Week 7

Riyan Lacara
ASA 002 A02
Week 7

Darell Hamamoto's piece, "Ethnic Cover: Inquiry Into Norman Yoshio Mineta and Post-Racial Profiling" discusses the effects of incorporating certain individuals within a certain hierarchal group. Specifically, this piece showcases the journey of Norman Yoshio Mineta. It tracks his rise a member within his family's insurance company. Then, as the head of a federal agency. And then after his stint within the federal government, as an executive of Lockheed Martin. This article tracks how his position was used as a mechanism to control the population, specifically those of a similar ethnic background as him. He was able to use his family's history of being put in the internment camps, during World War 2, as a means to calm down America's Middle Eastern community after 9/11.

It is interesting to see that a government, such as the United States, would use such tactics in order to control its population. However, this nation has a hugely diversified population, in many respects. So, we need to have representatives to the table that can represent these groups in a respectful manner. Yet, we shouldn't do it in such a way where the representatives are used as "tokens." These tactics do make sense; however, they should be used in order to actually benefit the population, not just the government.

 

References:

1. 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 (pp. 201-223). Waterville , OR: Trine Day LLC.
2. "Inclusion Cartoons and Comics." Inclusion Cartoons and Comics - Funny Pictures from CartoonStock. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2017.