Friday, January 28, 2005
Veronica is deciding: to be or not to be...Other. Bureacuracy always gets us, enit? I've been thinking of what strategy of resistance (to other-ing) might be available in this case. If enough people check all the boxes that apply instead of just one, it would probably invalidate the form thus skewing demographic data that the statistic feeds into. What does it feed? Like Michelle said, those statistics are used to determine and allocate resources. Resources that are supposed to make sure there is equity of opportunity for all in the system.
Or if enough people check "other," the category would still remain vague so as to render it... meaningless?
Clearly we need a new system since more and more children of interethnic and interracial marriages are born everyday.
But as Maria P. Root says in her Love's Revolution, all of our fears about race are always about sex. And when I think of the dilemma such as the one Veronica is facing, I fear it might take many more decades, if not centuries, to undo the fears and anxieties that created those categories in the first place.
There is a New Politics of Race that would have us believe that race has declined in significance in this global age. But not so, says Howard Winant; in fact, race is more central than ever to our lives. Read him.
Or if enough people check "other," the category would still remain vague so as to render it... meaningless?
Clearly we need a new system since more and more children of interethnic and interracial marriages are born everyday.
But as Maria P. Root says in her Love's Revolution, all of our fears about race are always about sex. And when I think of the dilemma such as the one Veronica is facing, I fear it might take many more decades, if not centuries, to undo the fears and anxieties that created those categories in the first place.
There is a New Politics of Race that would have us believe that race has declined in significance in this global age. But not so, says Howard Winant; in fact, race is more central than ever to our lives. Read him.
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