Richard Rodriguez 's Brown : The Last Discovery Of America

In David Brooks’ “People Like Us” passage on the issue of diversity, Brooks takes a personally emotional perspective of the way in which Americans don’t appreciate how diverse our nation is while “relatively homogeneous” (Brooks 136). His argument is weakened, however, through a bias and hypocrisy that his diction conveys. He claims that grouping ourselves with those who we are most alike is in our nature to, and in doing so, we separate ourselves from those who are different. Using certain statistics as evidence, Brooks points out that the social segmentation created by society will always exist.

Racial Formation in the United States by Michael Omi and Howard Winant made me readjust my understanding of race by definition and consider it as a new phenomenon. Through, Omi and Winant fulfilled their purpose of providing an account of how concepts of race are created and transformed, how they become the focus of political conflict, and how they shape and permeate both identities and institutions. I always considered race to be physical characteristic by the complexion of ones’ skin tone and the physical attributes, such as bone structure, hair texture, and facial form. I knew race to be a segregating factor, however I never considered the meaning of race as concept or signification of identity that refers to different types of human bodies, to the perceived corporal and phenotypic makers of difference and the meanings and social practices that are ascribed to these differences, in which in turn create the oppressing dominations of racialization, racial profiling, and racism. (p.111). Again connecting themes from the previous readings, my westernized influences are in a direct correlation to how to the idea of how I see race and the template it has set for the rather automatic patterns of inequalities, marginalization, and difference. I never realized how ubiquitous and evolving race is within the United States.

Published by the New York Times under the Opinion section, the audience for this article is any interested reader. At the time it was released, November 18th, 2016, this article arrived during last year’s elections, in which a large, but surprising number of Americans voted for candidate Donald Trump, shocking many forecasters who had predicted otherwise. Therefore, after the election, many people may have been researching the demographics of the election, and this article, which briefly shared Brooks’ opinion on the nature of the election and how viewing others through the lens of a dominant identity influenced how the votes fell where they did, may have caught a keen reader’s eye. Also, this article came at a time where racism and prejudice caused many problems, leading some to view others as one-dimensional, represented only by a skin color or religion. Since prejudice and hate is still a large issue today, tackling this problem helps make this article relevant, nearly a year after its release.

In the boiling pot of America most people have been asked “what are you?” when referring to one’s race or nationality. In the short story “Borders” by Thomas King he explores one of the many difficulties of living in a world that was stripped from his race. In a country that is as diverse as North America, culture and self-identity are hard to maintain. King’s short story “Borders” deals with a conflict that I have come to know well of. The mother in “Borders” is just in preserving her race and the background of her people. The mother manages to maintain her identity that many people lose from environmental pressure.

Race and ethnicity is another important aspect in the nationalism of a nation. In the United States, racial differences are usually based on one’s skin color and physical characteristics as well as one’s origin, and they do not change due to varying classes or cultures (Marger 212). Before the twenty first century, the racial minority were highly discriminated, both socially and economically. But currently, there exist several races in America like the Asians, African Americans, Native Americans and the European Americans. On the other hand, Hispanics are racially assorted and are therefore an ethnic group rather than a race (Marger 133). Language is argued as the sole binder of the Hispanics other than skin color or other physical characteristics. They are in fact of mixed racial ancestry (Arreola 19).

“A Person of Mixed Race Explores Notions of Race, 1991” describes how an American sees race as not just a physical characteristic but rather what it embodies in a person. He perceives himself as a hyphenated Asian American due to others perceptions, however, he sees himself as “a male human being”. The author does attempt for, “passing for an Asian” by the changing of his middle name to be closer to his roots. The author, however, does not want to just be determined by his heritage and his features but rather what he makes of himself in the world. The idea of Race has always been a defining factor in where people end up in class, status, or the image they have in the United States. As soon as someone is categorized, they are stuck in that notion

North American society engages in boundary work through the process of racialization. White supremacy dictates who the racialized ‘other’ is and distributes power, economic and social capital in relation to this racialization process (Perry, 2014, pg.76). This is done through constructing stereotypes which distinguish the racialized Other from white subjects are thus grounded in what are held to be the identifying features of racial minorities (Perry, 2014, pg. 76). They help to distance white from not-white. Here ‘white’ may be a metaphor for western or non- ‘Third-World-looking’, rather than a matter of skin pigmentation or other such phenotype (Perry, 2014, pg. 76). The latter are to be feared, ridiculed, and loathed for their difference as recognized in the popular psyche (Perry, 2014, pg. 76).

