Saturday, December 3, 2011

Strangers From A Different Shore Chapter 13

The 1990s demonstrates what I've pointed out in earlier journals that the root source of racial discrimination has not actually been addressed.  It is especially prevalent when people join together under a common issue, such as the Rodney King incident.

"'This riot happened because of the gap between rich and poor.'"  The U.S. is currently experiencing a similar situation, in which middle to lower class citizens have been participating in the "Occupy" protests, focusing specifically on the gap between the rich and the poor.  Could it be a hotbed for racial tension?  As the issue of "jobs" continues to be on the minds of many, what some would call "racial tensions" have elevated against "undocumented immigrants," of which a majority are Mexican.  Could we see a repeat of the racial tension experienced between White and Asian Americans in the early to mid 1900s in the 21st century, only between predominately White Americans and Mexican / Latin American immigrants?

Affirmative Action:  empirically, it contributes to attaining the goal of diverse community involvement.  However, it does raise some ethical questions, such as denying candidates admission to a university on the account of "overrepresentation."  A prominent question: should representation in universities and colleges of ethnic groups mirror that in the community?  This is often cited as the justification for affirmative action, as seen at UC Berkley in the 1990s.

It seems that in the rush and panic to find the "silver bullet" to the issue of race and racial representation, the end result of "boxing in" certain ethnicities to a set of standards hastily deemed appropriate has its own serious consequence:  the "ceiling" and the "floor" of the box are based on generalizations and do not accommodate the needs and desires of many members of said racial group.

No comments:

Post a Comment