What I learned about race and gender..
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the U.S. experienced one of the most tragic and terrifying terrorist attacks in the state of New York. Hijacked commercial planes struck down two of the tallest buildings in New York City, known as the Twin Towers, as well as the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and killed approximately 3,000 people.
Terrorists are aggressive groups of individuals that come together to threaten government nationalism. Since Al-Qaeda, the terrorists of the 9/11 assault, did not have the ability to take down the United States military, they set their sights on other symbolic targets instead that represented the nations military and economic power.
When thinking about the enemies from terrorist attacks, we immediately think about their race rather than their gender. For instance, in the 9/11 attack, we immediately pointed our finger at the Iraqis. Rather than us stating that the attackers were all male, we immediately depicted them by their race.
Jasbir K. Puar, author of Monster, Terrorist, Fag: The War on Terrorism and the Production of Docile Patriots, compares these terrorists to monsters that are “pure evil and must be destroyed.” She also states that terrorism lies behind gender identity. We get constant threats to take down our authoritative predominant white male figure.
Another example I’d like to bring up is the George Zimmerman case. Zimmerman, a white male American born in Manassas, Virginia, was accused of murder on Februrary 26, 2012 in the state of Florida where he was currently residing. Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch of the gated Twin Lake community, shot 17 year old African American high school student Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. He was arrested after the shooting but was immediately released right after since the police could not find evidence to refute his claim of having acted in self-defense.
“Under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Statute, the police were prohibited by law from making an arrest” even though the victim was unarmed.
This caused tons of controversy throughout the states. Was George Zimmerman merely released because he was a white male American? Would the consequences have been the same if the situation had been reversed? What if George Zimmerman had shot another white male instead? Would that have affected the outcome?
Gender and race have become major factors in differentiating the outcome of situations. What people tend to look at most though is race. Zimmerman was seen as a docile patriotic figure that was merely hired to protect the community and followed orders, even if it meant using lethal weapons, to carry out his duties.
Did the police take Zimmerman’s case too lightly? Did the terrorists of the 9/11 attack have anything to do with the currently residing Arab Muslims in the U.S.? Why does Donald Trump accuse all Muslims as being a threat in the U.S.? Why does your race affect the way people perceive you?
These are a few of the questions that arise when thinking about the U.S. and how we differentiate ourselves from others from being bad and good. Race and gender should not define who we are as a person. We will never have equality if we continue to categorize people.