“Race is an artificial social construction rooted in the structural dynamics of exploitation, power and privilege that was forced upon original residents of colonies at the outset of the expansion of European capitalism.” (Marable) For most Americans, present day America still remains segregated as a result of discrimination which throughout history has been used in a direct behavior against African-American people. Race according to Marable is an artificial construction, however, its impacts are real and devastating as it stops the American nation from maximizing its potential, by discriminating most of the times against the best suited candidates in various fields. When coupled with social anarchy resulting from racism, it marks the political tension in the community. ‘Many scholars have argued that race is a critical element in the formation of political ideology,’ (Rueter) and it can be backed by evidence from the on-going US presidential race in 2016 for both Democrats and Republicans where race serves as the issue which would play role in determining the 45th US

Identity politics is an undeniable twenty first century paradigm among minority groups, sparking discourse across political and social spheres. According to philosopher Cressida Heyes, identity politics is the range of political activity founded in the shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups. Members of this group assert their distinctiveness, challenging dominant oppressive characterizations of a white hierarchy in order to gain political support. This paper will argue that identity politics is a detrimental ideology to the American political sphere. While identity politics seemingly allows for traditionally marginalized groups to voice their concerns, it actually serves to further limit minority groups by ignoring intersectionality and promoting an “us against them” mentality. The motto of the United States has always been E. Plurbis Unum, or “out of many, one,” describing America as a melding of many cultures and peoples into one identity--American. Recent times, however, show social and political progression, as evidenced by identity politics, to “many, out of one.”

Contrast this old movie with a new one—Bladerunner (1982), where the language, food, and people come from all over the world. It is almost impossible to tell who is human and who is artificial. In such a world, it might seem laughable to raise the question of who is an American. But in fact the challenge to the American Founding principle that all men are created equal makes us confront the question not only of human identity but of American identity.

When immigrants flooded the shores of the United States in the earliest part of the twentieth century, the Immigration Commission hired an anthropologist to prepare a Dictionary of Races of Races or People. W.E.B. Du Bois observed in the late 1930s that no scientific definition of race is possible. He said Race is a dynamic and not a static conception, and that typical races are continually changing and developing, amalgamating and differentiating. What Du Bois meant in layman’s term was that it is impossible to characterize people based on measurements.

In today 's world, people are valued by the color of their skin and are assembled based on the amount of money one posses in their savings account. But in America today a very generalized group of Americans are being hunted everyday with inequality in workforce,American society, judicial system,education and etc. Racial Minorities are encountered in a very poorly manner, arguably minorities blame “white supremacy, white privilege” being the reason why a chain of black lives have been lost due to “police brutality” . People in the United states are labeled by the exterior and often forgiveful in the reality of people being the same in the interior. Despite the rough patches America has faced, America will never be united if we don 't leave the bigoted mindset and the segregation we do within our races. Many may argue that the famous quote “Make America great again “ shoved in our throats by our political figures today is inaccurate due to our malicious history.

Although, public segregation was abolished in the 60’s, the civil rights movements, and minority liberation groups alike have dedicated plenty of time and effort towards spearheading racism, discrimination, exclusion, and political corruption. The socially acceptable nationality depends on where you are demographically, because even though minorities are heavily populated in certain parts of the country, as opposed to the non-white race. Therefore, some may say it’s becoming socially acceptable to judge another “culture using the standards of one’s own” (Ore, 2011). However, as a nation, the United States is divided, and will remain this way because of corrupt politicians, racial discrimination, and biased injustices that are imposed on people because of their social class, race and religion.

Everyday I am on a constant race to discover who I am as an individual. I am fighting this battle whether I choose to acknowledge it or not. Donald Hernandez has written in his book Children of Immigrants: Health, Adjustment, and Public Assistance; he talks about major key points, but the most important one state “Third, because life chances differ greatly according to race and ethnicity in the United States, and because of the race and ethnic composition of immigrants to this country has shifted markedly during recent decades,” (3). That is true trying to be one thing is very hard in USA society has an effect of how you may become as the individual. If I were in another country they would just see as an American and nothing else, but the place that I was born and raised they see me as what my parents are Nigerians. I am not American because my parents are from Nigeria; this has been a very constant thing, because of several definitions of what it

Many people every day in the United States suffer from discrimination and prejudice. With the purpose of healing our racially divided country, every person as to be proactive against any form or representation of racism. According to the book On Being Different, racism can be defined as the discrimination against an ethnic group (Kottak and Kozaitis,70). The United States society is composed of different ethnic groups, each one of those with different cultures and skin color. Most of the times many ethnic groups in the United States are suffering the effects of ethnocentrism, which is “the tendency to view one’s own culture as best and to judge the behavior and beliefs of culturally different people by one’s own standards” (Kottak and Kozaitis, G-3). Most people assume that the differences between ethnic groups are just skin color and culture, but it goes beyond that; White, African Americans, Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics are also differentiated and judge by the place that they chose to live and by how much their annual income is. Racism is not only a persistent problem between ethnic groups, it also represents their constant clash with government institutions that choose to generalize and judge the ethnic groups by their ascribed status.