I got into a recent debate on a friend's blog regarding the nature of Hate Crimes, and why such a classification even exists. He, being a US Marine, felt a bit of injustice at the fact that harassment of military personnel isn't viewed as a hate crime... because it's stemmed from hate as well.
I explained that "hate crime" laws were established to protect minorities, and minority groups are marginalized by default -- they have less voice in the community than the majority, just by nature of sheer numbers. Less voice means less impact, and that the majority of laws and regulations will benefit the majority, and while utilitarianism seems to be a functional tactic for government, it certainly always sucks for the minority groups.
A counter-argument was presented: On an individual level, we each can petition on our own behalf; we can each go and educate ourselves and get a job, etc., etc. Since one individual is as much of a minority as another, the playing field is level. It's an interesting thought, and in my own case, I see it evident. I'm technically a minority (half-korean, half white), and I view myself as quite successful... but on the other hand, I don't have a collective mindset about my ethnicity. I don't embrace that part of my identity -- I don't think of myself as a part of a subset of the population. A woman might identify with being among "women," and a black man might identify with the plight of black-americans. Such a concept is entirely foreign to me, and I don't feel as though my voice has been marginalized.
What are your thoughts on this?
2 comments:
One of my most common discussions.
The bitch about being a minority is that you are constantly reminded you are a minority. I see and here the "N" word meant in hurtful manner more than you think in Seattle. I, and I know I am not alone in this, am often the last person someone sits next to on a crowded bus, no matter how I am dressed.
The reason why I think we need "special rules" for minorities is that most have not been fairly compenstated for their contribution to society. The western world was built on the backs of African men and women, yet their ancestors in so many ways have been shut out from fully competing in the societies they built. The immigrants who came to this country for a better life, received that option from the hundreds of years of free labor.
Basically, the playing field is not even. Think of it this way. Life is hard enough for non-minorities in many cases, just think of what it must be for people who had to fight for a right to work, vote and even eat with on equal terms with everyone else.
Another thing to look at is family. Families provides moral & financial support, support that can go back many generations. For blacks this support has not been equally available. For many blacks equal housing was (and in some cases is) not available. Where a white family could pass a house down to the next generation, this was not an option for many blacks.
In short, for those not considered a minority, the past is the past, while minorities still deal with the sins of their oppressors.
no dillettante, I do not consider a 1st generation white immigrant a minority. 1st GWIs have a culture of family's to fall back on. 1stGWIs may be leaving a country that oppressed them, but move into a place that not only does not, but one that puts them in front of others who not only built this country, BUT ALL OF THE EUROPEAN economies that continue to oppress around the world.
Cry if you want, but not on this black man's shoulder.
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