Race and Ethnicity

From DeAne or Mary off of moodle: "So there were Negros and there were immigrants. What do the lenses of race and ethnicity help us to see in the book? What does the book help us to see about race and ethnicity, then and now?"

The most strong idea about race and ethnicity that I get from Ragtime, is that the two are still blended together and discriminated against.  And part of the reason they are discriminated against is because of American history; there is a history of discrimination.  There is a movement these days about embracing diversity, having humans live together in peace.  Just because our history is founded in shunning diversity does not mean that it should continue (though it does, and will always continue probably...). "But the general perception of human diversity - often with value judgement attached regarding mental, physical, and moral attributes - is as old as settled human existence."  (Constructing Social Identity: Race).   Yes, America's perception of diversity has always been around.  Yes, as humans we are naturally drawn to those who are similar to us because it's 'safe'.  But that doesn't constitute a need to shun those who are different, to discriminate against them, and to not embrace diversity.

"In order to understand ethnicity, we must divest it of all conscious or unconscious racial connotations.  Ethnicity may be defined as a collective, inherited, cultural identity, buttressed by social structures and social networks, and often formulated in opposition to competing social groups."  Ethnicity is not about race.  Ethnicity is about where an individual is from; their environment.  "Ethnicity is a collective phenomenon, a 'we feeling' that unites a number of people"(Constructing Social Identity: Ethnicity).   That being said, couldn't our AmCon class be an ethnicity?   We are a "we feeling"...we are united by the 2 years we spend together, the things we discuss, the material we read.  Ethnicity is about cultural and social identity.  It is important to redefine ethnicity vs. race, and to make sure that American (specifically student) understand the difference between the two.  It would be another step towards living peaceably among one another.