Throughout this section of Race, Wrings, and Remedies by Amy L. Wax it was clear to me what she meant by discrimination. She wants people to acknowledge people’s differences, it is when we ignore them completely then we are racist (77). This makes complete sense to me as there is much to be learned about one’s race when we dive deeper and acknowledge who they are. If we completely forget about a person’s past and all the turmoil and anguish, they have gone through to get to this point in their lives then we can not respect them or any of their successes. This is something that I take pride in myself, as I do not glaze over diversity or racism, but rather am intrigued to learn more about their past and what their people have gone through. This is why I feel that education is so important about the human race. It is something that everyone should know, about themselves.
Another aspect that Amy L. Wax touches on are the areas beyond family, school and work (87). But rather she focuses on their careers and their public perception. By evaluating where a person is in life to their race and setting standards to them based on their race. This idea makes no sense to me because it implies that a certain race or class deserves to be in the position more than anyone else. That the job or title should just be given to them based on their race or how much money they have. If there is a white male that has had money all of his life and he going into budgeting for a major company, underqualified, there is no chance that he will be able to realize what he is doing and will probably allocate money to the wrong areas of the business or miss use his powers. But if there is someone from a lower class who had very little money growing up, then they obviously know more about setting a budget and sticking to it, because it was the only way that they would survive while they were growing up.
In the fourth chapter of the book, Amy L. Wax discusses the psychology of being the victim of discrimination (95). In this chapter she mentions the fact that when someone is and has been discriminated against in their life then they will eventually believe it. Meaning that if everyone, from the day that you were born told you that there was no place for you in the world, that you would eventually believe them and recognize that your life is meaningless and there is nothing to progress towards. This idea also hurts me because of the missed potential in so many people who have been told their whole life that they cannot amount to anything of meaning. But it makes sense, if you hear or see something enough you eventually begin to believe it and act like it in your own life, that is just the psychological nature of it.
One reply on “Race, Wrongs and Remedies (70-100)”
I enjoyed reading about your analysis of Wax’s positions especially on someone’s past. I can agree that it is essential to remember someone’s past. That can speak miles because when we are born into a pre-determine identity; one that was made by our parents and ancestors. We shouldn’t even forget about our nation’s past. The past is what brought us here, good or bad, and it is a learning tool for how we can improve and not make the same mistakes. How are we supposed to know who someone is if we simply forget about their past? We are not all the same; we in fact are all different in some way. It is the differences that make us unique, and it is when we forget about these differences that we start to judge, and that is what Wax argues.