Final Thoughts

Well readers, we've made it. It's been about four weeks since I've started reading Race by Marc Aronson and writing for my first ever blog. Before this assignment, I knew virtually nothing about blogs, and so, I applaud my readers who have kept up with my writing since the beginning.

I would first like to begin my final thoughts by focusing on the last two sections of the book, entitled: "Judgement: Race and Racism After the Holocaust" and ""May Be of Any Race': Race and Racism Today." I would also like to briefly delve into the pages upon pages of notes, since I believe it would further my understanding of the author's ethos, purpose, and research. 

One of my most interesting takeaways from these last sections was the paragraph in which Aronson talked about how sexual fears play into racial prejudice. It's not necessary an argument that I have heard before, and I wish he could have gone into more detail about it. Aronson starts this paragraph with a quote from an Alabama senator and his thoughts on segregation: "He thought the court decision would 'open the bedroom doors of our white women to Negro men'" (pg 228). Although I haven't heard such arguments from segregationists before, it reminds me of the what was said in opposition to letting trans students use the bathrooms they wish to. Aronson comes across as feeling the same way I did in response to such an absurd claim: "Why should anyone assume that integrating the classrooms of schools would lead to opening adults' bedroom doors?" (pg 228). I think I was so interested in what Aronson had to say on this topic because I have always been confused by such an argument. Aronson cites cases of castration in lynching mobs and Islamic history, and he states that while sexual fears cannot explain the rationale of segregationists, it does reflect a strong belief in the concept of race.

The other takeaway I had in this section was how Aronson dealt with an issue of hypocrisy and race. He writes, "Liberals could march for black rights in the South but send their children to white schools in the North. Like the English who abolished slavery and let the Irish starve, whites who supported the Voting Rights Act often lived in cities whose poor, black neighborhoods they ignored" (pg 249). I appreciate Aronson spending time on this issue. For me, as a white person in an overly white town and school, I see this happen often. It's one of the reasons, I think, that we can't make progress on the front of racial prejudice, and it especially makes me think of the current movement to prevent gun violence. If you are fighting for the protection of someone's human rights, you have to fight for everyone. With regard to the gun issue in America, it's not just about schools, it's also about police brutality, and we cannot ignore that. Aronson's comments also makes me think about the people who are sending "thoughts and prayers" to the shooting victims and not doing anything about it. I would call that hypocrisy, because if you believe strongly enough to be emotionally affected by an issue but don't take action to change it, the issue is going to persist. 

As mentioned earlier, I would like to talk briefly about the notes that Aronson includes at the end of his book. There isn't much analysis to be done about said notes because it is typically necessary for non-fiction writing. However, I did want to acknowledge them for the sake of furthering my own and hopefully my readers's understanding of the material. I usually don't pay much attention to the notes, but I found Aronson's notes just as interesting, if not even more so, to read than the book itself. If any of my readers decide to explore this book on their own time, I highly recommend reading the notes and going to the links and other resources that he provides in them. It helped to explain some questions about arguments that I had.

My last purpose of this blog post is to make a direct connection from my thoughts on Race by Marc Aronson to what we're doing in AP Language and Composition. To do this, I will create my own AP style Question 3 prompt and provide an answer.

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Can we choose to reject our racial prejudices? 

It is not an overstatement to say that racial prejudice has been present since the beginning of time Racial prejudice was around before Christianity was a religion, survived through the Enlightenment and the shift from religion to science, paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement, and is a headliner in the protests against police brutality. This way of thinking is not new, and it did not come out of nowhere, but can we choose to change this type of set mentality? Although it would not be easy, I believe it can be done.

It is easy to see how those who have been prejudiced against can change their own mentalities. We can look to the Civil Rights Movement and see how young African-Americans, who have been plagued with the ancient idea that they were born inferior and should act submissively, were able to stand up for their own rights in the acts of sit-ins and freedom rides and marches. That, however, is not the major concern of this question. What about changing the minds of those who have been brought up with the mentality of being superior to others?

The Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the story of Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, and his rival, Enkidu, who lived in the woods, hunted animals, and had no sense of table manners. The tale demonstrates that Gilgamesh, of the grand and sophisticated people, was superior to Enkidu and that Enkidu was not even worth the title of "human." However, the story twists, and at the end Gilgamesh and Enkidu become close companions and develop a necessity for each other. Gilgamesh's superior mindset was not necessarily eliminated upon this discovery, but the Epic of Gilgamesh shows how people can change and choose to change.

(Courtesy of Rashaya)

Another historical example of being able to reject racial prejudice is the Roman philosopher, Seneca. Despite slavery being the main expression of Roman rule, for one in every three people was enslaved, Seneca pushed past the racial prejudice that ran through every inch of his culture and pleaded that slaves should be regarded as brothers to the Roman citizens. Seneca spoke directly in opposition to Aristotle, a more famed philosopher than himself, and continued his work even when no one came to his support.

Although past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, it is sometimes hard to take historical events this old as creditable evidence, especially if it is from a fictional tale. Among the copious amounts of modern research on implicit biases, there is statistical evidence of change in some racial prejudices. For the 50th anniversary of Loving v Virginia, Pew Research did a study on race and marriage in current America. They found that only 10% of Americans in 2017 would oppose of an interracial marriage in their family, which went down from 31% in 2000. Though this could be related to a greater presence of interracial relationships, it is still able to demonstrate that people can change their minds about racially charged topics.

Both historical tales and modern research suggest that we can, in fact, choose to reject our racial prejudices. It may not be easy, but it has been done before and can be done again. Aronson ends his book with a quotation geared towards this very question:

"At best we can pause: pause at the edge of the jungle as a stranger walks by and ask, Is my fear of him, my hatred of him, my sense that he is alien---is that me speaking, or some ancient fear? That pause, that instant of reflection, is the gift given to us by those people of courage who resisted the prejudices of their day; that precious chance to question ourselves is precisely what makes us, all of us, members of the human race" (pg 269).
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Race by Marc Aronson is not a book I would have picked up on my own. I am grateful to my English teacher for not only introducing me to this work but also for introducing me to the wonders of blogging. I am also grateful to her and to my class for being so open-minded in our various discussions of this complex topic. And for the final time, thank you to my readers for following me on this journey. Until next time.

Works Cited:
Bialik, Kristen. "Key facts about race and marriage, 50 years after Loving v.
     Virginia." Pew Research, 12 June 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/
     06/12/key-facts-about-race-and-marriage-50-years-after-loving-v-virginia/.
     Accessed 12 Apr. 2018.