Racism
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Academic Institution
Racism
Racism has affected many African blacks, native Indians and Chinese people who live in United States, Canada or white dominated regions. It is defined as the harassment of people based on their skin color. In the short tales of, A Homemade Education (the first tale) and Why My Mother Can’t Speak English (the second tale) talk of how characters went through discrimination or read about slavery that happened to Blacks.
There is a way in which the above two tales share a common connection. It is in context of characters trying to comprehend English that is, in terms of speaking and writing. The first tale, talks about Malcom X trying to write and learn English. He says, “But now trying to write simple English, I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional (Malcom X, 2007).” Furthermore, Malcom X, could not write in a straight line and he frequently had a dictionary with him for consultancy. His practice of reading in prison, made him understand English and the history behind Black people.
Similarly, in the second tale, there is a certain Chinese widow who lives with the son in Canada. She had stayed many years abroad but did not speak or learn many English words. Also, the widow had not acquired Canadian citizenship and knew she would be in danger of not getting her pension scheme. Correspondingly, the widow only knew few words that were spoken in the restaurant where she was working from before she retired. Additionally, for her to gain citizenship, she had to comprehend English because the widow would be asked some questions by a judge during an interview. If the widow failed in answering them (due to lack of knowledge in the language), she would not be granted her citizenship hence, racism.
There is an interdisciplinary approach of cultural studies that impacts on the two readings. Cultural studies is a reading that examines the way culture affected a group of peoples’ way of life or an individual’s mode of living and how that person related to society. In the first tale, Malcom X, practiced his reading to the point of understanding magazines and various books. An example is, “to how the whole world’s white men had indeed acted like devils, pillaging and raping and bleeding and draining the whole world’s non-white people (Malcom X, 2007).” Malcom X’s readings made him realize how whites discriminated the Blacks since ages ago. In addition, they wanted to dominate over Black regions. His search made him realize about the Black history.
The second tale talks about culture. Some examples would be, the widow did not want to learn English because she felt it would alter her Chinese soul. Moreover, the widow did not celebrate English festivals because she had changed days and months to Chinese lunar calendar and knew seasons in China. Likewise, culture had influenced the widow to a point she would burn incense on top of her late husband’s picture and frequently go to the cemetery to ‘talk’ to him with a bunch of flowers. The widow did not want to let go of Chinese customs because they were memorable to her. She knew that being a Canadian citizen will not whiten her skin hence, spoke only Chinese.
There are two moments in my life that fundamentally changed me. The first one is that I had gained scholarship to France but did not know French. I began practicing and after a while became perfect in speech. The other scenario was of a book I read of Imbolo Mbue, Behold the Dreamers of how immigrants face difficulties in their new home because of racism. The novel astonished me because in this age of literacy, racism is still a problem. Besides, my personal story is related to the first tale. “I will never forget how shocked I was when I began reading about slave total horror (Malcom X, 2007).” The same way Malcom X was stunned because of reading those books is an equal way I got surprised.
References
Malcom X. (2007). A homemade education.
