Discrimination In My Grandfather's Article 'Race'
My grandfather, 朱学, is a bright and passionate man. Despite the fact that he no longer lives in his home country of China, he remains deeply patriotic and connected to his traditionally oriental roots. On the occasions that I get to visit him, he is usually dressed sharply in a tang style suit that he says reminds him of home and links him to his countrymen. Knowing my grandfather’s fierce love for his homeland and the wartime invasion he survived when he was only a child, I chose to conduct a life-history interview with him as my informant in order to investigate the roots of racial divides and discrimination. Much like Roy in his article, “Race”, I aim to analyze the reasons for why racial differences are so pervasive in society. I held this
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While both groups of people experience a sense of nationalism and patriotism, they sit on opposing sides due to the circumstances of the past. Because he spent the next 38 years living in the same region in China, 朱学’s negative ideas towards Japanese people were reinforced by the people around him, who had been similarly victimized by the invading soldiers. “As I grew up, my friends and neighbors frequently talked about how savage the Japanese people were,” my grandfather told me. Additionally, his wife and my grandmother had also suffered similar atrocities, almost perishing at the age of 2 as a result of the invading troops. This reinforces his social identity as a patriot, as his interactions with the people around him polarize his views further and cements this patriotic identity. Most outsiders would classify both Japanese people and Chinese people as “yellow” and of similar physical traits, but according to Jenkins, “sometimes a changed or strange situation makes the difference” (3). This relates to the Second Sino-Japanese War, which affected the mindsets of both groups of people and created a set racial divide. This shows that high nationalism can create conflicts that result in an “us versus them” mentality, instead of an international harmony between the two Asian
While both groups of people experience a sense of nationalism and patriotism, they sit on opposing sides due to the circumstances of the past. Because he spent the next 38 years living in the same region in China, 朱学’s negative ideas towards Japanese people were reinforced by the people around him, who had been similarly victimized by the invading soldiers. “As I grew up, my friends and neighbors frequently talked about how savage the Japanese people were,” my grandfather told me. Additionally, his wife and my grandmother had also suffered similar atrocities, almost perishing at the age of 2 as a result of the invading troops. This reinforces his social identity as a patriot, as his interactions with the people around him polarize his views further and cements this patriotic identity. Most outsiders would classify both Japanese people and Chinese people as “yellow” and of similar physical traits, but according to Jenkins, “sometimes a changed or strange situation makes the difference” (3). This relates to the Second Sino-Japanese War, which affected the mindsets of both groups of people and created a set racial divide. This shows that high nationalism can create conflicts that result in an “us versus them” mentality, instead of an international harmony between the two Asian