CRTGAMER wrote:
Really? Do you have a link proof of this and not a one sided article? I can see it as a curiosity question asked if one has an accent and not by the color of their skin. On a casual conversion I never ask where parents come from for any race, do not care. If I know a person such as a friend or neighbor it might come up when we are just shooting the breeze, certainly not in a malice way as you suggest. I think most people feel this way. Building the hate thru perceptions as you stated is why there will be continual divide.
I do know a number of people of color or non-European ethnicity and anecdotally they have been asked this on occasion. I can testify that I have never been asked this. But I have found some academic and popular/anecdotal research on this.
There is an article on the Atlantic which includes a quote from Michelle Norris from NPR about The Race Card Project:
The exchange took place at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is organized by The Atlantic and the Aspen Institute, during a panel discussion on The Race Card Project, a four-year-old effort by NPR host Michele Norris to solicit people's frank, unfiltered thoughts on race in bite-sized, six-word essays. She's received tens of thousands of responses from people in 63 countries.
"One of the most common submissions to The Race Card Project is some formulation of, 'So, where are you really from?'" Norris said. "To a lot of people that hits their ear the wrong way. It feels like someone is trying to point out their otherness: 'You're quite obviously not American, so where are you from?'
https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... st/373818/
http://theracecardproject.com/no-where- ... ally-from/
An important takeaway here is that most who ask this don't mean it maliciously. (No, CRT, I didn't suggest it was malicious at all. You assumed.) They are simply curious. But to someone who is a minority, it can feel like their American-ness is being questioned or doubted. Asking where someone is from implies they're not from America. This isn't a uniquely American phenomenon, either. It does happen worldwide. But we are one of the world's more diverse nations, and I think we need to decide, as a populace, that our curiosity is less important than someone else's feelings of belonging.
Here's an article from The Smithsonian Magazine.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cult ... -54542198/
Here's an article on how that question can be divisive in education.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10. ... 5907305177
And here's a book that uses that question as a foil for discussion of challenges for integration in London.
CRTGAMER wrote:So what is the harm in bringing everyone to the table? The Tennessee Congressman seemed earnest to me just wanting to represent his district. Though not bullied, he was refused to bring in a voice and that is wrong. On the other hand an assembly focusing on just one race are not representing ALL their constituents back in their home states.
There is no harm in bringing everyone to the table, and there are lots of appropriate forums for that. The Congressional Black Caucus isn't that appropriate forum. Insisting it is wrong for the CBC to disallow non-black membership is basically saying that those black lawmakers are not allowed to have a space for them to discuss, amongst themselves, the unique challenges they face as black people serving in congress. The purpose of the CBC isn't explicitly to support the black lawmakers' constituents, though they often discuss those topics. Rather, the CBC exists to support the lawmakers themselves. They can discuss issues like their under-representation in Congress or unique issues black lawmakers face in an otherwise strongly-white lawmaking body. I would also argue that black lawmakers are going to be in a stronger position to understand the needs of constituents of color than even the most well-meaning white lawmaker.
There are many caucuses and conferences in Congress, some based on interests and others on ideology. Do you think the Tea Party aligned conference would allow in a liberal Democrat? Probably not. Caucuses and conferences set their own rules of admission and their own standards. While they are official Congressional groups, they don't really have any distinct power in law-making. They are simply social- and agenda-based groups that lawmakers join to discuss and organize.
As to the kerfluffle over the white lawmaker who applied for admission, here's what Wikipedia has on the incident:
All past and present members of the caucus have been black. In 2006, while running for Congress in a Tennessee district which is 60% black, white candidate Steve Cohen pledged to apply for membership in order to represent his constituents. However, after his election, his application was refused. Although the bylaws of the caucus do not make race a prerequisite for membership, former and current members of the caucus agreed that the group should remain "exclusively black". In response to the decision, Rep. Cohen referred to his campaign promise as "a social faux pas" because "It's their caucus and they do things their way. You don't force your way in. You need to be invited."
It sounds like nothing but a peaceful, amicable non-event.
I also don't understand where this idea comes from that talking about and recognizing racism in America, bringing it out of the shadows and into the light, is somehow further dividing America. I have heard a number of white people say that but I've never heard a black person or a latino person say that. This is a largely white perception that is born I think of a certain discomfort in addressing issues of race and societal imbalance. It's like white people don't want black people or other minorities in American to talk about the ways in which they are disadvantaged. This ties into how some white conservatives claim Obama stoked racial divide. He was a black president taking the initiative to shine light on uncomfortable topics and truths. I have never once heard a black person tell me that they felt Obama stoked racial tensions, but a lot of white people have said it. If anything, blacks and latinos and other minorities too often have their needs swept under the rug. They have to live with that discrimination. White people have the liberty to just ignore it, which is a kind of racial privilege in and of itself.
