post-modern racialism 3.3

In my previous post, I discussed my thoughts on “colorblindness” in response to a comment made during the first class claiming that ignoring or overlooking racial differences and skin color will promote racial harmony. I spoke about the dangers of this outlook, as ideal as it may sound, and tried to emphasize the importance of recognizing the existence of race as is in term of social construct rather than simply pretending its social and historical effects don’t exist. By consciously ignoring the preexisting complexities of race, we will in no way solve the issues of racism and create any form of harmony.  I feel, in a way, this only allows us to be ever more ignorant; it allows those with racial privileges to close their eyes to the injustice experiences of others.  With all of this being said, I agree completely with Taylor’s concept and definition of “post-modern racialism” and feel as though it is extremely important for us to recognize as we try to at least move forward into the direction of racial harmony.

The first step in solving a problem is recognizing that there is one. Taylor’s explanation of the stages of racism in Table 3.1 maps out the different forms that it has taken, describing this “post-modern” interpretation of race concept as being an “aesthetic cultural phenomenon” where hegemony replaces domination in terms of its distributive framework. He explains, “post-modernism here involves flattening difference, insisting on the unity of the human family and the declining significance of race, in ways that obscure the way various stratifying mechanisms continues to do their work.” Patterns of preexisting white privileges and the overall system of domination have thus been maintained and further enabled by this shift to hegemony. As we discussed in our last class, there are so many examples of this unspoken separation and racialism even on our small, racially disproportionate bubble of a campus. Even little things, like how blacks tend to sit away from white in the cafeteria, or how there is segregation within Greek Life, the baseball team, S.U.N. and the Step Team, for example. Of course, nowhere is it officially established or mandated that one table or team is designated for a certain skin color, but somehow, subconsciously, we tend to migrate towards those with our own skin color and background. Our school and the organizations within it have been established with complete “colorblindness” and yet we have somehow found a way to make it segregated and have quietly created our own rules and expectations and stereotypes based on preexisting conditions, norms, and characteristics of how blacks and whites are expected to behave. Like Taylor said, the “various…mechanisms continue to do their work” despite the flattening of differences between races as established by our school. There is still so much that we do not talk about, and so many forms of racism on campus that we do not even recognize. The social constructs exist. The stereotypes and assumptions and behavioral expectations exist. Simply seeing everyone as the same and being blind to their race is only worsening our ignorance and feeding our growing fear of the unknown and unfamiliar. 

Broad, First-post, Preliminary Thoughts

I'm not quite sure what the exact expectations of these blog posts are, so I hope I end up being somewhat close to everyone else in terms of length, content, formality, overall coherence of thoughts, etc.

I've been thinking a lot about how exactly to define race, and whether or not it even exists. All of the elements that I feel have been examined as potential candidates for physical scientific bases of race have failed to prove valid. There is no scientific evidence in terms of geography, genetics, phenotype or any sort of essence that may prove there to be differences in common ground among races. To me the technical, scientific concept of race is illogical. However, while I reject the existence of there being actual races separating people in the human race, I cannot reject the fact that there is the social concept of race and subsequent stereotypes, discrimination, and racist behavior.

It was mentioned in class the other day that we should just be colorblind in this situation in terms of skin color. As wonderful as that may sound, colorblindness is in no way going to end racism and I fear that in America, race-neutrality may only lead to a sort of "colorblind white dominance". Whether or not there are differences between human beings that categorize us into different races, the social construct of "race" that has been built and our apparent human need to group others into some sort of  rank or category makes it so it cannot be something we cannot ignore. Simply saying it does not exist and becoming blind to skin color will not create equality. I feel as though the issue of race is deeper than just individual prejudices and stereotypes. On one hand, it would be ideal for our constitutional law to be completely colorblind. Policies should be race-neutral, and we should be avoiding division of citizens into different racial groups by any means.  On the other hand, however, I feel as though these "colorblind" laws would not fix the preexisting race-based inequality that continues to operate within political, economical and social structures in our country.