Reading Reflection #8

"We Are Getting Past Race the Way Humans Alway Have: Through Races Melding Together"

This quote highlights the general attitde and direction equality and inequality are heading in this country. On the one hand, we have ineaulity which has been rather prevalent throughout the history of the US. As people become more socially aware, though, and as society increases in diversity, it become increasingly difficult to ignore that everyone is, at least, a little different but not so different that we can't be accepting of one another. In this sense, we see a change in equality as well, that it is becoming more and more integrated into society, that we are becoming more tolerant of one another, that we are finally getting over such petty differences as skin color and ethnic background. If we are all Americans, we should not be subject to the hostility, resentment, and anger that such facets as skin color often perpetuate.

This is not to say that differences in the United States will ever disapper fully. Rather, there will always be those figures who believe that difference is an aspect that makes us all Americans. However, there is a fine line between difference and inequality. Difference is inevitable; we cannot avoid the fact that people will have different backgrounds and skin color, just as we cannot avoid the fact that people will have different bone structures and eye color. It is when we look at these differences in a negative light, that we attach debasing connotations to them, that inequality is brewed. It seems somewhat ridiculous to me that "the United States is already evolving into an even more complex tri-racial system"; how can group classification systems become any more complex than they already are? Can we really drive ourselves away from each further than we already have? This change in difference is not simply limited to race and ethnicity, however. As we become more socially conscious, we take into consideration how the "normal" culture looks at gay and bisexual relationsips, the poor and working class, and other disadvantaged populations. At the same time, it is inevitable that opposition will rise in response to this increase in awareness. Jut as there are those who wish for this country to become a beacon of equality in the world, there will always be those villains who wish to bring down a harmonic society. Thus, it is important for us to increase our efforts to integrate veeryoen into a fluid, tolerant, and helping society.