Reaction to “Race, The Power of Illusion” Essay

Viewing this docu custodytary was an extremely worthy become in my understanding of not only some of the real(a) weve been discussing in our course, but in like manner in developing a much(prenominal) more developed grasp on the full extent of our earths ugly history of racism. While, by and large, I was already keenly aw atomic number 18 of many of the events and incidences discussed throughout the three-part documentary including the assimilation and forced remotion of Native Americans, slavery, manifest destiny, the idea of the white mans sum, and the study of eugenics, on that point were so many different aspects to these events that you simply do not learn in grade school.Watching these events unfold visually compel lead me in way I never quite had been before from an excited standpoint- the neighborly implications of these events are so much graver and severe than I had even thought previously. As the documentary watch overd in the threesome act, racism is so deepl y rooted in American soil that one born here or moving here aft(prenominal) the most blatant forms of racism have vanished (segregation) finds themselves unwittingly fitting into racialized society. Without covering films like these and having the kinds of discussions we do in class about institutionalized racism, it is alternatively easy to accept it as normal having grown up from a place of privilege.What struck me most overall from watching this documentary were the astronomic picture ideas presented about what belt along in truth means. Time and time again evidence is presented that refutes the ferociously pervasive misconception that concourse belonging to the same range show evidence of significant genetic markers, and that our perceptions of what race means is in all created by historical, social, and policy markers that all stem from the faulty science that delegates original attributes to different races. The idea that citizenry of a certain race could inherentl y exhibit certain attributes over people of other races creates a social hierarchy that initially was designed to justify the enslavement of African men and women.As the documentary observes, the problem is that by claiming that race isbased in biology, as demonstrated in the studies on eugenics presented in scientific works such as Types of Mankind, the perceived inequality between people of different races became much more serious than a power imbalance. The note that, if race was treated as a way to keep people of color subordinate upfront, the inequality would have dissipated following abolition. However, when eugenics went as far as to claim that people of different races were of different species, it justify the idea that Thomas Jeffersons claim that all men are created equal did not have to include African Americans.I also had never heard any mention of Jeffersons Notes on the present of Virginia, that, while pitching Americas brand to European countries, was horrifically r acist, claiming that blacks were humble to whites in body and in mind. I was personally horrified upon larn that the Nazis claimed inspiration from American eugenicists on the racial profiles that led to the extermination of millions of Jews. The culture and the race of Jewish people were often intertwined, as in the assumption that in the 1920s many basketball teams consisted of Jewish men due to their artful dodger nature.Another idea presented by the documentary that I had not considered previously was how race effected the experience of citizenship in the US, and how race is determined in the context of citizenship. Back when there was an influx of immigrants from European countries, there was much prejudice against immigrants despite that they were by and large racially homogenous. Over time, as these people from different cultures assimilates, they became pass judgment as American whites, while African Americans, Asians, and Native Americans were so far disadvantage again st.It became clear, especially in light of the change of heart about the holiness and civility of Native Americans when they initially refuse to yield to American imperialism, that race was employ more to justify displacement of peoples to maintain certain cultural ideas and standards than it was actually about ones racial profile. To write off a group of people as immoral and incompetent was a spacious reoccurring theme we saw among these groups of oppressed people. This is evident in Americas conquest of the Philippines- when the people of the Phillipines were depicted asracially similar to African Americans despite baring no visual commonality it became evident that they used race as an easy marker for the foreign, or the other. more(prenominal) interesting still was learning about the laws that defined race in the nineteenth century, and the great lengths Asian and South Asian people went to in justifying that they should be considered Caucasian to gain citizenship in the US. In the case of the Japanese man who committed suicide after having his citizenship rejected, the courts used race as an indicator of values rather than actually observe the actions of the people pursuit citizenship. How ironic was it that prior to India gaining independence from Britain in 1947, that families fled to the US where all men are created equal only to be denied citizenship based on their race? This is so sadly indicative of so much of the inequality still evident in this country today.