The Construction of Racial Identity - Essay Example

introduction Racial Identity: Racism arises from the social and al racist laws and practices of the past. (Damaliayo). Racial identity is the biological makeup of the individuals, including their abilities, physical appearance, attributes, temperaments, ideas, opinions, believes and their thinking about themselves. Further, it includes the relationships of people with their social group, families and societies and the status that they have achieved from their society. (Katz). Racial identity is usually carried through genes and is inherited from the ancestors. So, it could be said that racial identity is the ones self explanation made up of all those features and dimensions that explains ones past racial features (belonging to its ancestors) and the ones future aspirations in relation to its racial characteristics. Race is the genetically determined variation in the humankind, that portrays various and distinct features. (Weinreich and Saunderson). Racial identity and such models are used since long ago to identify the people and the background to which they belong. Now days, racial identity and race are seen as a social concept. Social sciences are rejecting the biological explanations of the racism and according to them a race of the person is formed due to his social relations and the historical experiences and racial identities are the expressions of historical contexts in which past experiences and relations of the person are embedded. (Tatum), (Omi and Winant) Own Racial Identity: The racial identity to which my ancestors and I belong is “Chinese”. Chinese are seen as the matter of biological dive, physical appearance and inherited inheritance. Chinese nation is the most popular and oldest in the world. The fossils about the Chinese identity indicate that it is a racial identity thriving since 1.7 million years. Chinese civilization for the first time revealed itself properly 7000 to 8000 years ago. And now the civilization of Chinese people has excelled a lot in all the fields. Chinese are considered by the other nations and ethnicities as the most hardworking, punctual and simple people who honestly focus on developing on their nation and their society by compromising and contributing on the situations where ever they can. The racial identity of Chinese is not at all degraded in any part of the world and Chinese are welcomed in all the states with respect and people tend to form relationships with Chinese without any ethnic or racial issues. Chinese on the other hand in the aspects of relationships are friendly as well. Although they are not straight forward but they are likely to be loyal with the people they are in good terms with. color blind racism Color blind racism is as well called as the aversive racism. Color blind racism means to disregard the race of any individual participating in any activity etc. The race of the people is ignored by the societies anymore to avoid the title of racists. In the color blind world racism is defined not as a group based system of prolonged unfair treatments embedded in the institutions but it is the individual discrimination or prejudice. This individualization of the racism means that it is generally viewed as the segregated acts of the ignorant individuals or the groups that are hate groups because of being extremists. The example for it can be taken ‘United States of America’ as they have moved beyond the races. (Turner) Reasons for Being Problematic: The advantage of this color blindness is that the people from races that were considered as inferior are now getting the opportunities to participate and are accepted similarly like the races that are dominant and considered superior. The major reason for which it is being problematic is that colorblindness towards racism is increasing the fears of the local residents of all the states with superior, dominant and leading racial identities that they will lose their power, dominance and rights over the other races. This ignorance towards the racism will power the inferior races and then those races will start to dominate in the future. For example this type of feeling is found in the people of United States of America. As U.S. has moved beyond the races, the local residents of the U.S. have started developing the fears that the immigrant residents are getting the equal rights, political, cultural and economical power and whites are no more in monopoly. So this system is developing a fear in the whites that due to this leverage of ignoring the races, more immigrants will move to their state that in the end as a result will not produce a just state but a white minority and then whites will be treated as minorities similarly like non whites were treated earlier. (Jensen) observations The personal observations that I made about my own civilization and myself during spending the time at the campus and knowing white privilege and keeping the suggestions made by Peggy Mclntosh in mind are: Personal Observations in Relation with the Suggestions Provided by Mclntosh: My voice is heard in the group, in which I am the member of my race only. (Related to the suggestion no 10 by Peggy Mclntosh) Whenever I am told about our national heritage and the civilization, I am shown that the people of my color and racial identity made it what is it now in the world. (Related to the suggestion no 7 by Peggy Mclntosh) I can go to the shopping easily and I m not harassed or followed by anyone throughout my journey. I safely shop the stuff that is required by me. (Related to the suggestion no 5 by Peggy Mclntosh) I feel normally welcomed in my social, institutional and public life. I m not ignored or degraded by the people because of my race and similarly and I am not pointed out as some different racial identity amongst all. (Related to the suggestion no 50 by Peggy Mclntosh) I can buy easily the posters, books, magazines, toys and pictures that feature the people of my race. (Related to the suggestion no 26 by Peggy Mclntosh) (Mclntosh) conclusion Independence, immersion and autonomy are the three stages through which a person can become antiracist. (Tatum). Tatum suggests developing a strong sense of care and compression against all those who develop the difficult process in confronting their own race. After going through all the observations and analysis of the racial identities, I evaluate the methods of Beverly Tatum as correct too. Care with the depth and compression are the best ways to avoid racism and end this difference amongst people. If people are dealt with the good care and attitude they become self confident and able to confront their race, whereas if they are degraded then they doubt their independence and feel ashamed in confronting or addressing about their race so treating them with the care and compression is the best way to build their confidence because it enables them to buoyantly confront and address their race. Works Cited Damaliayo. "Racism: Part 1 White People." I Can Fix It 1 (n.d.): 2-9. Jensen, Robert. "The Fears of White People." The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (2005). Katz, Ilan. The Construction of Racial Identity in Children of Mixed Parentage: Mixed. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Limited , 1996. Mclntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Working Paper. 1990. Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. Racial Formations in the United States. 2nd. Routledge, Inc., 1994. Tatum, Beverly. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race. Basic Books, 2002. Turner, Sarah E. The Colorblind Screen: Television in Post-Racial America. Ed. Sarah Nilsen and Sarah E. Turner. New York: New York University Press, 2014. Weinreich, Peter and Wendy Saunderson, Analysing Identity: Cross-Cultural, Societal and Clinical Contexts. Taylor and Francis, 2002. Read More