brookes77, Belle Hooks

“The West’s are fascinated with the primitive has to do with its own crises in identity.” This is very relevant to what we are discussing in Dr. Cummings 350 class that focuses on Native American representations in the media. We talked about how only define others because we must define ourselves somehow. We point at people and state that they are different or other because we can not identify white power without seeking the identify of the other which is less significant and thought of as weaker then the white race. White culture constructs the way we look at other races because it is how the white race wants them to be remembered, and because of our culture that is obsessed with winning and competing we remember and re teach the other’s identity, and we call them the lower less important and less intelligent class. We take advantage of them. Belle hooks also states that: “Longings about contacting the other- embedded in the secret (not so secret) deep structure of white supremacy”. This is showing how white construction of undermining other races is not as secretive anymore. People are benefiting from education of how the mass media portrays the “other” and how a negative light is brought on all other races, besides the dominant white race. Hooks also talks about on page 371: “ Mutual recognition of racism, its impact both on those who are dominated and those who dominate, is the only standpoint that makes possible an encounter between races that is not based on denial and fantasy.” This notion of mutual recognition of racism is on one hand a step in the right direction because this issue is no longer overlooked yet on the other had it is a lot worse. People on both sides are understanding racial stereotypes and accepting them and that people are aware of them. This brings in a sense of normalization of racism. We have become so obsessed with competing can we ever have all equal races, do humans know how to live with out different, better, or worse classes/races? Or are we too judgmental and competitive. Domination has become white culture’s obsession.

Another interesting quote I found was:“ To make one’s self vulnerable to the seduction of difference, to seek an encounter with the Other, does not require that one relinquish forever one’s mainstream positionality. This means that race and ethnicity have become products of commodification. These people who are considered the other are exotic and because of this the white culture is obsessed with taking advantage of them, in Hooks explanation on 367, sexually. They are different looking not white and pure, which gives them a sense of experiment. This in itself is racial stereotyping.