Observations and ideas about race, ethnicity and mixing.

Amazed in Disgust

 

 

After just two short weeks of this class, I can honestly say I am disgusted, amazed and completely in shock. Race is so embedded into our society that it is impossible to ignore. Yes, it is a socially constructed idea, but it’s an idea that holds so much power. To think that there were countless philosophers who thought it was necessary, and took years, to racially divide up the world blows my mind. I question what this do for them? What did they think they were accomplishing?  Francois-Marie Voltaire wrote, “and mulattoes are only a bastard race of black men and white women, or white men and black women, as asses, specifically different from horses, produce mules by copulating with mares” (Bernasconi and Tommy, 6). It was hard to read quotes like this one but what was harder to swallow was the fact that today, February 4, 2018, people still think like this. We still here the word mulattoes. People today still believe that white are superior to other races. In the latest 1700’s Kant expressed the need to erase the inferior. Fast forward to the 1930’s and 40’s and we have the holocaust. The ideas that were introduced hundreds of years ago are still so relevant to today’s world and it is terrifying to think about and have to admit. After reading the article on Meghan Markle’s family tree, I can only ask myself, who cares and why was it so long? It was more than showing her family roots. That article was invasive and unnecessary. They never examined other fiance’s’ family tree as they did her’s.

 

4 Comments

  1. entsiee

    I never recall Kate Middleton’s family ancestry being examined but because it is a mixed race woman or a person who isn’t the “default” race, which is white, many are taking their unnecessary time to find out where her black ancestry came from. Nothing gets accomplished after finding out such information. And to go back to erasing the “inferior”, that still exist today. In Puerto Rico, the government forced sterilization on women so that wouldn’t have the option of procreating whenever they wanted to. They did this without the consent of the women. This is a form of erasing a whole group from population, which is very disheartening.

  2. suessn

    Its mind blowing when we look back through history and realize that so many atrocities and discrimination occurred and still exist today because of a socially constructed idea. This class has helped me learn the origin of race and everything that occurred as a result. And now, in this modern age, people are scrutinizing Meghan Markle’s family tree and delving into her personal life, to try to invalidate her love and marriage. It’s sickening.

  3. umutonik

    I agree it is shocking to see how pervasive these ideas about race are even today, but on the other hand I think to some degree it should not be so surprising. The fact that it is 2018 does not mean that people have automatically unlearned some the problematic ideas they had, they have just got better at hiding them. But these views are always unveiled when something as major as the Prince of Wales marrying a black women (who is of mixed race by the way) or a racist becoming president.

  4. sarmiena

    Reading your blog made me think, “what if there weren’t any terms or categories that cause division among us?” Growing up, I was never told or heard anything about white people being superior to me, however I definitely sensed it once I stepped out of my community where minorities are the majority. As for giving Megan Markle’s family much attention, it is obvious that is because she is of mixed races. I do not understand why publishers need to point out the difference between Prince Harry’s family and Megan Markle’s. It focuses on the idea of creating controversy for being a multiracial couple.

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