ASA2 Section A01
Week 2 Reflection
Response to "SO OUR HISTORY DOESN’T BECOME YOUR FUTURE:The Local and Global Politics of Coalition Building Post September 11th" by Nadine C. Naber
This article by Naber demonstrates how the concepts of race and ethnic identity are manipulated in order to best fit the power structure of the dominant race depending on the situation at the time. With regards to this article in particular, one can easily see the amount of racism and discrimination had become visible in the U.S. by examining the social shifts against those of Middle Eastern descent after the events of 9/11. The lack of knowledge of the general public on these matters, especially when attempting to attribute blame on a particular people is evidenced by their mistreatment for individuals who are not even the correct ethnic background to be blamed for the events of 9/11, showing that prejudice was exhibited on the basis of appearance alone. In an attempt to remedy this, coalitions were built in order to combat the negative backlash, but even these attempts were destined to be controlled by dominant powers. Funds made available for coalitions to be formed were taken up by white politicians who were then in charge of speaking on behalf of those who were actually affected by discrimination. This backwards representation also leads to misunderstanding where the source of the problem is. Instead of highlighting the media's mistakes in portraying the people at fault, these speakers instead simply asked for tolerance, which simply perpetuates the plight of those of Middle Eastern descent.
Question: To what extent is the history of Japanese interment and mistreatment during WWII similar to the racial discrimination faced by people of Middle Eastern descent now?
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