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< | Introduction: | >
> | Introduction | | | "Skin color remains a vital part of private, perhaps subconscious, classification by citizens and public officials alike . . . it is deeply implicated in racial inequality and poverty, perhaps as much as it was around the turn of the twentieth century.” http://scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/policies-racial-classification-and-politics-racial-inequality. | |
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< | | | | I agree with this statement. As such, I find it particularly troublesome that the plurality opinion in Parents Involved in Community argues that in order to stop discriminating on the basis of race, society needs to stop discriminating on the basis of race. Even if society stops formally classifying people on the basis of race, society subconsciously classifies people according to their skin color. On the other hand, perhaps not classifying people on the basis of race is just one step in eliminating prejudices, if ever at all. Moreover, perhaps it is especially important to stop classifying by race in a society where the number of people who have parents of different races are rising, and the lines between race are blurred. | |
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< | Can we stop discriminating on the basis of race when skin color is visible?:
Skin color is visible, and the color of one’s skin affects many facets of life such as: lengths of prison sentences, the likelihood of death sentences, what is perceived as attractive, chances of being nominated into a political position, and the likelihood of being negatively stereotyped. http://scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/policies-racial-classification-and-politics-racial-inequality
Take my own experiences as a biracial person, for example. When I was in college, I received a citation for using a fake ID trying to get into a bar, and I also received a citation for buying a minor alcohol. When I received a citation for using a fake ID, the police officer was demeaning, unforgiving, and rude. Usually (according to my white friends’ experiences), when a minor is caught using a fake ID, she receives a slap on the wrist and will not get a citation. However, I received a citation. Years later, when I looked at my record, the officer had written me down as “B” under race, standing for “black.” On the other hand, when a police officer caught me buying my friend alcohol, the police officer was sympathetic and forgiving, even though supplying a minor with alcohol is a relatively serious offense. When I looked at my record years later, the officer had categorized me as “C” under race, standing for “Caucasian.” | >
> | Can we stop discriminating on the basis of race when we’ve trained ourselves to see skin color? | | | | |
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< | There is a chance, albeit small, that the difference in how each police officer treated me had nothing to do with race. However, it is impossible to ignore the coincidence, especially in central Pennsylvania where racial stereotyping is common. Nevertheless, I do not think that because the police officers in these different occasions were forced to categorize me according to my race on the police report that it exacerbated (or even caused) their biases (assuming they were). I believe that each police officer made his own subconscious determination of my race and treated me according to his preconceptions of “black” and “white.” Thus, based on my personal experiences, the plurality opinion in Parents Involved in Community seems untenable. It is difficult to say that to stop discrimination on the basis of race, we need to stop discriminating on the basis of race. Because race is visible, people automatically and subconsciously classify citizens by race before they are even required on paper to do so. | >
> | It is arguable that skin color is visible, and the color of one’s skin affects many facets of life such as: lengths of prison sentences, the likelihood of death sentences, what is perceived as attractive, chances of being nominated into a political position, and the likelihood of being negatively stereotyped. http://scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/policies-racial-classification-and-politics-racial-inequality
Take my own experiences as a biracial person, for example. When I was in college, I received a citation for using a fake ID trying to get into a bar, and I also received a citation for buying a minor alcohol. When I received a citation for using a fake ID, the police officer was demeaning, unforgiving, and rude. Usually (according to my white friends’ experiences), when a minor is caught using a fake ID, she receives a slap on the wrist and will not get a citation. Years later, when I looked at my record, the officer wrote the letter “B” under race, standing for “Black.” On the other hand, when a police officer caught me buying my friend alcohol, the police officer was sympathetic and forgiving, even though supplying a minor with alcohol is a relatively serious offense. When I looked at my record, the officer wrote “C” under race, standing for “Caucasian.” | | | | |
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> | There is a chance, albeit small, that the difference in how each police officer treated me had nothing to do with race. However, it is impossible to ignore the coincidence, especially in central Pennsylvania where racial stereotyping is common. Nevertheless, I do not think that because the police officers in these different occasions were forced to categorize me according to my race on the police report that it exacerbated (or even caused) their biases (assuming they were). I believe that each police officer made his own subconscious determination of my race and treated me according to his preconceptions of “black” and “white.” Thus, based on my personal experiences, the plurality opinion in Parents Involved seems untenable. It is difficult to say that to stop discrimination on the basis of race, we need to stop discriminating on the basis of race. Because race is visible, people automatically and subconsciously classify citizens by race before they are even required on paper to do so. | | | | |
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< | If one were really
trying to make a decision about whether to agree or disagree with a
general social conclusion, two personal experiences of uncertain
meaning would not be a good ground for our decision. We would want
more certain information on which to decide. But in truth neither
your nor I is depending on your personal experience for this
conclusion. We think it's implicit in our historical situation, and
is not subject to reinterpretation by people who think their
uncertain personal experiences indicate the possibility of living in
the US without awareness of "color." | >
