Racism and Ethnicity in Modern Works - Research Paper Example

? Racism/Ethni Introduction Thesis ment: Racism or ethni is ideologies that are negatively held by people who perceive others as inferior in order to gain selfish goals. Racism and ethnicity are to concepts that find definition and meaning more in practice than in theory. One gets to feel the impact of racist practices when exposed to such environment more than when he or she only hears about them in literature. However, many writers found a way of expressing their anger and bewilderment regarding racism and ethnic practices through writing. Race could be defined as the physical variations that are inherent in human beings. These variations are manifested in form of skin color and other biological differences that might not be well known to mankind. Racism therefore; emanates from the inherent belief that these differences observed among the many human races on earth are capable of determining the cultural or personal achievements, in which case it evokes the assumption that a person’s own race is more superior than the other’s and for this case, the superior race has the basic right to rule over and command the other one. Some governments might take up this belief in oppressing the citizens believed to be of the inferior race (Poyrazli & Lopez, 2007). Ethnicity on the other hand has more to do with race, people’s shared beliefs in terms of language, and origin as far as migration routes are concerned. The idea of ethnicity still manifests itself like racism in that, the ethnic group which considers it as being large, of different color and creed, and good language choses to segregate the other that it thinks less of. For that reason, the ethnic group that feels superior strives to rule over the other and does activities with the exclusion of the other group, which it deems inferior (McCarthy, 2005). This paper utilizes various sources of reference but considers the works of two most important scholars who put much effort in pointing out this evil. These are Nadine Gordimer in his country Lovers writings and Alice Walker in The Welcome Table. Racism/ethnicity In this discussion, I take a critical look at the manifestation of racism or ethnicity. Racism advocates for separation of people from any form of physical associations that were considered not permissible. Even neighbors are not meant to have anything in common. This is illustrated by Nadine Gordimer’s literary works where the children on the farm are seen to play together when they are still young but this drastically changes when the child from the white family goes far for studies. When the white child returns from school for holidays, he does not play with other black kids. This shows the extent to which racial divisions suppress any form of public display of affection (Gordimer, 1975). The schooling is also different for white children as compared to that of the blacks. When the white kids go to their schools away from the black neighborhood, the mode of teaching they get exposed to is entirely different from that of the black kids. For that reason, the black children cannot express themselves fluently in the English language while the white kids at the same level speak and write fluently. In Gordimer’s novel, we find that the black children do drop year in year out and cannot pass the same grades that white kids do. The black kids are seen not to speak the kind of vocabularies that whites do. In the same novel, the black women and men work on farms all day without anything to show for it, while the white women and men dine and wine. This shows how racial and ethnic divisions get entrenched even in the work and social sections of the society (Gordimer, 1975; Yeh & Inose, 2003)). Across borders, ethnic ideologies are still shown. This was seen in the colonial times when the whites colonized many African and Asian countries. Records show that many of the colonized citizens were tortured and brutally treated. Others were simply killed through racial cleansing practices and sold for slaves. In 1986, the then prime minister of japan Yasuhiro Natasome was quoted saying that the average American intellectual standard is very low when compared to an average Japanese standard. He attributed this to the presence of blacks and Hispanics who reside in the United States. For the above reasons, he has often been quoted saying that the racial homogeneity, which japan enjoys is the advent of its strength. After such remarks were made, eleven years later, Lino Graglia, the then University of Texas Law School Professor, retorted that the blacks and Mexican-Americans are not competitive enough academically when compared to the American whites in some selective institutions. He further mumbled that this can be attributed to the effects of cultural upbringing of such individuals or people who lack the culture that supports and encourages personal achievements (Caldwell & Aycicegi, 2006). Such claims are indeed totally unfounded and mere gimmicks from the people corrupted by the superiority syndrome who have nothing important to think of. Marital relationships are not even spared when we have racism practices. In Gordimer’s novel, the love affair between the white and the black man did not go far. It stopped the moment they grew old and the child conceived out of that relationship is described as ‘unfortunate infant’. Besides, after the court case involving the two families, the white boy’s father says he is going to do all he can to save his face from the district. When the black girl is asked about the fate of their relationship now that the court case was over, she asserts that the relationship was a childhood affair meaning it cannot take place now that they are old (Gordimer, 1975). Ethnic divisions have in the past decades led to conflicts and wars. The civil war in the United States is one such incidence adding to many civilian conflicts and wars in Africa. Studies conducted in Europe based on immigrants in