Despite the liberal tolerance of our New World, racism still thrives in societies the world over. East and West, Third or First world, it’s always there; sometimes beneath the surface and sometimes in our faces. With that said, when the black son of an African Muslim, Barrack Hussein Obama, becomes the President of the United States, we can at least say we’re headed in the right direction. RELATIVTY OnLine’s David Anthony Hohol talks racism, straight forward and to the point.
Many of us will live out our entire lives without ever truly experiencing being unlike all those with which we surround ourselves. It’s hard for many to understand what it’s like to walk into a room and have everyone take notice of our presence simply for being the only one. To fathom the self-image born from being a member of what society calls a minority can be very complicated for those standing amidst the towering forest of the status quo. Perhaps most importantly, it’s difficult to comprehend the enveloping sense of judgment and conversely, the tremendous feeling of solidarity amongst the membership of a societal out-group.
Throughout human history race has been our most defining characteristic. By extension, race has consistently produced powerful forms of judgment and continues to do so today. Although the concept of race scientifically does not exist and is purely a social phenomenon, the social reality of race permeates every part of human life. More than anything, visible immediacy perpetuates its superiority as a master status and the lines of racial division are systemically ingrained within our thought patterns from the moment we join the empirical rabble of humankind.
Whether it’s been random or evolutionary adjustments to the environment, the fact is that the physical disparity amongst us is due to genetic mutation. In the days before global or even continental travel, isolated gene pools created common ancestries with similar traits, and even communal diseases, but never has there been a sub-species to the human race. Nevertheless, race is unquestionably a very significant part of our lives and is repeatedly used to explain such cultural nuances as skin color, ethnicity, values, traditions, or ancestry.
Pre-conceived notions and socially conditioned images of race are downloaded onto the human psyche via television, music, film, and the ever-manipulative mass media. By the time children reach their tenth birthdays, the socially constructed images of Black, White, Indian, Asian, or Arabic have been fully installed and are an integral part of the massive hard drive that is our subconscious mind. With the music and film industries working as system engineers for the youth of every generation passed, one can begin to see the fateful stereotypes that shape the minds of today’s youth in preparation for adulthood within the walls of the Western World and beyond. Whether it’s the White angry banger bands or the even whiter super-hero, the Black pimp daddy hip-hop bands or the blacker still foul mouthed criminal, ideas of what it means to be Black or White are ingested constantly. Further still, whether it’s the cerebral Asian computer geek, the scheming Arab terrorist, or the money loving Jew, a pre-determined and entirely misleading range of archetypal racial images rain down upon us from all sides. Whether pejorative in nature or not, these images can thus be defined as a fundamental part of our societal matrix from which all thought stems.
The differences amongst the human race and the significance attached to them have been the cause of conflict throughout our long and arduous existence. Simultaneously, we must take care not to subscribe to the flawed belief that recognizing the differences amongst us is synonymous with the proliferation and sanctioning of inequality. Many like to claim that the recognition of differences is integrally linked to discrimination. This kind of naïve fear-mongering is wrong, but has unfortunately become a knee-jerk reaction in the hypersensitive, politically correct minefield of today’s world. We are often made to feel as though we are not supposed to overtly recognize the differences amongst the human race. In other words, many of us have been conditioned to withhold thoughts and ideas about the differences amongst us for fear of being labeled a bigot or a racist; an accusation, whether true or not, that permanently stains an individual’s character. At times, we even catch ourselves questioning our own thoughts – I know I have.
Come on now, be honest; how do you really perceive Blacks, Whites, Indians, Arabs, Asians, or any other so-called race different than your own? Look into the mirror and be completely honest with yourself… no one else has to know.
There are many differences amongst us and there are no absolutes, this much I know to be true. Contrarily, we are more alike than different, no matter how difficult it may be to initially recognize the similarities. It’s in our nature to see the differences amongst us before we see that which is the same, but when given the chance to truly see, like a blind man regaining his sight, what was always right in front of us can become an emancipating vision of truth.
