my-class-stuff

[my-class-stuff]

Race In the United States

The United States has an obsession with identity politics and perhaps the most prominent of these identities is race. But what is race? Sure, we all have a working definition that mentions something about skin tone, facial structure, hair or any of a large number of things. However I know very few people who can actually define the term. Well, the origin of the term ‘race’ has a long and somewhat complicated history. Way back when in the ye-olden-days of the 16th century it was first used to describe a family grouping. You, your cousins, and their cousins might all be considered one ‘race’. The term was used as a form of grouping for closely related individuals.

From there, it was not until the american colonization efforts began that the term began to shift from that of a family unit, but more towards the term that we all know today. The colonists originally aimed to enslave the native population and force them into mines, much like what happened to the south with the Spanish. However, there was precious little gold to be found on the east coast, and the native populations put up a far stiffer resistance to their initial attempts at enslavement. The colonists found another source of revenue though in tabaco. And while this could be cultivated on the east coast there was still a shortage of labor. The solution to this was to bring in slaves in both the form of captured Africans and indentured Europeans. Why does this matter? Well, the colonists needed some means to justify the horrible treatment of their darker skinned slaves. While indentured servants from Europe were bound into service for a fixed time, the slaves from Africa were that for life. It was not just their life that was bound though, but the life of their children too. And so the pseudoscience of race began to emerge, proclaiming that so-called ‘nonwhites’ were sub-human, had no mark on history and did not require the same rights or working conditions as their fellow humans. People were relegated to being subhuman based on skin tone, facial structure and all the classifications they are so familiar with. From then till now, the term ‘race’ has been used to classify and divide us.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVxAlmAPHec

[my-class-stuff]

Middle Ground

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYqlI__PniY

I chose a youtube video as the media I’m commenting on for this post. The topic is something that I struggle with regularly within this class; I am against identity politics. This video by Jubilee Media seeks to explore both sides of the identity politics and policy coin. It addresses questions such as ‘is it right to vote for someone because they look like me’ and (as I believe) ‘privilege exists between genders, races, sexual orientations, ect.’ The show is formatted in such a way that six people from diverse backgrounds are brought in. Three are for identity politics and three are against. Each member of the cast is introduced and given a few moments to interact with each other before being asked to step back out of the spotlight. They are then asked a series of questions or given statements they are asked to respond to. I found the first statement to be quite interesting.  They were asked whether “privilege exists between genders, races, sexual orientations, ect.” Four members of the cast agreed with this statement and two did not.

The four in agreement were given a chance to discuss the issue amongst themselves before the remaining two members joined the conversation. In the end, while the group was split 2-4 there was a surprisingly resounding agreement between the sides that while yes, there exists privilege intrinsic to each person we cannot allow that to be the sole dictator of how we respond to them. One member of the cast brought up that “Green Privilege” (The Socio-economic ‘caste’ that you are born to) overshadows most other information. The next question was, “do you believe that movements like Feminism and Black Lives Matter have brought more unity than division out from people?”  I was again surprised by the response. Only two people stepped forwards to agree with that statement, one from each side. They brought up the interesting comparison of ‘All Lives Matter vs Black Lives Matter’ being akin to ‘Fight against all cancer vs Fight against breast/prostate/whatever cancer’ It’s not that people who want to fight breast cancer don’t care about other cancers, that’s just the focus of their intent at that moment. I believe the downside of movements like this do and have sowed resentment rather than compassion at times. White people showing up to a ‘Black Lives Matter’ rally and being told to stand at the back of the metaphorical bus is painting the picture of an ‘us vs them’ policy.

My favorite quote from this video was by far “just because you have a common trait does not mean you have a common experience”. I highly recommend you watch this video. I really enjoyed it and I feel like both sides expressed opinions that I’ve had and still do hold. 

[my-class-stuff]

#BlackGirlMagic

#BlackGirlMagic was popularized by CaShawn Thomson half way through 2013. The hashtag was shorthand for the ideal of celebrating the ‘beauty, power and resilience of black woman’. The hashtag was spawned after a Detroit school teacher objected to the idea that black women had to fit the ‘beauty ideal’ of society in order to gain the attention that their white companions were able to attain without such intrinsic gifts. While the ideal presented by the hashtag #BlackGirlMagic (Shortened from #BlackGirlsAreMagic) was meant to have a positive impact on black women, there are those that refuse to accept its message. Two years after this hashtag was created there was an incident where mainstream news outlets attacked black Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis and Serena Williams over the fact that they did not fit the ‘classic and ideal’ images of beauty and femininity. These attacks often extended beyond just celebrities and public figures. Michelle Obama was quite frank with her speech at the “Black Girls Rock!” awards in march of 2015. Obama claimed that young black girls often heard “voices that tell you you’re not good enough, that you have to look a certain way; that if you speak up, you’re too loud; if you step up to lead, you’re being bossy.” She stresses that by claiming that there is something inherently ‘good’ about those young children being who they are and giving them something positive to identify with serves a very valuable purpose. Thompson claims that she uses the word ‘magic’ because it alludes to something that people don’t always understand. She claims that people may perceive black women's achievements to come out of thin air, as if by magic, rather than understanding that they came from the same hard work and perseverance as all others. 

In 2014 Thompson created a website to sell shirts to her friends. She then posted the shirt to her twitter account. Thompson has since sold over three thousand of these shirts. These shirts have been worn by many celebrities on social media. This movement is referenced often in pop culture and has taken on a positive life of its own.