relation to tourism behavior and conduct revealed some fundamental issues. It was found out that we have certain determinants of culture and ethnicity when it comes to travel preferences within Europe and the individual behaviors. Ethnic minorities in Europe have complained about some socio-economic constraints that they face (Mbuthia & Maingi, 2010). The issue of divisions within society is well represented in Alice Walker’s ‘The Welcome Table’ where an old woman’s antagonist character is brought to scene in the church. Some of those Christians in the congregation are seen to speak poorly of the old woman, while another group keeps mum. The third group showed vague pity and took her as something else other than human. The writer does not condemn the gathering but ends up making the reader see the old woman in the eyes of the congregation. The author mentions cooks, maids and others who are considered as low class workers. These are related to the old woman. If such an approach to judging human beings in public and private places are the realities of the day, then there is a possibility that issues to do with racism and ethnicity are far from over. They might not be spoken directly but are expressed silently by those who possess them, whether knowingly or not. Why does the congregation see evil in the old woman instead of fragility in the church loving woman? And what happened to the sanctity of Christian worship where such people are to be welcomed and integrated in church worship with spiritual comfort? These are the critical questions that show how issues of racism and ethnic segregation are still manifest in people (Walker, 1985). Ethnic problems have found their way in delivery of essential services such as security and medicine. A case was noted in the US where a police man failed to provide security to a black man on the basis of him being of a different race. On reading the Macpherson report that was launched on investigating the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the metropolitan police did fail to bring this matter to book and did not solve the case and this was attributed to institutional racism and high levels of incompetence. Doctors also have exercised discrimination in their professional practice. These and other incidences get us thinking as to whether or not issues of racism or ethnicity will ever disappear (Poyrazli, et al., 2004). Once those who consider themselves elites in society gain that power to express it, they deter others from accessing things and places they consider theirs. The church is not spared either. In the ‘The Welcome Table’, the minister, instead of welcoming the old woman, he asserts that she knows that is not her church (Walker, 1985). Respect for values held by others considered to be minorities is thrown to the wind. When the whites went to Africa, they disregarded the communal ties that existed and mistook the African ways of worship for savage and devilish. Holding such perspectives, the colonialists sought to eliminate any form of African worship and instead enforced Christianity (Senel, et al., 2010). Conclusion Issues to do with racism and ethnicity are still quite sensitive and need to be well addressed. The main reason why these ideologies still pose a challenge is because of the fact that they had been fully entrenched in the institutions that define human behavior and have been promoted by many of those who have the capacity to do so (Philips, 2007). The above discussion points to a very narrow scope of these practices. Their outcomes have always left many serious effects to the minorities that are affected. The problem that seems to bring up these issues emanate from the fact that human beings have the weakness of not looking beyond what the eyes can see and finding reason to accommodate each other. Instead, they peg their arguments on such trivial aspects that show differences such as color and creed (Senel, et al., 2010). In the event that ethnic practices are not checked, they could lead to implementation of misguided actions as was seen in the case of Germany where Hitler chose to eliminate the Jews as a way of cleansing the German community. The consequences of his actions are still being felt up to date. Despite this, people do not seem to learn from history and the bonds binding societies keep being broken. References Caldwell-Harris CL, Aycicegi A (2006). When personality and culture clash: The psychological distress of allocentrics in an individualist culture and idiocentrics in collectivist culture, Transcultural Psychiatry, Gordimer Nadine (1975) Country Lovers, from Soldier's Embrace McCarthy J (2005). Individualism and collectivism: What do they have to do with counseling, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development Philips (2007), Contexts for Mobilization: Spatial Settings and Klan Presence in North Carolina, 1964–1966. Am. J. Social Poyrazli S, Kavanaugh PR, Baker A, Al-Tamimi N (2004). Social support and demographic correlates of acculturative stress on international students, J. Coll. Counseling Poyrazli S, & Lopez MD (2007), an exploratory study of perceived discrimination and homesickness: A comparison of international students and American students. J. Psychol., Senel Poyrazli, Rajat K. Thukral & Erdinc Duru (2010), International students’ race-ethnicity, personality and acculturative stress, Penn State University-Harrisburg, USA Mbuthia Susan W. & Maingi Shem W. (2010), the influence of ethnicity on leisure pursuits and tourism behavior of Somali immigrants in Leeuwarden, Netherlands Department of Business Administration, London Metropolitan University-UK Walker Alice (1985), the Welcome Table. God s Story and Modern Literature: Reading Fiction in Community. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, Yeh CJ, Inose M (2003). International students’ reported English fluency, social support satisfaction, and social connectedness as predictors of acculturative stress. Counseling Psychol. Quarterly Read More