Experience – tangible, first hand experience with that which we don’t know makes all the difference. It is then when we feel the comforting cloak of legitimacy. Behind every fallen lie within our intricate puzzle of existence will stand a piece of magnanimous truth, and when put together they will create a picture of clarity and conviction. It’s a process to which I have become addicted and it continues to this day.
We all need to shine a light upon that which makes us feel uncomfortable, odd, hurt, or even angry, so that we can see inside ourselves and begin to understand. The result will be the inspiration to learn more, to experience more, to understand that which we do not, and see that which we have never seen. By extension, people all around us, regardless of who they are become more like the person we see in the mirror each day. In the end, exposure and experience bring understanding and hope, and the further we reach into the bottomless depths of empiricism, the smaller our majestic world becomes.
From David Anthony Hohol…
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David,
I’m glad you mention in your article the fact that race is only a sociological construct. You’re entirely right when you say from a scientific point of view race doesn’t exist. The genetic variations within each race are as apparent as the genetic variations between races.
At any rate, tracing the mitochondrial DNA (the DNA we get _only_ from our mothers) it has been proven that we all originated from Africa. In a sense, we are all Africans. Also, because our species went through a population bottleneck some 50,000 years ago when we became more endangered than present-day mountain gorillas, modern day humans are remarkably alike from a genetic point of view. Our closest relatives, chimps, have up to three time more genetic drift and variation than humans.
I agree with you when you say racial stereotypes are detrimental. What makes it even more so is that studies have shown that people of a given race end up themselves believing the pernicious stereotypes.
On a more controversial note, James Watson and Francis Crick (discovers of the structure of DNA) said they thought large differences in cognitive ability exist between races. I wonder what you make of this? What repercussions will it have on society IF this was proved true?
As I mentioned before, I’m an Asian Candaian, born and raised in Toronto. (My parents moved here from Singapore) Of course, there is tolerance and opportunity here in abundance in comparison to much of the rest of the world, but systemic, ingrained, almost instinctual prejudice still exists amongst many. I for one am never taken as someone born in Canada and even when I speak, I’m sometimes told my Eiglish is “Good” (ure I mentioned that before to, but thats because it pisses me off!) Experience is for sure the only way to get through to people.
Race is still so huge in America, despite all the progress. Most especially the black and white issue. It’s always bubbling beneath the surface, waiting to explode. The last time it hit was the OJ Simpson trail, clearly showing the racial lines still entrenched in American culture. Rodney King, the LA Watts riots, Martin Luther King, even JKK to certain extent all have showed race to be central to the psyche of the United States. Some people say I am pessimistic to say so, but often think some nut-job will at least try to assassinate Obama before he’s done with his time as President. There are people in America these days that despise that fact he is in the White House.
I’m a black woman living in America and the concept of race is still so very prevalent in our society. Sometimes I wonder why we can’t let it go and at other times, I wonder why people don’t understand why we can’t. 40 some year ago I would not have been able to vote, I would have been allowed to go to “white” schools, restaurants, or even public restrooms, just because I’m black. A few generations before that Americans bought and sold black people like cattle, “owned” them like dogs or cats. The wounds are fresh and still haven’t scared over. 50 years in terms of history is a blink of an eye and the very idea of slavery is hard to erase from one’s mind.
Racism will never die, and sadly so. When old forms die, new ones are born to replace that which came before it. It is in our nature to group ourselves and then judge those not with our own. Experience, as you stated, changes you. But the avergae individual lives out their lives within the same culture, even the same postal code, they were born into. And even many of those who traverse cultures the world over, return with an even stronger sense of ethnocentricity. As I said, true, perhaps inevitable, but sad. This is the limitation of our speices.
I think we as a species are more capable than what the above comment states. We can move forward, but only when we leave the past behind. We are survivalists and when we need to do so, we will.