Race and Ethnicity- Never Substitute One for the Other

Though all the articles focus on the range of cultural diversity and the divides that generally come along with such a presence, Chapter 5 of Foner seems to nicely tie the issues of diversity and prejudice together.  According to the Crowder and Rogers articles, West Indians tend to be “lumped in” with African Americans. No matter how one cuts it, West Indians are seen as black; though they noticed that white Americans tend to treat West Indians somewhat better than they do African Americans (most likely due to the West Indians’ way of speaking English), they also noticed that, the majority of the time, they faced discrimination and even violence, as do African Americans. Interestingly enough, though, West Africans tend to create their own enclaves within black communities. The situation appears to be that, due to real estate agents’ discriminatory practices, West Africans have little choice but to move to black neighborhoods. However, they express their desire to be seen as separate by concentrating themselves within those neighborhoods, instead of dispersing throughout. As Karen noted, there is actual difference between race and ethnicity- as Tyler noted, people ignorantly decide that the two go together and that groups with the same race should desire to join together in coalition.

After reading the chapter in Foner, I find the issue of race and ethnicity altogether interesting, but find (as many others do) the system to be pretty flawed, as well as the implication that comes with being attached to a certain race, regardless of ethnicity. The problem is not so much what one’s ethnicity is, but the implication that comes with belonging to a certain race or a category of certain facial features; no matter how someone may try to act, they can never escape their appearance, and the social implications that arise with appearance. In that case, the problems of prejudice and blurring of ethnicities will not be solved if people try to identify as white or a race that is more highly accepted, or shun those of their same race, because this just emphasizes the fact that whites generally have higher status. Instead, as Sanjek says, we should learn to be “colorful before being colorblind”, and live together, which implies that enclaves are no good in fostering acceptance of cultural diversity, and that we should learn to appreciate the different features a person may have, regardless of what categories they are assigned to. I find that this idea applies to myself. Throughout all my years, I have attended highly culturally diverse schools. As result, I focus more on what a person is like based on personality or actions rather than on race or appearances.