Sarah Colegrove SOC 312 9/18/2012 Journal 2 The focus of this weeks readings on racial identity and assimilation

reminded just how far we have come but how far we desperately still need to go in this country. The article by Lawrence Hill really stood out to me. Hill talks about how his father was black while his mother was white but he (Hill) has always been considered by others to be black. My siblings and I learned early that you can have a white parent and still be considered black, but you can never have a black parent and be considered white. It aint allowed. (Hill 2007:5) Hill decided than to self-identify as black (Hill 2007). This seems to coincide with the article by Herbert Gans. Gans article talks about how the uninformed, everyday person still uses the word race to distinguish between people of different skin colors and puts them into different categories even though scholars no longer consider more than one human race existing. Gans discusses that the race of a person has determined which class they belong to with the lightest color of skin on top and the darkest on the bottom. This began when WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) from Europe colonized North America. They perceived themselves as being on top of the hierarchy and everyone who looked different than themselves (such as Native Americans or slaves) were put lower on the hierarchy ladder. As many other ethnic groups immigrated to the United States, they were labeled as different races and were put near the bottom of the hierarchy ladder. As they moved up in social

class and became more successful overall, they started to be considered white. This has occurred for such groups as the Irish, the Italians, and Asians. It has yet to occur for many Hispanics and has not occurred for African Americans. Gans seems to doubt that it will ever occur for African Americans (Gans 2010). As I read these articles, I realized how racism and the underlying prejudice and discrimination can still shape not only our lives but also the way that we think and identify ourselves and others. I have never really thought about the self-identity issue that Hill faced and it makes me really wonder how far we have come as a nation. What makes it wrong for Hill to identify as white? Why cant he self-identify himself into whatever category he wants? Looking at both articles together it seems as if throughout the history of the United States, we have somehow come to perceive those that have a darker skin tone to be considered others and outsiders. We have yet to fully accept everyone as who they are instead we seem to have isolated ourselves into two different groups of white and black. These articles are much harder for me to relate to with personal life experience because I have grown up in an area that isolated itself against diversity. People who came from outside the northern Pennsylvania Appalachian mountain range were kept out of the community especially if they appeared to look different from everyone else (I think the school I attended had less than ten people who classified themselves as something other than white). As a result, I have not personally noticed or encountered such discrimination (although the community had more than enough who were and still are blatantly racist). Collectively, we need to press on to fight against discrimination, prejudice, and the way that society looks at and views certain races. We need to become a much more loving and

caring community that celebrates diversity rather than force people into categories and then discriminate against select categories. We need live what it says in Mark 12:31, Love your neighbor as yourself. (Bible) This cannot happen when some in society are favored over others (especially when it is over something that cannot be controlled). Our love for everyone needs to be ever-present in our lives.

Works Cited

"Bible: New International Version." 2012.Web. <http://www.biblegateway.com/>.

Gans, Herbert. Race Class & Gender: An Anthology. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2010. Hill, Joseph. Developing a Racial Identity. Race, Ethnicity and Gender: Selected Readings. 2nd ed. Pine Forge Press, 2007.