Life has been hectic, I meant to respond to this when it went up. And I still don't have a lot of time to make my thoughts flow well, but
(1) I agree that emphasizing racial differences does nothing to help eliminate racism, and that "possible the only interracial comedy team" thing is bullshit and stupid. But I don't think they're out of line in recognizing that the mixing of racial cultures was a big deal in the 70s and isn't totally prevalent today. Yes, a lot happened in the 60s, and civil rights for simple things like voting were finally secured for blacks in the US. But discrimination continued, and we're still in the process of integrating schools, neighborhoods, churches. "Interracial" might be going out of vogue, but in the 2000 US Census, you could only choose one box for race, leaving 7 million mixed race Americans with a furrowed brow.
(2) I think it's dangerous to punctuate racial discrimination when the fact of the matter is that discrimination continues. It's not just a southern thing, it's not just an American thing, and I don't think either of us needs the evidence, personal or statistical, to believe it. But I've seen and heard it everywhere I've ever lived (southern US, northern US, western Europe), to other people and to myself. If we learned anything from the Civil Rights Movement, it's that subconscious and unacknowledged racism is just as harmful as the blatant kind.
I completely agree that there's a generational effect at work - our generation isn't picky about skin color and doesn't just at the sight of different ones holding hands in public. And I'm also a little offended that the mainstream media is hyping up a book by talking about supposed radical racial change. But I think that the solution is more coverage of real discrimination in everyday life, not silent belief that we live in an egalitarian society.
I think you're absolutely right with all these points, and I should qualify my statement above by saying that I know full well that racism is widespread throughout the world - in China, for example, I was completely floored by the rampant and blatant hatred towards Japanese and Koreans. Even in Canada, where we take a great deal of pride in our supposed egalitarianism and melding of cultures, there's a huge amount of open racial discimination against Natives and East Indians.
I think the thing that got my ire up about the news article was that it was proof that my ideals are not realistic. I've had it pummelled into me from a young age that racism is a relic of an outdated system of thought, and I guess that was something I really started to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary. It was an unintentional wake-up call that yes, in most parts of the world, and maybe in EVERY part of the world, racial discrimination and the division of races remains a relevant and commonplace thing.
But you're right. Ignoring the reality of it is an irresponsible and potentially harmful approach. The danger of preaching the idea that "discrimination is a problem we've solved in today's world" is that it gives people the excuse not to deal with it. And the media just doesn't cover it to the extent that it should - every other week there's another missing white woman from a middle-class family, but what about the asian or black kid who disappears from a lower-class neighbourhood? What about an exposion of race-related violence at a bus stop in the city? Or even what about general news related to interests other than those of white, middle-class, protestants?
My brother's girlfriend is a feminist - not militant, but she's definitely committed to her cause. This weekend on the drive down to the US where my parents had rented a cabin for Canadian Thanksgiving, we got into some really interesting discussions about how women, and especially non-white or non-middle-class women, are still marginalised in western society even though the prevailing attitude is that the fight for equal rights for women began in the 1960s and ended in the 1970s. A lot of these same topics came up in the conversation - the main one being, just because it's not actively advertised doesn't mean it isn't still happening.
Anyway, it would be nice and comforting to live my life believing that we live in a perfect world, but it would also be nice and comforting to believe leprechauns exist. Believing something doesn't make it true.
(1) I agree that emphasizing racial differences does nothing to help eliminate racism, and that "possible the only interracial comedy team" thing is bullshit and stupid. But I don't think they're out of line in recognizing that the mixing of racial cultures was a big deal in the 70s and isn't totally prevalent today. Yes, a lot happened in the 60s, and civil rights for simple things like voting were finally secured for blacks in the US. But discrimination continued, and we're still in the process of integrating schools, neighborhoods, churches. "Interracial" might be going out of vogue, but in the 2000 US Census, you could only choose one box for race, leaving 7 million mixed race Americans with a furrowed brow.
(2) I think it's dangerous to punctuate racial discrimination when the fact of the matter is that discrimination continues. It's not just a southern thing, it's not just an American thing, and I don't think either of us needs the evidence, personal or statistical, to believe it. But I've seen and heard it everywhere I've ever lived (southern US, northern US, western Europe), to other people and to myself. If we learned anything from the Civil Rights Movement, it's that subconscious and unacknowledged racism is just as harmful as the blatant kind.
I completely agree that there's a generational effect at work - our generation isn't picky about skin color and doesn't just at the sight of different ones holding hands in public. And I'm also a little offended that the mainstream media is hyping up a book by talking about supposed radical racial change. But I think that the solution is more coverage of real discrimination in everyday life, not silent belief that we live in an egalitarian society.
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I think the thing that got my ire up about the news article was that it was proof that my ideals are not realistic. I've had it pummelled into me from a young age that racism is a relic of an outdated system of thought, and I guess that was something I really started to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary. It was an unintentional wake-up call that yes, in most parts of the world, and maybe in EVERY part of the world, racial discrimination and the division of races remains a relevant and commonplace thing.
But you're right. Ignoring the reality of it is an irresponsible and potentially harmful approach. The danger of preaching the idea that "discrimination is a problem we've solved in today's world" is that it gives people the excuse not to deal with it. And the media just doesn't cover it to the extent that it should - every other week there's another missing white woman from a middle-class family, but what about the asian or black kid who disappears from a lower-class neighbourhood? What about an exposion of race-related violence at a bus stop in the city? Or even what about general news related to interests other than those of white, middle-class, protestants?
My brother's girlfriend is a feminist - not militant, but she's definitely committed to her cause. This weekend on the drive down to the US where my parents had rented a cabin for Canadian Thanksgiving, we got into some really interesting discussions about how women, and especially non-white or non-middle-class women, are still marginalised in western society even though the prevailing attitude is that the fight for equal rights for women began in the 1960s and ended in the 1970s. A lot of these same topics came up in the conversation - the main one being, just because it's not actively advertised doesn't mean it isn't still happening.
Anyway, it would be nice and comforting to live my life believing that we live in a perfect world, but it would also be nice and comforting to believe leprechauns exist. Believing something doesn't make it true.
Reply
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