Is it rational to feel racially surpressed in America today?

Answer 1

First off, it's oppressed. Racially suppressed would indicate a far more amusing scenario.

Absolutely, especially if you belong to a group of people who is either considered a non-minority, or a group that has lost their minority status, or a group that is still a minority. Oh, and there is the whole issue with the fact that America is basically responsible for clumping dozens of races, ethnicities and cultures into 3 excessively broad and pointless categories of black, white and brown. (this is another topic, and a huge one.) I will present these in the order listed above.

For non-minority groups.Lets face it, nothing is more wrong in the world than being white. Kill whitey! All white people (including dozens races, ethnicities, cultures) are physically diminutive, have small penises, are racist, dangerous, arrogant, passive, violent. The belief that ones own group of people is responsible for the suffering of the entire world for all of history can motivate people to act any number of ways, from violent, to passive, to guilty, to racist. White people will often play up their whiteness as it suites them, and play it down if for instance their new boss were a minority.

For those who belong to groups that have lost minority status things are a bit more confusing. For many Irish and Irish Americans who are well read on their history, being called white is a hateful insult and many will become physically aggressive as a result. I mean all Irish people are violent by nature. Groups such as the Irish, Chinese, Japanese are all groups who were once minorities. Often times such groups of former(sometimes called 'model' minorities) are perceived as changing their own status as it suits them. When an Irishman is applying for a job such as bouncing at a bar, they laud how their culture was oppressed, enslaved, used for war etc. I know I did at my last bouncer job. I played up both the Irish thing, and the non-white minority thing. Which worked out since my boss was a white man from Boston and readily made a hard lined distinction between the Irish at large and proper white people. At the interview for my current desk job, i was 100% as white as my new bosses, disgusted by cursing and completely enculturated as a honky. My friend 'B' who is Japanese hates (and I mean HATES) the stereotype that Asians are all good at math and Rubik's Cubes. Ask him a math question on the street and he is pretty much guaranteed to get upset. In his interview for the Intel plant though, he actually muttered the words "Of course I'm good at math, I'm Asian aren't I?"

For those who still belong to minority groups, its completely rational, because the entire culture (internally and externally) is either pandering or helping to otherwise perpetuate internal and external beliefs regarding their relationship to persons in their out-group. At the same time stereotypes are held up internally and externally. I mean, all black people are great at sports (such that even internally fathers will encourage their sons to drop out of school to make time for balling), are into gang lifestyles, loud, dangerous and violent. Sarcasm aside, the notion, or cultural moray that ones group (be it race, ethnicity or class) is oppressed can have as much if not more impact than any amount of actually oppression which is or isn't happening. If a white female cop pulls a black man over for speeding, is it because hes male? Black? Speeding? What he believes to be the reason for the stop is most important here, especially since it will determine how he reacts to the situation. If the in-group that this person belongs to and identifies with supports his perception of and reaction to events (whether or not it was based on reality) then it is reinforced. The more it is reinforced the more real it becomes and the more rational it becomes, at least to him. There is also an element of playing up or down ones minority status as it suites an individual, just as there is with pseudo-minorities. I would give an example here, but then I'd be called a racist. After all, the Irish are white, and all white people are racist, and all Black people assume that all whites are racist.

The simple fact of the matter is that Americans, even in an effort to deal a fatal blow to racial issues, end up being racist. The reason why, is that people just cannot let go the arguments of race. The reason why, in order to really belong to a group you have to not belong to another group. The easiest of all identifiers for a group are the most visible. It's like when armies use color to identify each other.

As a comment. It's not a great day when elect someone because they're black, or make a huge deal over the fact that a black guy got elected to president. It's a great day in American history when the guy is office for 6 months before anyone comments or notices that he is black. It will be an even better day than that when he gives up his unearned (proffered on the basis of race) peace prize and asks that it be given to MLK, or someone else who actually earned it.