What really
stood out to me in this week’s lecture about the social construction of race,
ethnicity, and nationality is the concept of race. In class Professor Barry gave us two definitions
on the word race. The first definition states
that race is the “categorization of people based on biologically transmitted
traits”. While the second definition
states that race is the “socially constructed category of people who share
biologically transmitted traits that members of a society considered important”. Both definitions seems to support the notion
that race is define as what a person looks like on the outside (that’s a given). We as humans know that everyone belong to
different race. So what I don’t
understanding is that when the issue of race surface, why are people so
uncomfortable with it. The Guess Who
activity we did in class did a good job at demonstrating this. It was said in the video that when people are
doing this activity, about 57% of the people playing this game are reluctant to
ask clues involving peoples’ race. One
would think that with all the civil rights movements and such things, people
would be more comfortable to talk about race openly. However, that is not the case at all, and
people are still uncomfortable with it even in today’s world. During the Super Bowl this past weekend,
there was a cereal commercial about an interracial couple and their six years
old daughter. The commercial was about
the nutritious benefits that the cereal provides, but this apparently flew over
some people’s head. What they saw wasn’t
a cereal commercial, what they saw was this biracial family, and because of it received
some negativity. Here is a link to the video of an interview with the family
after the negative backlash that the commercial received, and talk about their
experiences (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjJ4tqVV1OE). This just goes to show about where some
people still stands on the issue of race in today’s society. Changing is hard thing to do, but if we don’t
change nothing will ever get better.
I also thought that the racism surrounding the family in this video was ridiculous! Biracial families are more prevalent than ever before, yet people still apparently don't want them represented in commercials. I don't get it. I didn't even have a second thought about the commercial until I saw the fact that there was controversy surrounding it on the news. In news reports there was also outrage surrounding the potential implication that African Americans were more unhealthy as a race too. That could have been mentioned as well?
ReplyDeleteI really liked the concepts that you shared and thought it was great that you shared the cheerios add. I remember when the cheerios did the first add with the same biracial family as in the Superbowl add and remember thinking that people were over thinking the add and that they should be thinking about the health benefits not the color of the peoples skin advertising the cereal. As a society we put way to much emphasize on race.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic! I liked the activity we did in class too because it really brings to peoples attention the under lying fact that race, even when it isn't relevant, is still in fact a problem. I really liked your example about the commercial. More and more I see things on the media trying to make things more racially accepting but they just make it more obvious and strange.
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