Analysis of An Invisible Monster: the Creation and Denial of mixed race people in America Article - Essay Example

Reflection Paper This week I came across an incredible piece ofwriting that was a true revelation in itself. An Invisible Monster: the Creation and Denial of mixed race people in America written by Cynthia Nakashima talks about the various strategies adopted by the U.S. in dealing with people belonging to mixed cultures. Never before had my thoughts been oriented towards the status of mixed race people in our society yet Nakashima’s writing compels one not only to ponder upon the creation and the denial of existence of people belonging to mixed races but also creates a question about the accurate definition of the word ”race” in our minds.
The American culture has a socially constructed definition for the term “race” but the very existence of people from mixed race cultures pose a threat to the understanding of the term race. It is really shocking to face the fact that in the very liberal America that we see today, the attitude towards mixed race people has always been negative to such an extent that inter-racial marriages was not even supported based upon the fact they were unnatural and resulted in weak progenies. The Hybrid Degeneracy which says that mixed race people have “inferior” genes compared to the parental genes, theory lends support to this argument. This somewhat confused me since according to Darwin’s theory mixed genes lends more stability and even though some people think that mixed races would have bad genes, Darwin’s theory makes it clear that mixing of genes is better for human race.
Mixed race people were once considered dangerous, immoral and even unfit for the “superior” white society. However, no such consideration is made against the whites who might be indulged in something familiar as the non-whites. From the perspective of mixed race individuals, it must be really hard to select their allegiance to just one race because of which they are often seen as “traitors” or “sell-outs” especially in an hegemonic culture. This creates a problem for an individual’s identity since society compels mixed race people to re-define his identity altogether.
The article makes it clear that some people consider “white race” to be superior and consider the dilution of the genes as something unnatural and this superiority complex compels some people to deny the existence of mixed races in America.
The latter part of the reading highlights the fact that “race” is political, socio-cultural as well as biological in nature. Our society has created a bubble of thought about the existence of mixed race people and has even denied their existence since it poses a threat to the concept of “race” and “ethnicity”.
On a personal level I feel that the article successfully explores the various perspectives about the existence status of the mixed races in America. Even though the status of individuals and families have mostly been negative, in the last few years political advances, social activism and advancements in the field of education have upgraded the status of mixed races which is seen as a challenge to those who would like to re-define the meanings of words such as race, culture, ethnicity and community. Read More