Thursday, October 8, 2009

Where do you come from?

This country is obsessed with race. I think it’s been on the media’s radar for a long time, but has been revived since the election. Why is interviewing people on their race interesting? CNN is showing a special called “Latinos in America”, where “minorities will soon be the majority”. Am I supposed to be concerned about this?

This just proves that we have a huge problem with race and we are very preoccupied with it. Ok, so you’re white, or black, or Puerto Rican. Good for you. Be proud of your heritage, keep your traditions and customs, but don’t look down on others for not sharing that with you. Besides, if everyone was the same race, would it mean as much to you?

Other countries don’t run extensive stories on racial statistics. I wonder if they look at Americans with confusion as to why we constantly talk about race. Just like other factors of life, race sometimes says if you are more likely to be poor, go to jail, have certain health problems. But talking about it like that’s the sole reason for these things is ignorant. Blacks and Hispanics make up 60% of the prison population. Now that is what we should be talking about. The mere fact that the Hispanic population is increasing (and taking over (?)) is not.

Maybe it does interest some people. I would like to know that people are overcoming racial stereotypes, but stories like these help (in a way) to continue them, by pointing them out, talking and analyzing them, and then looking to debunk it. It seems easy to lose that last step. Maybe it’s just me, but I hope one day our country would be concerned with others things besides who is the majority.

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