Critical Reflection 2

                                                                               

In my last reflection I focused on race as a social construction and more specifically on Miles and his use of quotation marks when using the word race. Upon reading and analyzing Miles’ look on race I had thought maybe ignoring race could in fact be the answer to solving some problems pertaining to classifying race as we do, which in turn allows for racism. There is so much historical context to consider on the topic of race, especially in the Americas, for example “new world”, colonialism, slave trade and so on. The creation of the U.S is an example of a new society that was developed and constructed from its beginning around the ideology of white supremacy and of “colored people” being classified as the “other”. The ideologies remain to be unacknowledged and therefore people of other races are still treated unequally and unfair. The ignorance of this continuing phenomena and its lack of acknowledgement is the very problem that allows for racism to persist. Ignoring this is itself a reason for the presence of white supremacy. I will analyze these phenomena with support of Mills’ article “Racial Liberalism” and Twine and Gallagher’s “The Future of Whiteness,” as well as take a critical perspective on these articles.

Race Racism and Colonialism Critical Reflection

Recently I was listening to two friends who were in an intense conversation and debate regarding race, one friend who studies medicine and one who studies sociology. Both had opposing views. I did not contribute much to the debate because it is not a topic that I have studied in depth (until this class) or felt confident in debating. Both people had made several critical arguments, even though they were somewhat intoxicated, although it has now come to my attention that neither had represented race as a social construction. The student who pursues their studies in medicine had even explained that there were no biological differences in race, yet had continued to use the word objectively. I know for a fact that the student who studies sociology studies race as a social construction yet he too represented it as objective. I have brought this up because at the time of the debate I too had considered race to be real and actual, mainly because it was never brought to my attention to consider otherwise. Upon reading Robert Mile’s take on race or “race” I began to rethink the meaning and the use of the word.

The Boondocks cartoon series by Aaron McGruder

This is a scene from The Boondocks cartoon series by Aaron McGruder in which he creates a spoof trailer for a Soul Plane 2 movie. The series is a satire of african american culture based around the life of the freeman family who moved from a ghetto in chicago to a predominantly white suburb. The show discusses and illustrates many themes, concepts and perspectives of race throughout its three seasons in which many are related to that of the class material, I will be doing a short review on an episode soon. This particular scene is essentially making fun of "black" pop culture that creates and reinforces black stereotypes and otherwise creates a poor representation of the black race.  

Incognegro

I recently read this fascinating graphic novel by Mat Johnson. The novel is based on a group of reporters who would infiltrate lynch mobs in southern states of the United States in the early 20th century as they could "pass" being white, they called this going Incognegro. The link below provides a brief explanation and summary, the link is also featured in the link list on the blogs sidebar. I will also include a link to the wikipedia page on Walter White, the man who inspired Mat Johnson to write this graphic novel. 

Incognegro by Mat Johnson; Art by Warren Pleece