My initial impression of this article: There were a few things wrong or otherwise interesting about this headline when i first saw it:
'White African American', Medical School' and 'Discrimination'. =D
Looking back into the 16 to 1900s, communication theories such as the idols of the cave existed, where it tried to explain individual prejudicial behaviour of human beings and also tried to understand why people adopted a certain type of mentality and refused to break out of it. It simply shows that such behaviour predicted way back then still exists today, as seen in this article.
If you read this article, its about a medical student who speaks up during his culture studies class in medical school and claims that he is a 'white african american'. He ultimately offends a fellow classmate, irks the lecturer and finally gets thrown into a full blown disciplinary case by the medical school.
A big brouhaha over an innocent and truthful claim that he was 'white african american, which later in the article, claims to have been a truthful statement made by the student. So why the big fuss? Why was his classmate offended that he would claim to be African American when he had white skin? That's what i wanted to know. Its trivial, at least to me, to ruin one's personal career, over this.
Perception maybe? Perhaps the classmate of his already had his or her own set of beliefs and ideas about race and racism. Having lived amongst circumstances that had shaped those beliefs and the way she/he looked at the world through a different prescription of lens could have been imperative in this mild difference in perception. Living in his or her own bubble could have led to the classmate feeling deeply offended that one with white skin would call himself an African American. Therefore, this is clearly descriptive of a possible misconception and marred perception about racial issues. Perception is always moulded by the experiences we have gone through, how we look at other people, how we want to look at them and sometimes its amazing how stubborn people can be at perceiving things the way they want to. It could be consciously done, sometimes not. I am very sure the classmate of his knew that he was speaking the truth about his mixed ethnicity but he or she was just so offended that someone who looked white would call himself black. So that in itself was the student's choice to look at the situation through a different lens: which i presume is a product of the student's collective experiences, values and beliefs when it comes to racial issues.
I could identify perhaps with this minority student who was offended by Serodio, the medical student who is White African American. America has had it's share of racial tension even till the recent presidential campaigns.
As a minority in my own country, i could perhaps identify with sensitivity over such issues such as being offended over something most would think is not so serious. 'Sensitive' is the word that people might use to describe our response to such situations where talk about race/ethnicity is fragile and should be carefully handled.
Alot of times, i've been in situations where a group of my chinese friends start speaking in Mandarin despite acknowledging that i did not know Mandarin and that i was sitting right there in the conversation. I would often feel rejected, hurt and insulted. When i spoke up and made my plea, i would be usually, eventually, labeled as the 'sensitive' one. "Why you so sensitive one? It's not like we purposely do what". That's what they always say.
But little do they know, that from my point of view, from where i'm coming, my past, my environment and everything else that has shaped me as a minority race in Singapore affects the way i perceive racism. In this case, what didn't seem to be a big deal to my chinese friends was a big deal to me.
Maybe that's why this became a big deal for Serodio. He could not put a finger to why it was a problem, but to that one minority student, it was a big deal. It's all about being shaped by perception, looking at issues such as racism through different stratum of beliefs, ideas and opinions, that shape us individually and make us think so differently to that point that such tension and conflict arise.
And that's why communication is so hard to crack. Then again, without it, we would also be leading pretty boring lives and deprived of reading such interesting headlines on the news once in awhile ;)
ABC News (2009). 'White African American' Suing NJ Medical School For Discrimination.
Link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=7567291&page=2
i agree with you. I'm a chinese myself and i truly feel the chinese race in singapore especially the younger generation are seeing themselve as a "greater race" Until today we still have discrimination and race issues. Thanks for the posting =) its will be really good if people would get to know about this. Very valuable info. Thanks again. =)
ReplyDeleteHaha... maybe it's really true that youngster now adays tend to be more insensitive and unconsciously made the minority race feel inferior during certain occassion.
ReplyDeleteHowever, i think this is an issue that is caused by the way we lead our lives. Personally, i do not have many friends of a different race, let alone say a very close friend of a different ethnic. Similarly, i feel that many people, is being placed in the same situation as me. I see many malays hanging out in large group of malays friends, and similarly for any other ethnic races who chose to only hang out with their own races. I'm not saying that there aren't groups that consists of different races, but i realised that more pple would have prefered to hang out with their own races instead.
It could simply be that fact that people feel more comfortable when they're among their own races, due to the ability of their peers who can have a better understanding of their beliefs and so on,and hence communication among them can be carried out more effectively and easily. There is less worries or issues of miscommunication or misunderstanding.
