Race and Ethnic Relations: Asian Americans - Assignment Example

and Section # of Race and Ethnic Relations This assignment is about the concepts of race and racism that I had prior to taking this course compared to the current concepts. The essay will include the description of earlier beliefs regarding the definition of race and the explanation for racial inequality. Defining Race Before taking this course I did not have much knowledge about different races and the basic definition of race. What I believed was that races are developed in human being because of differences in colors of their skins. I had a perception that skin of a person determines his race and the race implies his social standings. Since the beginning I was taught that race is the main determinant of the person’s identity and his belonging. The blacks are from Africa, white people are from Europe and the yellow people are from the Asian continent. The white are the superior race to all. This was the major concept that I had of a race. After taking the course, I was able to understand the concept of race in a better way. The readings given to us by the lecturer and the lectures in class made my concepts of a race much clearer. The explanations given by Marvin Harris in his book built my concepts on the definition of race. In his book he tries to explain the causes of differences in skin color. He successfully explains the adaptations of skin to different climatic conditions (Harris, 112). Marvin Harris explains that different levels of melanin present in the skin are responsible for the pigmentation of the skin. Melanin is the first line of defense of the body against the ill effects of the ultraviolet rays in the sunlight (Harris, 112). The higher the level of melanin in the body, the darker is the color of the skin. The presence of melanin is different in people from different parts of the world because their ancestors developed different levels of melanin in order to adapt to the sunshine levels (Harris, 112). According to Harris, race is just a socially created concept in order to create differences in the society. Races have not been created biologically and are not a sign of someone being inferior or superior to other. Therefore it can be concluded that the differences in skin colors resulted as an adaptation process to survive in different environments. The blacks and the whites share a common ancestor who may have been brown skins (Harris, 112). Therefore the concept of race is not biological as all the races have been spurred from the same ancestors (Harris, 112). Negative Relations between Racial Groups The causes of negative relations between the different racial groups as I perceived was that the different racial groups favored the ones who belonged to their group. I believed that a black person would favor a black person and not people from other race and same was true for the other racial groups too. This brought about the negative relations between different racial groups. The people from the same racial group hate the people from other racial group. Prior to taking this course, I thought that the main source of negativity between different racial groups was that they were different continents and countries. I believed that the whites did not give the African Americans and the Asians their rights, which is why there are so many differences between these groups. However, the main factor responsible for the negative relation between these racial groups was unclear to me. Some kind of hatred was visible between these groups. The white did not like to either sit or eat with a black person next to them. On the other hand, the African Americans had developed a hatred for the white because of the atrocities done by the white. After taking the class lectures of the course and going through the readings, I came to know that the negativity in the relations among the different racial groups have not been there since the beginning, it has been created by some prominent people who wanted to enhance the survival of the white civilization. The atrocities done on the African Americans by the white since the African Americans migrated to the US are the main factors behind the negative relations among the different racial groups. In the 1790s, the congress restricted the citizenship of the United States of America to only white skinned people. The requirement of being white was not only the skin color but also other requirements. The white people from Italy and Ireland were not given the citizenship (Lopez, 24) without any reason and hence this created the negative relations between the different racial groups. The black were living on the American lands since many years, but they were also not given the citizenship. The racial prerequisite for citizenship of the U.S. was present for almost 200 years (Lopez, 24). Explanations for Racial Inequality Inequality between races has existed since the day I was born. The white always have been happier and prosperous than the other racial groups. The blacks and the Asians could be seen doing most of the blue-collar jobs. Whereas the white skinned people got management and other white-collar jobs. I had the correct belief that the African Americans and Asians are less learned and educated than the whites; that is why this inequality in standard of living and jobs was prominent between the different racial groups. After taking this course, I learnt that the structural system of the United States of America has been whitening since the very initial stages. Racial discrimination has hence followed a structural system since the founding of the USA. This structural system in America has always privileged the white and disadvantages all the other people of color. Petitioners from India, Arabia, China, Burma and Japan were all rejected for citizenship on the basis of taxonomy of whiteness (Roediger, 182). According to the culture and the geography of the applicant, his whiteness was determined. This was the main reason for the inequality between different races. Those who were not the citizens of America, they were not given good jobs and had to perform menial jobs such as plumbing and cooking. This could be seen as the applicants from Mexico and Armenia were labeled white but others were not. Racism in the world was started at this point and its inherent affects can be seen till now as the white people now think they are superior to the other colored races and have developed racism in the head. Another reason for racial inequality has been the slavery of blacks that has been prevalent in the 17th and 18th centuries. These slave owners were the ones, in the past, who made constitutions and these masters did not pass any law that resulted in the freedom or equality of rights for the African Americans. The black population was considered as the property of the whites. The American history is full of politicians including George Washington who enslaved African Americans (Feagin 14). These tyrants viewed the black Americans as weak, inferior and collapsed and believed that only blacks deserved to be enslaved. Therefore it would not be false if we say that the American slavery was racial. This institution of slavery was ended before the 19th century, but racism was institutionalized. Racism is no different than slavery. Racism that has been pretty prevalent throughout the 19th century has been the root cause of racial inequality. Some enslavers even had a grand vision to expand the concept of slavery of black population to the other part of the world. Therefore there has been a systemic racism which was laid down by the founders of the United States. The population that was the most affected by this racism is the African American population. The white elites viewed themselves as the superior race and the race born to rule over the other races. This white elite gained economic and political power unjustly as they encouraged inequality across the globe. They took over the resources of the Native Americans and killed them in return. Their resources have been transferred to their generations since then. There are a number of white racist ideologies, government policies and institutions which protect the advantages and powers of the white. Since then the whites have flourished and the other races have been degraded and given unequal justice and rights. Many public schools give privileges to the white to be admitted in schools while the black are not given enough seats. Many schools and colleges have a fixed quota for white skinned children and youngsters. Model minority has been one more incident which has led to the increased inequality among races. The model minority myth played a vital role in supporting the structure of racial inequality as the Americans now viewed the Asian Americans as unskilled and incompetent. The race which was represented and thought of as a very successful and hardworking race was discriminated in public because of the myth and the model even encouraged more inequality among the different races than ever (Le, 3). Conclusion There is a pattern of racism that can be found everywhere and is enforced by the white elites. A whole global system for racism has been developed which seeds were sown in the 17th century by the founders of the United States. The activities performed in the past by the white elites and the white rulers of today are the largest factors which contribute to racism Works Cited Zack, N. Et al. Race, class, gender and sexuality: The Big Questions. Third Edition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. (2004). Lopez, F. White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race. New York: New York University Press. (1996). Roediger, D. Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working History. New York: HayMarket. (1994) Feagin, J. America: Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations. First Edition. New York: Routledge. (2001) Harris, M. Our Kind: Who we are, Where we came from and Where we are going. First Edition. New York: Harper Perennial. (1990) Fong, T. Et al. Asian American Experiences and Perspectives. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (1999) Le, C. N. “The Model Minority Image” Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. November 22, 2009. http://www.asian-nation.org/model-minority.shtml Read More