> | The conclusion I’ve reached above is an unfortunate result of the construction and social interpretation of skin color. The notion of “race” and “skin color” are discursively constructed. Race is a biological myth, and racism is a system of power allocation based on the hereditary subordination of one human being to another. The concept of “race” arose simultaneously with the beginning of European exploration as the rationalization and basis for the conquest and control of the globe. In fact, geneticists have discovered that there is more variability within a “race” than between “races,” and there is essentially no genetic marker linked to any specific “race.” http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-01-02.htm. | | | | |
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> | Skin color is also constructed. For example, in the past, offspring of one Black and one non-Black parent may have considered themselves to be biracial; but society recognized them as Black according to the “one-drop” rule no matter the actual “color” of their skin. (Negotiating The Color Line: The Gendered Process of Racial Identity Construction Among Black/White Biracial Women by Kerry Ann Rockquemore). Despite the argument that race and skin color are outcomes of social interpretation, I still believe that society “sees” one’s “race.” For example, in the past, a light-skinned Black person could “pass” as White, if they “looked” White, even though society would categorize him as Black. Unfortunately, this is why I believe subconscious classification based on race arguably cannot be prevented. | | | | |
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< | Preventing discrimination against multi-racial persons: | >
> | Preventing discrimination against multi-racial persons | | | | |
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< | Despite the argument above, perhaps the plurality opinion in Parents Involved in Community has merit. Although subconscious classification based on race arguably cannot be prevented, as a biracial person, I do agree that abolishing formal classification based on race may help fight discrimination against multiracial persons. In fact, many “advocacy groups argue that multiracial individuals are being treated unequally because of their lack of official recognition . . . and their desire to retain multiple identities rather than follow the one-drop rule.” http://scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/policies-racial-classification-and-politics-racial-inequality. For example, most people I know always ask me with which group I identify. I am not sure why people ask me such a question; perhaps it makes them feel more comfortable to know whether I am black or white. If people do not know with which group I belong, then how do they know whether I belong with them? Black people have told me that I am not “black,” and white people have told I that I am not “white.” Hence, I do not “belong” in either group. But why must I be one or the other when I am both? | >
> | Despite the argument above, perhaps the plurality opinion in Parents Involved has merit. Although subconscious classification based on race arguably cannot be prevented, as a biracial person, I do agree that abolishing formal classification based on race may help fight discrimination against multiracial persons. In fact, many “advocacy groups argue that multiracial individuals are being treated unequally because of their lack of official recognition . . . and their desire to retain multiple identities rather than follow the one-drop rule.” http://scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/policies-racial-classification-and-politics-racial-inequality. | | | An advocate for mixed people created a “Bill of Rights for Racially Mixed People,” she wrote (among twelve elements): “I have the right…not to keep the races separate within me…not to be responsible for people’s discomfort with my physical ambiguity… …to identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify…to identify with more than one group of people.” http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/dec96/blurring5.html. | |
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< | As the number of biracial offspring increases rapidly, and the line between races blurs, perhaps the plurality opinion in Parents Involved in Community has some merit. If we continue to try to classify biracial people as black, white, Asian, Hispanic, etc., a racial divide will always exist, and biases will persist. But if we stop trying to racially classify biracial people, perhaps society will start to perceive them as who they are instead of what race they are.
But even this, when you finish saying it, is just "perhaps." And
what we do know is that European-descended "white people" will not
be the majority in the US in two decades or so, which will not
decrease the awareness of "race," but will change it quite
drastically.
Unanswered questions:
It is important to note, however, that the majority of society is not biracial. Consequently, it is harder for people to resist racial classification when skin color is so conspicuous. But again, even with biracial people, racial classification is inevitable. For example, Halle Berry, Tiger Woods, and Barrack Obama, are all biracial, yet you would never hear someone call any one of them “white.” So, again we come to the question of whether it is possible to avoid racial classification. How can we get rid of discrimination on the basis of race by not discriminating on the basis of race when skin color is visible?
The problem here, at
least as I see it, is that you're reaching a conclusion readers will
either already have reached or discarded, for reasons other than the
ones you advance. Nothing about your statement is designed, let
alone likely, to be convincing to someone who disagrees.
In particular, to say that skin color is "visible" suggests that it
is somehow "real," there to be seen, requiring no interpretation.
What your personal experiences suggest is the opposite: that skin
color is "not there," but is created by our interpretation of what
we "see." Historical and other recorded experience supports this
view. Irish people were "black" in the 18th century, while, as
you've read in the course, Jews were "colored" people until the
Second World War, after which—largely because half of them had
been murdered—they became "white."
So the question you start with, "can we stop discriminating when
skin color is visible" might reduce operationally to Thurgood
Marshall's position, that race will no longer be a problem when we
have to look at our own skin to tell what "color" we are. What we
live with, in fact, isn't a reality people can "see" about us, but
an interpretation of who we are that others make us live with. That
this amounts to "discrimination," which can also work in "reverse,"
is a misstatement of the situation. Racism isn't about
"discrimination" on the basis of something that can be seen: it's
about imposing an interpretation that can't be seen, but can be
felt. | >
> | As the number of biracial offspring increases rapidly, and the line between races blurs, perhaps the plurality opinion in Parents Involved has some merit. If we continue to try to classify biracial people as black, white, Asian, Hispanic, etc., a racial divide will always exist, and biases will persist. But if we stop trying to racially classify biracial people, perhaps society will start to perceive them as who they are instead of what race they are. | | | | |
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