Week 7 - Gabriel Cenizal (Section A01)

In Darrell Hamamoto’s article, Ethnic Cover: Inquiry Into Norman Yoshio Mineta and Post-Racial Profiling, he exemplifies how public presentation of ethnic leaders is a key factor into the support of certain cabinets in politics. With that being said, our academic freedom is also being compromised to work against our benefit in this ethnic cover of admissions. In a country of White supremacy, race has been used as a weapon to discriminate and make other races seem obsolete. The “race card” has been created as a means to degrade one’s identity, but could it also be used in a positive sense? During the election of Barack Obama, individuals saw the significance in the “race card” toward him benefiting people of color. Although his presidency reflected a game change in the use of the “race card” it did not replace the use of the “race card”. His cabinet was as white as could be, and Obama had no progress in leveling the playing field for ethnic communities. In White America, the method of using an ethnic cover to persuade and buy-in voters and supporters has been a common tactic.

Analyzing the article, I felt very infuriated because it just goes to show how in our society we use race so much to determine what we choose in elected officials. In this process, we are using the same system that hurts us. As Asian American students, we have felt silenced in our educational experience and have been unable to get the same amount of support as our White counterpart. The collegiate industry accepts minorities like us as a means of getting prospective students into thinking that these campuses are “diverse”, but when it comes to accessible resources and monetary support for these groups, it comes very shorthanded. In our Asian American community, many have also bought into the idea that Asians being represented in positions of government are trustworthy or have the best intentions for their respective communities. With that being said, it is very questionable if we are even truly being represented as people of color at the government level, and it comes into question if our lives are being considered in this country as a whole.

Image: I chose this image of the Obama race card, because it represent the face of a cause that seems beneficial for people of color, but ends up blatantly benefiting our White counterpart.

References

• Hamamoto, D. (n.d.). Ethnic Cover: Inquiry Into Norman Yoshio Mineta and Post-Racial Profiling. In Servitors of Empire: Studies in the Dark Side of Asian America. Waterville, OR: Trine Day LLC.

Question: How can we be certain a person of color candidate in government is reliable and beneficial toward equality of minorities in America?