Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Blog 5: Marti
Today's debate inspired me to write my blog about the idea of a "raceless" nation. Image what Cuba would be like today if it had achieved Marti's goal of Cuba Libre and achieved true racial equality... What would a raceless nation be like? Some people like to say that the United States has achieved racial equality but I don't know about that...Yes we have come a long way but I don't think that we are quite there yet. Why does every job application, college application, and every other application for that matter ask you about your ethnicity? If race truly was irrelevant then why should that question be asked? I still think people are judged by their race and races have stereotypes in this country. For example, the twitter account "typical white girl" is full of stereotypes of average white teens. We stereotype people everyday with out even realizing it. Do you think it would even be humanly possible to create a raceless nation? Would it be possible for people to be judged not by the color of their skin but by the person they are? I wish it would be. I felt very strongly about supporting Marti in today's debate. I really love his ideas and know that there is a lot of truth to them. We all have souls that yearn for the same things and in working together to achieve the same goal, we are united. One historical example of this is the way Nelson Mandela used South Africa's rugby team to end the apartheid. To the South Africans, the white rugby team was a symbol of the apartheid, racial segregation. Despite the overwhelming majority's push to decommission the Springbocks, which had all white players and one black player, Nelson Mandela let them play and supported them. The team started doing really well and Nelson Mandela attended every game. The black South Africans began to support the team along with the white South Africans. The races of South Africa were united in rooting for the Springbocks in the National Championship. Now I know rugby is much different than a war of independence but it is the same idea. When people are working together and rooting for the same team to accomplish the same goal, they are united. I think that if the United States had not intervened, the people of Cuba would have been able to accomplish Cuba Libre. I think Marti makes a very strong point when he says that they both die together fighting and their souls rise up together. This sent a powerful message to Cubans and I think we can all learn from Marti. If these people were both willing to fight and die for something, they are worthy of equal treatment. I hope that maybe someday we can reach true racial equality and achieve a raceless nation.
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This is incredibly interesting! I must agree that I find it quite annoying that my ethnicity is asked for everywhere I go, and because I am white I am actually discriminated against. I can't apply for certain scholarships because I am not a minority, but there are not any scholarships out there that are "for whites only" - because then people would think that was discrimination. What's the difference?!
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting about the rugby team! It shows that anyone can be united if they fight together! That is how America became how it is - because the colonies united and we shared a common goal, and perhaps we should have stayed out of other countries so they could learn that lesson on their own as well.
In my opinion, the simple answer to your question is no, this raceless nation remains even today to be idealistic and improbable. I agree completely on your comment about applications asking for race, I think it is wrong, and goes against that idea of equality that we have been striving for for years. But it goes beyond that, last year I was looking through my school's collection of scholarship applications and it is more than just asking for race, but there are applications that are only open to people of a specific race, and that is the way it is going to be. Even if we get to the point where we can remove race from applications and that sort of thing there is still the issue of stereotypes like you said, which in my opinion have an even smaller likelihood of ever going away. The first thing many people do upon meeting a new person is create this idea of who they are, despite knowing they should not do that, it happens anyway, and what is the most outward appearance to make that initial judgement off if not race? I simply feel that it is simply to far ingrained in our society at this point to ever realistically think that we can have a raceless nation. One can look at the leaders like Mandela, Gandhi, and King all one wants, but how can you take their movements as improvements to society when the other side of the spectrum is represented simultaneously by the leadership of Castro, Hitler, Jong-un, Stalin, and Putin? For each man who fights for that equal, ideal, raceless nation, there is a man pushing from the other side for the segregated and unequal life, and the media and modern technology makes sure we all know about it.
ReplyDelete'Raceless' to me goes beyond equality, and beyond stereotypes, I think that raceless is just to ideal of an image where not only are we all equal, but we are all one in the same. The day that someone can meet a new person and not see race, the day that one can sit at a table with everyone else and have no negative or positive thoughts based on appearance is the day that a raceless nation has arrived. However good luck with that when stereotypes and media are flushing your mind with all those thoughts that you are not supposed to have about other people. The only chance for a raceless nation is one in which there literally - not figuratively or theoretically - is no difference in race among humans.