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Reflection: Race 3 The House We Live In
Student
Institution
Date
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RACE 3 The House We Live In
In this documentary, the issue of race in the United States is discussed extensively. At the
beginning of the video, race as an identity is described. Based on the narration in the video, race
can easily be used to identify one based on his or her skin complexion. People easily associate
others to different races based on how they look or appear. Blacks are often linked to African
ancestry while Asian Americans are linked to specific countries they originate from. On a
personal level, this is also how I could differentiate people based on their appearance and skin
tone.
As I continued watching the video, I was introduced to a different understanding of race.
It is made clear that race can be defined through the laws that have been set. An interpretation of
the law in a certain way may create a difference in how people are differentiated. The
documentary highlights how the law was used in a specific way to define race. Immigrants that
came from different parts of the world into the United States aimed to have citizenship. There
efforts were denied or accepted based on how they looked.
For a long time in the United States, citizenship was guaranteed for people that were
white. Even during slavery, only the whites were considered as citizens. African Americans were
considered as slaves and were supposed to abide by what their masters told them. Other minority
groups were also not recognized as citizens. After the Civil War, the citizenship nature of whites
meant that they were the only ones that were allowed to serve on juries. Even in cases that
involved minority groups, there was no representation on juries by people who had a similar
ancestry to them.
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The treatment of people that do not identify as white in the United States in the 20th
century can be described as appalling. In the early 1900s, cases were filed in courts to help
acknowledge that certain minority groups were in deed white. One of the cases involved an
Armenian who after presenting his case to a court of law, was classified as white. As a result,
people of Armenian descent were classified as Americans and could be accorded citizenship.
After understanding the case, another person of color with Indian heritage also went to court to
be assured that he was also white. The Indian had become a naturalized citizen. The court ruled
against him and he ended up losing his citizenship.
The idea that citizenship was defined by one’s racial identity is indeed appalling. It is the
culture that has continued to affect the ideologies of some in the United States who view people
of color or minorities as not being Americans. It is a common occurrence to see videos of people
yelling at people of color and telling them to go back to where they came from. This is
representative of a culture where some of the whites in the country feel they are entitled to
everything. To some, expelling people of color to go back to where they came from is a good
move.
The documentary is very educative on the issue of race in the country. Even though laws
have changed to promote a culture of equality for people of all races, there are still roots that
represent the America of the past. The majority of whites in America accept people of all races
have similar rights like them. A small group of people still believe that America should be
reserved for whites only. This sentiment has been popular especially when talking about issues
of immigration in the United States.
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Reference
Gabriel, C. (2021). RACE 3 The House We Live In. Vimeo. Retrieved 14 May 2021, from
[Link]