It’s hard for me to speak for America’s armed forces and the racism that occurs within them. I can only assume that atrocities that occurred even within the last twenty years have become less and less frequent. I had always envisioned the military as a place where people would put aside any sort of prejudice that they had as they unite against a common enemy. After reading a few of the plays in Playwrights of Color, clearly that is not the case. It’s a shame that kind of camaraderie doesn’t exist. I suppose that if it did, there might not be a war in the first place.
If I had to worry about racism in the military, I’d worry about prejudice against Muslims and Arab people. Hearing abut stories like Abu Ghraib and it makes you worry about humanity. Now, again I’ve never been in the military and I have no idea what that experience must be like. I assume that you’re scared for your life in a way that can’t be imagined, scared that you’ll never see your family again and scared that you’ll die in battle and become a forgotten statistic. No matter how I think of it, I can’t justify the war crimes that were committed.
I’d hate to get on a high horse, it’s easy to judge people who are putting their lives on the line from a safe and comfortable home, but the things that have been uncovered by the media have shown members of the military to be capable of inhuman actions. It wouldn’t surprise me to see hostility within the ranks. Surely it’s not to the same extent and, like the rest of society, I’m sure that it’s headed in the right direction, but it would be hard to believe that there is not at least some degree of racism in the military.
When it comes to “Black English”, it is certainly frowned upon and usually unnecessarily so. I feel like the dialect is associate with profanity, which is where it gets a poor reputation. If I had to guess why that was, it would probably be because that when Black English is heard in media, it can often be in hip-hop music or often in movies with profanity. Maybe this is a stereotype in my mind, but I know that it at least occurs in some instances in both of these forms of media and that can make a strong impression. Obviously, the use of Black English is related to a sociocultural upbringing and not by use of poor language.
As for the identity crisis the Bibi experienced in the play Letters, I’m sure establishing an individual identity is something that everyone can relate to to some extent, but more so for a person that’s associated with a group that they would like to be separate from. It seems that Bibi manages to find a balance in her identity, being able to maintain her cultural identity while being able to learn from the American lifestyle as well.
I’m sure many people of color who face similar challenges today. I’m sure that there are many people who are white that struggle to strike a balance like Bibi does. Anyone who is part of a religious, sexual, cultural or any other sort of minority probably struggle in a similar way. Hopefully, the people as whole can recognize that identity is something that everyone struggles with and not make rash judgements about others based on groups that they associate with.
I like when you talk about the war and the Abu Ghraib situation and how we need to almost be more worried about discrimination against muslims and Arabs. I remember watching part of a documentary about Abu Ghraib in one of my classes, and I was utterly shocked seeing the kinds of things that happened there. It is amazing to me the ways in which war can affect people and their actions so much based on fear.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how you connected the way that Black English is connected to hop-hop music and profanity in the media and that may be where some of the negative views of Black English has come from. I never even thought about that, but it seems to make sense and is a possible reason for that negative view of it.