Therefore, when the different races are made to come together, people often tend to forget how they should be sensitive towards each races and thus this also often led to misunderstanding and unhappiness among the group. I feel that time is needed among these people to sort out their difference, and to attain a certain level of chemistry for them to communicate effectively across to one another. Each party should also learn to compromise should they need to. Lastly, i also feel that each and everyone of us should learn to adopt more open minds so that whenever we get crushed by others unintentionally, we can forgive and forget, move on and start afresh. Surely, we can attain mutual friendship among different races if we adopt a mindset like this? =)
Singapore is a multi racial country. I believe it's only wise to communicate in English as long as there is a person from the minority group in the conversation.
ReplyDeleteI have also experienced catching no ball when I went out with my group of malay friends. When they got carried away and started to communicate in Malay, I felt a little disrespected, as if they have forgotten my presence. However, I would tell ask if they could "tune" back to "channel5" whenever they started to converse in Malay.
I don't think Priya is being over sensitive about telling her friends that she didn't understand what they were talking in Chinese. Being in a communication is all about getting the information sent and perceived correctly by the decoder. If a common language is not set, there would not be perfect communication.
White african american? Quite confusing, but sounds interesting... Haha
ReplyDeletereply> the mind speaks>i think people of different races SHOULD mix, we shouldn't avoid it just because of potential misunderstandings. Till, today, 99% of my social circle consists of people from other ethnic groups. Although these times call for more sensitivity and care in communication, it also helps society to become better at communicating amongst different ethnic groups. If we stuck to our own, we would never learn that!! Remember, group communication is dynamic and can be changed! (:(:
ReplyDeleteIt is important that we aware of our surroundings and the people we are with every and then. Technology advancement has made the world's communication to a closer gap. People of different backgrounds and cultures are able to come together to meet and communicate. Priya has made a good point relating herself in such situation. It can be a big deal for people who are minority or "different", but it is also necessary that we communicate such problem in a more appropriate manner. This is to get a better understanding from the others who might not understand what the people are going through (when they make certain comments on their views) and also to compromise with one another to achieve a common ground. We should be more accepting and handle such race issues with an open heart; getting angry or impulsive with one another does not help solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteThe act of being offended when the student called himself a 'white african american' is racist in itself. to assume that all africans are negroes is wrong. there are white south africans, right?
ReplyDeleteand why refuse to allow a white guy associate himself with the african american society? is the african american society so elite that you cannot claim to be a part of it when you are actually not?
Though most of my friends are from the same ethnic group as I am, I've one or two close ones who are from a different ethnic group and english is used as our commonly used language. But sometimes one or two words of our mother tongue language are used, but that's because we all understand them and it makes it funny and amusing to one another. But that's because Singaporeans are just so used to having and mixing around with different ethnic groups, while in America it is a sensitive topic where they may feel as if their majorities are being threatened by the minorities there. And also considering the fact that America in the early days were made up of majority whites, they form the perception that those different from them do not belong there and thus seeing more and more people of different ethnic groups in their country today might have negative impact on them.
ReplyDeletereply Danielle> agreed!
ReplyDeletehonestly, feelings about racism is really perception like how you said in your post. Some people might be sensitive to certain things and call it racist, some might not. For example, when Miley cyrus pulled her eyelids to imitate the chinese ethnic group. There was an uproar in the American chinese community. BUT, i thought that maybe the chinese were a little sensitive. or maybe their perception was that Miley was being blatantly racist which she might have intended. Yes, i agree with you, it is about perception, really.
ReplyDeleteI really find it interesting that there would be such a big hoo-ha over this term. However, I have to admit, I would have been guilty over it thinking how was that possible. Not that I am racist, but it is through that we have our own stereotypes and perception. Thanks for opening up my eyes.
ReplyDeleteHAHA! WHITE AFRICAN AMERICAN. Hilarious :D Sorry. Teehee. Anyways, yes such things do happen. I think each one is entitled to his or her opinion concerning what is racism and what is not. HOWEVER, EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE SHOWED SOME RESPECT. Here, this guy deserves some respect from his college! It is not like he is lying or anything, like the report said, he is telling the truth. I do not know why people can be so petty about such ideas. I am sure we have better things to look at such as the bigger picture. This poor guy's med school career was disrupted because of this trivial thing. Poor guy. People should learn how to be more accepting. We are all human beings after all.
ReplyDelete