Quote:
Originally Posted by maskedmelon
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
2. you were there (and still appear to be) arguing that:
a: abduction of children from families and attempts to "civilize" them
is the same as
b: adopting a child from an orphanage or foster home to provide a positive environment free of discrimination.
|
Individual adoption of kids of any ethnicity is (obviously) a good thing. But if we're talking about fighting discrimination we're not talking about individual adoptions; by definition we have to be talking about mass adoption, because no one thinks adopting a single minority kid will solve anything. And as I said before, large scale adoptions to integrate minorities into society (which is what we're talking about in both the Native-American and African-American cases) has an ugly and racist history.
But there's also a larger issue to the whole thing, and that's the assumption that the problem is the minorities. If we could only adopt and teach these black children to act like white children then the problem would be solved! Except a black adopted child is going to face the exact same discrimination for the color of their skin as a white child (only they'll have the added awkwardness of parents who don't share that with them).
So if mass (or individual) adoptions won't fight racism ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by maskedmelon
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
how would you suggest an individual could single-handedly achieve the greatest reduction in discrimination for another individual in a free society?
|
How about writing a book, movie, or TV show where the black (or any minority) character is not defined by their race? Like where a main character is black, but they're not The Black Panther, they're not the villain in Luke Cage, there's just a person who happens to be black. Or where the hot dog vendor, x-ray technician, or whatever side role is black, and their race is completely irrelevant (eg. it's not in a crime show set in Baltimore).
Or write one where the African-American character is a criminal, but the viewer empathizes with their actions and see them as a result of their circumstances (the way you do with, for instance, the main character in Slumdog Millionaire) rather than as a consequence of their skin color.
Or how about making a commercial where the black kid isn't just the "token black kid", they actually have a central role which has nothing to do with being "urban" or black?
Or what about fighting racist in the courts? On average blacks are convicted and given longer sentences than white people (for equal crimes). An individual lawyer or judge could make a huge impact not just in their own courtroom, but by convincing their peers to confront their latent racism and how it impacts their legal decisions.
Or if you're a cop, fighting back against the stereotypes within your fellow law enforcement officers that blacks are dangerous criminals and/or deserve less rights.
Or if you work for a pharmaceutical company make band-aids for all skin colors, not just "white".
Or if ...
I could go on but hopefully you get the point: the solution to solving racism isn't to adopt kids who will just face that racism (along with the awkwardness of having parents who don't), it's to influence your fellow humans to not be racist.