imply due to race distinction or racism. In the said experience, Haydar witnessed how other people-specifically Americans on the article-viewed poorly the wearing of veil in their culture. Haydar strongly disagreed on the girl of her notion of freedom (184). The experience related aroused the theme of racism and prejudices among peoples. And in line with this, there are two authors whose works were of greatly helpful in investigating the said theme. These authors are K. Anthony Appiah of Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections and Edward W. Said of The Last Sky: Palestinian Lives. In Appiah’s work, there are two persons whose work had been studied to investigate on the issue of racism and these are Thomas Jefferson, an American and Mathew Arnold, an English. These persons who studied the meaning of race and its implications have different ideas about it. Based on the analysis done by Appiah, Jefferson concluded that the two races, “blacks and whites” cannot be united due to major distinctions in many aspects. In the said book, Appiah quoted Jefferson’s statement why the two races can’t be reconciled. Jefferson stated: Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race. (Appiah 68) In addition, Jefferson precisely stated that the skin color distinction is one of the proofs why the “blacks” and “whites” can’t be united. And the other differences including how black men differ on white men in desiring a partner (69). This statement-the nature created blacks and whites as different to each other and cannot be one-does not fully justify racism that produces prejudices among peoples. However, through Arnold’s statement, the problem of racism in Haydar’s article could be explained further. It can be used to explain why prejudices still exist although people of today are products of merged races. Arnold, studied “mixed race”. He used British people as an example of mixed race. He concluded that although most of the people of Britain were of mixed people, they can still be classified into distinct races. He said that race can be rooted from ancestors and be passed on to generations where not only physical features, but also the moral, intellectual abilities and cultural distinctiveness are being passed on (Appiah 80-81). Arnold still clearly believes on racism like Jefferson however, Arnold was more open to the fact that races can be united or be merged and can live in a single area. However, the idea he deduced is still a complication. The notion of race creates also a notion of differences that’s why even if Haydar was living in New York already, she still suffered from prejudices created by the notion of racism. The arguments of Jefferson and Arnold created notions about race and how it is being applied to people. Racism became the reason of laying down judgments on people and this is what happened to Haydar. With these notions, Appiah formulated his own deductions about race wherein he debunks the notion of race. In his wrap up statement, he stated: The bottom line is this: you can’t get much of a race-concept, ideationally speaking, from any of these traditions; you can get various possible candidates from the referential notion of meaning, but none of them will be much good for explaining social or psychological life, and none of them corresponds to the social groups we call “races” in America. (Appiah 101) Appiah, based his wrap up statement from the biological evidence of Charles Darwin. Appiah’s claim is highly a helpful argument that can support Haydar’s reason of debunking prejudices about her wearing of veil. It solidifies Haydar’s argument how one people look like should not be judged immediately based on notions of cultural differences. People only dwell on the notion of racism but in reality (using Appiah’s claim) the “races” that people think no longer exists because people are of product of mixed races. Also in line with this, the book of Edward W. Said relating the lives of Palestinians during their time of being cast out gives another argument wherein an empowerment on self-notion is important in uplifting one’s self from the notion of racism. In the book’s time, Palestinians were being neglected of different places because of their ‘race’. Said encountered Palestinians who suffered from great rejection in society and he shared it on his book. He shared the story of a Palestinian man moving from places to places due to rejection of race. And instead of pity, Said felt disgrace on the man (Said 558). Analyzing the context of Said’s reaction to the man, he clearly has a strong reason why he felt that way. He explained that the reason Palestinians were being treated that way is because they have allowed it. Said further elaborated it through an explanation of a novel. He related: Let Ghassa Kanafani’s novella Men in the Sun stand for the fear we have that unless we press “them” they will allow us to disappear, and the equal worry that if we press them they will either decry our hectoring presence, and quash it in their states, or turn us into easy symbols of their nationalism. These refugees concealed in the belly of a tanker truck being transported illegally across the border into Kuwait. As the driver converses with the guards, the men (Palestinians) die of suffocation – in the sun, forgotten. It is not the driver’s forgetfulness that nags at him. It is their silence. (Said 560) Said’s view of Palestinians is that they allow themselves to be oppressed. And with this, he strongly advocated that Palestinians should not move in fear but move with conviction as a rightful people of the world (Said 561). Connecting this to Haydar’s article, Said’s point of view is somehow right. Haydar suffered from prejudices due to cultural difference implied by racism. Haydar, however did not let it go that way, she fought it and stood up in her life confidently because she knew that she is of equal with the people (non-Muslim) she was interacting with her everyday life. This connection exemplified the idea that “racism” is just a notion people built throughout the ages and in reality should not be given much of importance nowadays. Prejudices produced by racism are just based on racism’s complications. People lay down judgments to other people because of the notion built about their “race”. In truth, people should not give judgments because people across the world have different cultures and “race” should have nothing to with it because if one would look at the people of the world, there are no longer people of “pure bred”. The existing people are product of “mixed race”. And to the people still living as slaves of racial discrimination, they should empower themselves to break out from the shackles they are putting to themselves. As Said said in his book: Impelled by exile and dislocation, the Palestinians need to carve a path for themselves in existence, which for them is by no means a given or stable reality. (Said 565) Like the Palestinians, if there are still people living in fear and in silence, they should start building their way to new era away from racism. From Appiah’s argument of the existence of “race” to Said’s empowerment of the oppressed Palestinians through self-uplifting, applying them all to Haydar’s article reduces the racism as nothing but notion that produces poorly deduced prejudices to people. Works Cited Appiah, K. Anthony. “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections.” The Tanner Lectures on Human Values.(1993-1994). 51-136. Tanner Lecture Library. Web. Haydar, Maysan. “Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering.” Viewpoints: Readings Worth Thinking And Writing About. Ed. Royce Adams. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2007. 183-188. Google Book Search. Web. 13 Feb 2009. Said, Edward W.”After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives”. Columbia University press, 1999. Print. Read More