In America I am classified as white. No further description is really needed for people to think that they know everything about me. I have been “named” white. Coates would say that I have been, “Hopelessly, tragically, deceitfully” brought up to believe that I am white. But, in reality, I classify as many other descriptions. I am Jewish. I am Israeli. I am Italian. I am Morracan. I am European. I am not Just White. “The new people were something else before they were white—Catholics, Corsican, Welsh, Mennonite, Jewish—and if all our national hopes have any fulfillment, then they will have to be something else again” (Coates 7). Society has classified all of the groups described above as “White People” although all of those different groups have their own values, beliefs, and customs. Just because I have white skin doesn’t mean that I also identify with other people who also have white skin.
But, it’s not only “White” people that have been marginalized from all being clumped into one racial group. Black people have also been marginalized in the same way, “I thought of the spectrum of The Mecca—black people from Belize, black people with Jewish mothers, black people with fathers from Bangalore, black people from Toronto and Kingston, black people who spoke Russian, who spoke Spanish, who played Mongo SantamarÃa, who understood mathematics and sat up in bone labs, unearthing the mysteries of the enslaved” (Coates 67-68). All of these people come from different heritages and roots. They all are still only described as “Black” people. Everyone is different and that’s the beauty of humanity. But, when people are only described by their skin color their true bodies are not described fairly. Clumping people into broad groups based on skin color is what creates hate.
America has become a “melting pot” for different cultures and heritages. People from all over the globe now live in the United States which creates a more diverse and accepting environment. But, to some people this is a negative thing because people have preconceived notions about specific people’s. They don’t judge the person, they judge the actions of their ancestors and their skin color. People isolate others based on ethnic backgrounds and that creates hatred. That’s the basis of racism. Racism creates hatred towards those people. Coates believes hatred is emulated by racists because “Hate gives identity. The n*****, the f**, the b**** illuminate the border, illuminate what we ostensibly are not, illuminate the Dream of being white, of being a Man. We name the hated strangers and are thus confirmed in the tribe.” The Tribe being the racists that believe that they are better than others just because they are more “pure”. America should be a place where everyone is treated equally or as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” When people are good to each other and see that everyone is fundamentally equal, then that’s how we target and eliminate racism.
