{"id":41205,"date":"2025-03-14T00:30:24","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T07:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=41205"},"modified":"2025-03-14T00:30:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T07:30:24","slug":"through-the-lens-of-a-minority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/through-the-lens-of-a-minority\/","title":{"rendered":"Through the lens of a minority."},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is \u2018race\u2019 to me personally? Well, I am a Micronesian from the Pacific Islands which has a certain geographical location on this planet. Race to me refers a group of people with a certain likeness, way of living, same or at least similar language and history or backgrounds. This is not based on certain definition, but from what I\u2019ve heard tossed around in conversations and medias. When I came to Oregon, I experienced what I then called racial discrimination. Later, I would refer to as prejudice based on race.<\/p>\n

\u2018The End of Race Politics,\u2019 written by Hughes Coleman disagreed against identity politics, advocating for individualism and shared progress, while dismantling harmful beliefs about race and race-based policies.[1]<\/a> I will be sharing about how my convictions has been affected and why.<\/p>\n

The Concept of Race<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hughes started explaining, what is race, by arguing that it is a social construct, a concept, that was created to explain or describe what we see in our surrounding. [2]<\/a> He further concluded that, \u201cThe concept of race falls into a third category. It\u2019s neither completely natural nor completely socially constructed. It\u2019s a social construct inspired by a natural phenomenon.\u201d [3]<\/a> The base of his argument was that the human race has one beginning, but the uniqueness to each group was the end result or the effect of the environment in which they have lived in.<\/p>\n

At the concept of race as a \u2018social-construct\u2019 is bearable to think about since all have one beginning. But still there is grouping of people like ethnicity, due to diversity, which is the end result of their environment. The word \u2018race\u2019 or \u2018racism\u2019 may be discounted or deleted, the bias or preconceived opinion(s) toward a group of people toward the other still exits.<\/p>\n

Neoracism and Colorblind<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNeoracists agree that race matter deeply and inherently, but not because of genetics or divine decree. Instead, they believe race matters for societal and historical reasons: that discrimination in favor of non-whites is justified on accounts of the hardships they endure \u2013 hand hardships their ancestors endured \u2013 at the hands of whites.\u201d [4]<\/a> Hughes also emphasized an important similarity between neoracists and old-school race supremacists, which is \u2018race matters.\u2019<\/p>\n

On the other hand, \u2018colorblind\u2019 which is based on the principle that everyone should be treated fairly in both our public policy and in our private lives, without any regards to race.[5]<\/a> Colorblind is said to be standing on the opposite side of neoracism. It seems that in neoracism, white people, or \u2018whiteness\u2019 [6]<\/a> is associated with negativity toward the non-white race. I wonder what it would look like if this \u2018social-construct,\u2019 race does not exist? Would both \u2018neoracism\u2019 and \u2018colorblind\u2019 would be talked about but instead of race, it would be ethnic group?<\/p>\n

Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a non-white, this is my observation. At first, I think of \u2018racism\u2019 as an actual word, not a \u2018social-construct.\u2019 As I was growing up on my Island, there was this word that was used to described outsiders, especially white people. They were named, \u2018REWON,\u2019 which literal meaning is, RE (from), WON (above). The name may be derived from what they have, and what they can do, or even the difference in appearance. To the best of my knowledge is that it came from their inferiority toward them. This is how I grew up thinking about this social-construct, race, as something that really exists. Moreover, as there is different types of, and the existence of discrimination. Though I come to understand some of these, it is sad to see my fellow Micronesians getting sucked into somewhat like neoracism movement without knowing what it is.<\/p>\n

In closing, I believe that if racism do not exist because there is no such word as, \u2018racism,\u2019 prejudice and bias toward other groups still exists. And it is still as damaging as racism.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Summary of The End Of Race Politics by Colman Hughes. https:\/\/www.bing.com\/search?q=what+is+the+main+theme+of+The+end+of+race+politics+&form=ANNTH1&refig=60900B60D6A64E92BC0B9C1ED8AEF125&pc=U531&ntref=1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Hughes, Coleman. The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America (pp. 33 \u2013 34). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid (pg. 18).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid (pg. 19).<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid (pg. 20).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction What is \u2018race\u2019 to me personally? Well, I am a Micronesian from the Pacific Islands which has a certain geographical location on this planet. Race to me refers a group of people with a certain likeness, way of living, same or at least similar language and history or backgrounds. This is not based on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41206,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41205\/revisions\/41206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}