Ek'abo Ebi! (Welcome Family!)
What is multiculturalism? There are a number of definitions for the
word. But the one I think is most
fitting to this discussion is the one I found on Metapedia: “… social
ideology which asserts that all cultures, races and religions are equal and
able to live with harmony within a single state.” Wouldn’t it be
nice if such a philosophy truly existed in our world? A combined effort to live
as Martin Luther King would have wanted us to live? Unfortunately, the ongoing conflict that occurs
between us doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. But it’s not just a black and
white thing.
I mean multicultural
issues exist everywhere, you just don’t hear as much about them. It’s between some
Puerto Ricans and Dominicans (growing up in NY, I’ve witness some tension). The
Chinese and Japanese (for some it is considered an insult to confuse the two), and
even between my own West Indian people (alot of people are guilty of placing islands in the West Indies under the umbrella of Jamaica without realizing how
different they are: dialect, food, where they are located on the map J.) Why do so many of us suffer from othering? Why must we exclude ourselves from others
because they don’t fit into our idea of what society should be?
When Spike-Lee
started the “Wannabee’s vs. Jiggaboo’s” drama in the movie School Daze in 1998, I would never have thought to look at the
battle between good hair and bad hair as form of “othering” but it was. Women who were of the same race were insulting
one another on the quality of their hair. But in actuality (and this is my
opinion), it was really about the battle between light and dark skinned women
of color. Even now this mentality is stronger than ever. A lot of dark skinned
women have been made to feel inferior because of the color of their skin. See the Dark Girls documentary.
There was even
“othering” on the television show LOST.
You fans remember the OTHERS?
Those seriously unstable people on the other side of the island? LOL! Though
the word “OTHERS” in LOST had darker connotations, the idea behind it was the
same; a separation of a group of people due to fear, ignorance, and/or lack of
knowledge.
You even find issues with othering in publishing. I
wholeheartedly agree with Tanita S. Davis of the blog [fiction, instead of lies] in regards to multicultural issues in publishing.
She says and I quote:
… “People’s attitude about race and ethnicity in this
country are as fractured as ever, and are reflected in the production of
multicultural books. We don’t truly believe we’re all alike and sisters under
the skin. We really do think – and it shows – that there are stories of “us”
and then there are “others.” We need to stop othering, as a world, before we
expect to see that from publishing. We need to get to know people from other
cultures and skin colors, and truly accept that there is a commonality in the
human experience.”….
Well said! This
is definitely food for thought.
Mari e laipe!
See you soon!
S-
Hmmmmm girl this happens so much I find it even in Africa of all places! Nigeria vs Liberia, Ghana vs Nigeria, and so and so forth. I can't undersotand it myself but it is our responsibility as a PEOPLE one PEOPLE to be UNITED for CHANGE. I love this post, it is such a great conversation starter. I hope others read and add.
ReplyDeleteThanks Musulyn! I hope so too :)
Delete