Table of Contents
Introduction
There are many issues that take place in societies and different groups of people have various perceptions about them. One of the topics that are widely discussed in societies is the issue of race. The youth in particular have interesting views about race given the digital nature of the world as well as globalization. The Arab community considers race to be critical based on the views that are expressed in connection to the various aspects of life. This topic is of interest to me because race is significant when it comes to understanding the relationships that people have.
While investigating the topic of race in the society, three intriguing viewpoints emerged. From one of the youths, the issue of race is illusory and only leads to confusion and conflicts. According to the youth, people should not focus on the differences based on color of the skin to differentiate between people (Arias, 2016). The youth adds that people are the same regardless of the skin color and thus there should be no stress on the skin colors of the people. To another youth, while the differences in color can be used to describe what constitutes race, it should nonetheless not be used as the key determiner of how people should relate. This individual asserted that it is important that people embrace the concept of humanity as opposed to race when they are relating with one another (Myers & Williamson,2001). Again, this individual added that the race concept is one that is misleading and creating problems for no apparent reason. According to the third youth, the concept of youth is one that is responsible for the problems that are witnessed in the world. To this youth, people are focusing on the issue race and as a result only wanting to associate with their own. This is creating difficulties to those who do not belong to the same race hence race should not be a subject of discussion.
Looking at the responses of the youth regarding race, one element that constantly emerges that they are color blind to the issue race based on color differences. This can be seen from the fact that all the youths that spoke were against the distinction of people based on the skin colors. From the slum poetry literacy, it is stated that the youth consider themselves to be all the same regardless of where they were born hence this perspective supports the statement (Roberts, Bell & Murphy, 2008). Equally, the youth journalism also reports that most youths in different parts of the world are not keen on the differences based on color because they consider the world to be united.
From these illustrations, it is clear that the educators should be concerned with helping the youth promote the view of humanity by encouraging them to work in groups and teams of diversity. It is through this approach that the issues of discrimination can be stopped. The perspectives raised by the youths are critical in promoting a society that value unity. The perspectives of the youth on the issue of race can be used to make people understand that race is not about skin color as it has been made to be.
- Arias, J. S. (2016).Unmuting the Voice of Youth of Color to Help Lead Social Change. Retrieved February 08, 2018, from http://newurbanpractice.livingcities.org/?p=1183
- Myers, K. A., & Williamson, P. (2001). Race talk: the perpetuation of racism through private discourse. Race and Society,4(1), 3-26.
- Reynolds, T. (2015). “Black Neighborhoods” and “Race,” Placed Identities in Youth Transition to AdulthoodsYouth transitions Race Identities Black neighbourhoods. Handbook of Children and Youth Studies, 651-663.
- Roberts, R. A., Bell, L. A., & Murphy, B. (2008).Flipping the Script: Analyzing Youth Talk about Race and Racism.Anthropology & Education Quarterly,39(3), 334-354.