Pre-Reading Questions for Week 3

We live in one of the most diverse countries in the world. Because of this we tend to confuse ethnicity and race when it comes to defining a specific group. Defining some groups as an ethnicity and some as a race would not be completely correct, causing them to be frustrated and annoyed. Some people identify themselves by their ethnicity and others by their race. People of the Hispanic or Asian race often have their ethnicity mistaken. For example, I have a friend that is Argentinean and when someone says that he is Mexican, he argues back and says that he is Argentinean and not Mexican because he is proud of his culture.

            I feel that the Census questions that ask about race and ethnicity are not completely on point. For question 9, you are asked to check the boxes that you think your race is, but they have race and ethnicity mixed together. Race should only be White, Asian, or African American. Ethnicity should describe what type of race you are, such as: Puerto Rican, Vietnamese, or Japanese. Filling out the Census for myself was really easy because it has my ethnicity in there. If I were a mixed race, then I think that I would have a much harder time checking the boxes because not all ethnicity are on the Census and you would have to fill in the blanks. I believe that the racial and ethnic categories that the Census puts out do not have an influence on the racial and ethnic categories that we use on the everyday basis. To me it does not matter how others see you as or whether if your race/ethnicity is not on the Census, what matters is how you see yourself. For example, according to the Buzfeed.com article on the 34 celebrities that we would never know that was of mixed raced; we would never know that Ne-Yo is a quarter Chinese, although he might identify himself as black.

            Ethnicity and race are commonly mistaken as the same, but if you look at the technical difference race is based on our physical appearance and ethnicity is based more on our culture and religion. The Census questions are not precise because it confuses ethnicity with race. No matter what you have to check off on the Census or how others see you as, only you will be able to identify yourself as what race or ethnicity you are. 

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Post-Reading Questions for Week 2

After doing the readings, my understanding on race and ethnicity was what I thought it would be. Race is a biological term that we use to categorize one another, while ethnicity is what sets us apart. According to the Cornell and Hartmann reading, “Racial categories are not natural categories that human beings discover; on the contrary, they are “created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed” by human action and are, therefore, preeminently social products (p.78)” I do agree with this because from what I have learned, race is created by the humankind to distinguish the more dominant race, the “whites”, from the other races. If it was not for racial categorization everyone in this world would be considered the same, but with different physical appearance. I believe that everyone has a right to self-identify their own race and ethnicity and that no one can tell you that you are not what you are. For example, at this Vietnamese restaurant that I normally eat at there is a waiter that looks African American, but besides his outer appearance he is more “Vietnamese” than I am. When first looking at him I did not think that he was Vietnamese, but after hearing him fluently speaking in my language I was shocked. He told me that his parents are African American, but he was taken in and raised by a Vietnamese family. From his physical appearance you can say that he is African American, but when asked he identifies himself as Vietnamese because of the culture and language he was raised with.

Because of stereotypes, a lot of racial complexities have arisen. For example, if you are Asian then you do not know how to drive or if you are Arab then you must be a terrorist. According to the reading by Abdulrahim, “One of the most prevailing themes in Arab American writings is that they are a group who “became white” but who currently do not reap the benefits of “whiteness” (p.37)” In the reading he interviews two Arab American that share many background characteristics. The first person identifies himself as “other race” and not Arab American because he believes that “America” is for the white race and because he does not identify himself as white, therefore he cannot identify himself as Arab American. The second person identifies himself as “white” because “America belongs to whites and one has to become white in order to become American (p.44).” Although both people came to the country at the same age, I feel that the second person has assimilated more into the American culture.  I feel that even by assimilating into the American culture does not mean that you will be treated as a white person; there will always be racism and stereotypes. 

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Race and Ethnicity

Race and ethnicity is often mistaken as the same. I believe that our race is defined by our biological classification such as:  Asian, American, or African American; and our ethnicity is defined by our religious views, language, and culture. I characterize my race as Asian and my ethnicity as Vietnamese. By saying that my race is Asian would be too broad because there are many different groups that can also claim to be Asian by their skin tone, hair color, and eyes such as: Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. My ethnicity is what helps me differentiate myself from other Asian groups; it is what makes us who we are. I characterize my ethnicity as Vietnamese because of the way I was raised up, my culture, and my language. I was raised with the traditional Vietnamese values and culture, while my little brothers were raised differently. Being born in Vietnam my parents had raised me with strict and traditional discipline to make sure that I would not repeat my wrong doings. For my brothers, who were born in the U.S., they were raised with more of the American culture; which means that they had it a lot easier. Instead of getting hit or slapped, they would be grounded and have their games taken away.

By being Asian, I have been mistaken for being Filipino many times. When I asked the person why? They tell me it is because of my skin tone. I am generally a little darker than most Vietnamese people because I like to be outside and be active instead of being a hermit crab. I believe the only time people identify my ethnicity correctly is when I have my name tag on at work because I have a Vietnamese name, or when I am back home to San Jose where the majority of the population are Vietnamese.  

I believe that racial categorization is universal. Where ever you travel to, you will always be categorized by your skin tone, how you look, and by the language you speak. For example, when I visited Vietnam for the first time after moving to the U.S. for 15 years, the people saw me as American because how I dressed and also by how I spoke the language. Growing up in the U.S. I mostly spoke English and would only speak Vietnamese at home, but even so I would not fully speak Vietnamese; it would be combination of both languages. By assimilating into the American culture, I slowly started to let my Vietnamese language slip. No matter how Americanized I seem, I still follow my Vietnamese roots and would always classify myself as a Vietnamese person. 

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