Stereotypes and career expectations in minority cultures

So I was cruising around YouTube yesterday and came across this awesome skit from Wong Fu Productions that illustrates racial stereotypes in society. The skit, "Do you love your job? - Job Expectations," follows two high school teens -- one Asian and the other African-American -- as they battle their true selves in an attempt to squeeze into their racial typecast. Obviously, -- SPOILER ALERT -- it didn't work.

Why do people still think homosexuality is learned?

I was skimming through The Economist the other day and came across this article about gay individuals in China and the day to day obstacles that they have to go through. The article shared the story of one man who struggled to come out to his parents and instead of being true to himself and being him, he underwent gay conversion therapy to try to fix himself for the sake of his relationship with his mom and dad.

And guess what? As a result, he got anxiety issues, insomnia, weight and hair loss, and minus $1,700 from his savings account. But the thing that he went in to "fix" still remains. He is still a gay individual. So this brings me to my question: if homosexuality is a learned behavior, then why doesn't gay conversion therapy work, like ever?

Truth and Reconciliation Story Illustrates Colonization of the Mind

As I was reading through news articles a few days ago for one of my posts, I came across this story about an Aboriginal man who, as a kid, kept aggressively scrubbing his skin while taking baths. His mom caught him one day and asked why he was scrubbing so hard. His answer: "I don't want to be an Indian. I want to be white." I'm sure this narrative has recycled itself thousands of times over, especially when social institutions are constantly ramming in the myth that being white is better than being an ethnic minority.

On top of that, these social institutions want minorities to adopt the white culture and disown their family's culture and traditions. It does this by painting ugly images of minority cultures and spreads this propaganda via education, media, religion etc. This is what colonization of the mind looks like.

Stories from Truth and Reconciliation hearings to illustrate the violence of residential schools

(CBC)

It is universally known that residential schools are one of the main reasons why First Nations people are going through tough times at the moment. The church-run, Eurocentric schools harmed more than just the 150,000 plus kids who were abducted and forced to attend -- it also harmed their parents and family members. Still, to today, there are residual effects from that dark period, which ended in 1996 when the last residential school closed down in Regina, Saskatchewan.

But even with these facts, there are still so many people who believe that the First Nations inflicted that suffering on themselves and don't deserve to be compensated by the government and apologized to.

So to attempt to illustrate the pain and suffering that the First Nations went through, and are still going through, here are some stories that were shared at the Truth and Reconciliation hearings.

Nick Cannon whiteface is not racist

(Nick Cannon/Instagram)

Earlier this week, comedian and musician Nick Cannon used whiteface to promote his new album, White People Party Music, and while there were many who did not find Cannon's marketing strategy racist, there were still some who did. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to explain why whiteface is not racist or discriminatory, and why it is not comparable to blackface.

Thoughts on Western Canada High School's team name change

(Western Canada High School's Redmen logo)

10 years ago, I was a senior at one of Calgary's prestigious high schools, Western Canada High. I witnessed the good and the bad, and there is one thing that I can tell you about the school: Western is the whitest school in Calgary.

So for the current students of this school (the ones who are standing up and fighting to preserve the Redman logo and name that is) to say that their brand isn't offensive doesn't mean anything because they themselves have never felt true racial oppression and discrimination, and the stigma of being other (or not white). And if there are students who are non-white involved in this battle (which there probably is), A) they don't care and/or know about the history and legacy of the harm that First Nations have been through, and/or B) they don't have knowledge of institutional racism in Canada.

Institutional racism, not hip-hop, is why many blacks are held back

Are many black Americans living in bad situations because they listen to hip-hop and watch basketball? Or is it because of institutional racism that is holding them back? Well, Bill O'Reilly seems to think it is because of the former.

Reflections on Du Bois' Double Consciousness

W.E.B. Du Bois' concept of double consciousness talks about the sense of two-ness that blacks from his day experienced. The concept goes:

"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

But in contemporary times, more oppressed groups have been revealed in society, where some people are more than one type of minority. So with this knowledge, shouldn't Du Bois' double consciousness extend to the other feelings of oppression as well?

Reflections on Karl Marx's Concept of Alienation

(Karl Marx)

In the theory of alienation, Karl Marx believed that the working class was losing their sense of self because they had to become robots for capitalists; they are forced to manufacture products for a wage... a wage which is used to buy the very products that they produce at their job. He believed that the jobs were not for self-gratification or need, but rather for money and for employers, and thus creates an environment which is unnatural.

Reflections on W.E.B Du Bois' thoughts on materialism

W.E.B Du Bois believed that Americans (or people from Capitalist societies) were too obsessed with money and its ability to get material things. He saw more to life than economic and material success and wanted people (mainly the black community because they hadn't fallen into this trap yet) to realize this.

I feel this same way, however, the majority of my community (the Asian community) has already fallen ill with this disease and I want them (well, all people) to revert back to seeing life as a lesson about self-knowledge and growth, rather than zeroes in the bank account and possession of fancy things.