Terms such as "White," "Hispanic," "Black," and "Asian" are too broad.
When I read Leonceo Angsioco’s recent blog, I noticed something interesting, though not directly related to his argument.
“In 100 words or less, write why you are proud of your white heritage and explain what being white means to you,” directs Mattera’s parody scholarship for whites.
Why does the media lump racial groups together? The term “white” actually refers to a diverse group, whose roots hail back to several European countries. “White” is not a single, homogenized racial group. Many subgroups of “white” exist, with different cultures and religions.
Christianity and Judaism share similarities, but have several different holidays and values; Irish dancing and ballroom dancing are distinct from one another; the Swiss and French may have different political ideals. They cannot all be summed up in one word.
The word “white” is not the only excessively general label. What about “Hispanic”? Countries in Middle and South America speak a variety of local dialects and have unique, colorful, dynamic cultures. And the term “African” or “black” may refer to an individual from one of 53 countries on the African continent. Lumping all these countries together in one broad category is ridiculous.
And instead of calling someone “Asian,” try “Japanese,” “Chinese,” “Filipino," etc. Not all Asian countries are similar; just look at the history of hostility existing between Japan and China, and you’ll know that they are not one and the same.
It’s time to change the way we think about racial groups. Instead of making overarching generalizations, we need to pay attention to subtle but important distinctions.
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