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Yesterday, April 24, 2007, I attended the program in Knott Hall based on the documentary “Race: The Power of an Illusion.” The program consisted of Part I, titled “The Difference Between Us,” a brief intermission, Part II called “The House We Live In,” followed by reflections by Dr. H Lovell Smith of Loyola’s Sociology department and discussion.
Part I of the documentary, “The Difference Between Us,” discussed the topic of race and how people define it. While some believed it to be biologically based, the audience was revealed that race is not based on biology and that such an idea is a myth. Within this part of the documentary, a group of about eight high school aged students of different races were asked to participate in conducting how closely each individual’s DNA were to one another. Scientifically, they students examined their blood and mouth tissue cells. While they were waiting for the results, each student was asked to reflect on which student’s DNA would match his or hers the closest. The students of African American descent believed their DNA samples would match the closest, the students of Caucasian descent believed their DNA samples would match the closest, and so on. The documentary then revealed that some students of one race were most closely related to a student of a completely different race. This amazed most of the students and audience; however in the end many people realized that most genetic variation is within, not between races. “Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population, such as Italians, Koreans, or Cherokees. About 94% exists within any continent. Two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.” Towards the conclusion of Part I of the documentary, an eye opening point was made. One person reflecting stated, “Just because race is not biological, doesn’t mean it is not real.” In fact, race is very much so real that it determines the place on lives, the schools one attends, and the jobs one holds and so on. Another smart point stated was, “Race is a human invention. We made it… we can un-make it.”
Part II of the documentary, “The House We Live In,” discussed why we see racial differences today. Basically, the federal government put programs and policies into act to help white families returning from war to achieve the “American Dream.” Such policies and programs simultaneously made it difficult for minorities to buy homes and achieve wealth. Such government programs included Social Security created in 1935, whose provisions excluded agricultural workers and domestic servants, who were predominantly minorities; Federal housing programs encouraged suburb growth between the 1930s-40s, which unfairly provided minority and mixed neighborhoods the lowest ratings and were mostly denied loans. A handout from the program stated, “Residential segregation didn’t happen by accident. The U.S. federal government took many steps to channel resources and opportunities to whites and away from nonwhites, resulting in an enormous wealth gap that persists today.”
It was after watching the documentary “Race: The Power of an Illusion” that I felt overwhelmed with different emotions. For one, I felt that I take little things in life for granted, like the color of my skin which superficially is my so-called “race.” I feel that because I am white I am automatically given the privilege to go to college, own a house and so on. I also felt guilty for being white, even though I can not control it, while others or different races do not receive the privileges that I and other whites receive; but because I am white I feel that it was whites that caused racial diversity in the first place and inevitably are responsible for the idea. During the reflection by Dr. Smith and discussion among the congregation, Dr. Smith’s co-worker also reflected. He told us that we should not feel guilty about what our ancestors have done, but we should feel guilty for not doing anything about it today. The discussion was very important for me because it was there that I realized all the services conducted, events analyzed and other outside of class events that I had participated in were all about lessening this gap between the community outside of Loyola and the community within Loyola. In other words, all the lectures on housing, schooling and Baltimore city dealing with the racial and socioeconomic “problems” were all produced by us in the first place. It is almost our duty as humans, or Americans, to look out for our fellow neighbors and fix the on-going problems. Also, the problems might not be fixable, but the attitudes and opposing views might be by building relationships with the outside communities. I hear all the time about the Primo’s workers or any campus workers calling is “spoiled” and “rich” while meanwhile they don’t really know us. At the same time, I hear people calling the workers “slow, lazy” and “mean,” but once again, we don’t really know them. It is until we can bridge the gap between such communities that such separation in communities is going to continue.
Overall the event was one of my favorites because it was very insightful to what’s going on in the world outside of Loyola, what its causes are and its possible solutions. The documentary, reflection and discussion were a great way to sum up our class’s view of Jesuit education at Loyola because it taught me to bridge myself to the community around me and create relationships.