Tiffany Do
ASA 2 Section 2
Week 8 Blog
In response to “Ethnic Cover: Inquiry into Norman Yoshio
Mineta and Post-Racial Profiling”:
The idea of having token people of color in institutions in
order to deflect any accusations of discrimination is not new; we’ve discussed
this in class before, regarding our school, the justice system, etc. What was really
revealing about Professor Hamamoto’s article was the depth of this case study
of Norman Mineta whose name was immediately familiar to me because I live in
the South Bay Area and have gone to the Norman Y. Mineta airport many times. Whenever
I hear about cases like these, I always wonder: how much of these public
relations decisions are carefully thought out with consideration to race? Is
Norman Mineta really abusing his internment experiences in order to quell fears
about internment in the aftermath of 9/11? Is he fully cognizant of the role he
(his race, his family history) plays within this larger context? I have some thoughts about my questions but would really like to hear what others think. On one hand,
the way Professor Hamamoto describes it makes it seem like all the people behind
the scenes crafting the perfect spokesperson and message to disseminate to the
public are aware of what they are doing. On the other hand, it seems like
people who think that we are in a post-racial society and don’t believe in
institutional racism would not see Mineta in the same way.
Questions:
1.
How much of these public relations decisions are
carefully thought out with consideration to race?
2.
Is Norman Mineta really abusing his internment
experiences in order to quell fears about internment in the aftermath of 9/11?
3.
Is Mineta fully cognizant of the role he plays
within this larger context?
http://michellewhykim.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/posters7.jpg
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