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"Behind this metal and glass."

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Oct. 8th, 2008 | 04:01 am

 

     “It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.” Crash

If we are all meant to get along perfectly, then why are we all so different? How is it that the pigment of someone’s skin determines everything about them automatically; what they think, who they are, what they believe, where they’re from, how they should act, how they shouldn’t act, what type of  music they listen to, how intelligent they are. Where did it all begin and why?

As easy as it is to believe racism and stereotyping doesn’t exist today, it’s ignorance. Sometimes it is less complicated to be ignorant. But the fact is that no matter what color, religion, sexual orientation, or political stance you have, there is some kind of discrimination against you.

I sit here pausing after every sentence and let my fingers rest against the keys. I don’t want to offend anyone and this is an extremely rough and patchy subject. Thoughts are scrambling around my head at what feels like sixty miles an hour. What sparked these thoughts was actually the simplest of things. While I was reading the assignment for writing, “Guess Who’s Coming to Academia,” it occurred to me that in the text while referencing Black people they capitalize the “B.” Yet, while speaking about White people, the “W” isn’t capitalized. A small and completely minor detail that by no means actually represents anything. It was just interesting to me. I can think of numerous descriptions for “black” people, some derogatory and some the preferred.Then there’s always “white” sometimes Caucasian.

In songs and movies and even T.V the “n word” is thrown around all the time. Some justify it as a street term, something that is just slang. Some people think it should never be uttered. I personally think it is the ugliest word and refuse to ever say it. The connotation that is behind it makes my stomach turn. But, in reality, all it means is black. From research I’ve done, just so that I can correctly understand the history of it, all that it means is black. It’s derived from the Spanish version of black, “negro.” And in Latin it is the same spelling as the derogatory term meaning, again, black.

But what I truly don’t understand is why words such as “cracker” are acceptable. The word “cracker” was a insulting term used towards slave owners. It originated because the slave owners carried whips and would crack them—thus the term cracker was created. To me, this is an extremely insulting term. But it is constantly used. It isn’t used necessarily in an offensive purpose it is more used in a joking manner. To me, it is still an unpleasant word.

Even being a woman is different. When Hilary Clinton was running for the nomination people blatantly stated they wouldn’t vote for her because she was a woman. Honestly, what does being a woman have anything to do with your leadership abilities? People hid behind irrational reasons such as she’s a bitch or she’s controlling. But really, wasn’t it more that she was a woman and they were just afraid? But what is there to be afraid of?

Now we have a black male running for president. Why is it after over 200 years of independence that we are just now nominating (not electing, but nominating) a non-white male? It’s 2008. We’re able to travel to the moon, take pictures on mars, travel across the world in one day, see microscopic cells, and do practically anything else imaginable, but we’re just now nominating a black man for president. Isn’t America supposed to be one of, if not the most, advanced countries in the world.

We can do all these things but many can’t even go a day without categorizing or stereotyping based on their race. And I don’t mean just black people. I mean all people. Yeah, I’m a white eighteen year old female and I know I haven’t had the hardest life imaginable. But I have still been stereotyped. Because I am a girl I have been thought of as less intelligent as a peer who is a male. Because I am white I have been called a racist, even though I am one of the most accepting people I know. Because I am young I am thought to be a snob and I don’t care about matters beyond the type of clothes I wear. Because I’m pro-choice I am a baby killer and don’t believe in God. These are all radical assumptions, but they have happened to me.

The movie Crash won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2006. The movie, if you haven’t seen it, intertwines different stories and experiences of residents living L.A. I saw this movie for the first time back in 2005 and loved it immediately. After watching it with my mom, we sat on the couch in awe. For a few minutes we didn’t speak afterwards and we both just thought about the amazing movie we had just watched. My mom broke the silence with “we are not capable of living together.”

My belief is that we are all striving to be on top, to be better than one another. Every person is out for themselves. It’s hard to find true good in the world. It has become less about equality and more about dominance. I don’t want to be better or higher on the totem pole than anyone else. I want to be viewed as an equal, with a right to my opinion and my beliefs.

 

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Comments {2}

philau_adam

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from: [info]philau_adam
date: Oct. 9th, 2008 01:03 pm (UTC)
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I love that quote from Crash. Having grown up in Los Angeles, it was definitely my experience. And it has certainly colored my views of how I interact with other people -- especially strangers, and no doubt people of other racial backgrounds.

I like a lot of what you have to say here, especially when you talk about the double standard when it comes to words like 'cracker' and the feeling that some people have that it is okay to say derogatory things about white people. This comes, I think, from the perception of a power unbalance that has existed in the United States, and that, despite the nomination of an African American presidential candidate, still does. The history of the United States is that power is a white boys club, and if you are outside of that -- if you are not white, or not male, or for that matter not Christian -- the only avenue that we have left to take power is to attack the establishment. The reason that I say that Barack Obama doesn't change that equation is that any one office, even the most powerful office in the United States, does not change that equation. The fact that there are media organizations like Politico or CNN out there that are writing about the very real possibility that he could lose because of race is testiment to the continuation of the problem. The fact that Black-ness remains a factor in this campaign highlights the continuing power of white-ness.

Coming back to the quote, though, one thing that I think would be interesting would be looking at the role of our sense of touch in creating and maintaining racism. If people were in regular physical contact with other races and ethnicities, do you suppose that would narrow the gap of alienation that lends itself to racist ideas? I have no idea. Just a thought.

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20_kelly_12

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from: [info]20_kelly_12
date: Oct. 23rd, 2008 06:39 pm (UTC)
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That was a great entry, Ally. i saw the quote from CRASH and didn't stop reading from there. I've often wondered how far America has really advanced in racial equality and the acceptence of others. I don't think we're as ahead as we'd like to believe. Dominance really is taking over our lives whether we want it to or not.

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