Introductions:

Limerick: My perspective on history and cultural knowledge is that we must look at all perspectives to form a better understanding of others and ourselves.  The only way to comprehend something is by learning all that you can about that topic, not just from one side.  Through my writings (Empire Of Innocence), I have explored the notion of viewing what is typically labeled good or bad, as the opposite.  Hopefully, allowing the reader to recognize that every story, experience, and situation has many complex layers that hold value.

Trask: I believe that racism in North America is due to a conflict in knowledge.  All the history books have been written by the majority, that is to say white Euro-Americans.  All that is “fact” comes from their point of view.  Take for example the story of my people, the natives of Hawaii.  My native land was sucked up by European, and later American expansion.  As the history books would have you believe the natives of Hawaii were cannibalistic savages, and that being conquered was for their own good.  The stories the American textbooks tell show my people in a completely different light then the stories I heard from my mother when I was young.  In the textbook we were dark, confused, savages, who desperately need the guidance of the benevolent conquerors that invaded our land.  The Euro-American view of the conquest of Hawaii is incorrect.  History is never written by the little guys…always by the big guys, even if they are wrong, or do not have the perspective of all groups involved.  The world’s history, in particular the history of the Euro-Americans, portrays falsely all those who have been oppressed by them.
I do not believe that this problem can be solved easily.  What do you think Euro-Americans would rather hear, a history of them as a benevolent force spreading goodness across the land, or a history of the violent removal of countless peoples from there native land.

Tompkins: Racism is no more than ignorance. Mass racism is a problem because the education system is not set up to educate people with enough view points to understand other cultures. Racism can be ended, but it will not be fast or easy. It will take a total reform of the education process everywhere. As long as people are taught from these same texts that only use the view of one author, or a group of authors with a single view, racism will never end.
Omi and Winant:  In order to understand the current situation our society is in, we must first examine the logistics of this concept of “race.”  Race has been explained, in various times in history, through the contexts of science, religion, and politics.  Only the reasoning that “race” is a social construct has withstood the critical evaluation given the above standpoints, and has therefore been adopted by social scientists.  The meanings associated with race—the categories, the characteristics associated with, the effects of—shift throughout time, context, and between societies.  If race were biological, something rooted in “nature,” it would not adequately explain these factors.  As we explained in our essay Racial Formation, race is explained to be “a variable which is shaped by broader societal forces.”  Race is not fixed or indefinite, as it has been viewed throughout the former mediums.  Nevertheless, race is assigned great meaning, and therefore cannot be ignored although its very existence should be critically analyzed.

Narrator: Is racism a North American society due to a conflict in knowledge, values, combination of the two, or something else: Are there ways in which this problem can be resolved on a societal level and an individual level?

Limerick: The problem with racism in North America needs to be addressed from all perspectives.  The problem derives from the lack of cultural knowledge and sensitivity towards differences.  As well as our tendencies to view the opinions and perspectives of others are either good or bad.  The issues are more complex and a deeper analysis is required in order to make some kind of change towards progress.

Tompkins: Racism in North America is not the product of any of those points, although they do add to the severity. Racism is the product of mass ignorance. The majority of the population of North America only gets to see one viewpoint. In order to be truly understanding we need to take into account the views of every culture, especially the cultures of the minority groups.

Trask: The problem is that history is constructed by the majority groups.  All that they say becomes fact. I do no believe that this problem could be easily solved.  What do you think the majority groups of the world would rather hear, a history of them as a benevolent force spreading goodness across the land, or a history of the violent removal of countless peoples from there native land?  It’s really not a hard concept to grasp one you think about it.

Takaki: Racism is one of the dark issues that exist in North America. In my article "A Different Mirror", I wrote about many issue regarding ethnic differences in the past that lead to the birth of America. Everyone should do his or her part in helping eliminate racism.  We should try to educate those who are not as open minded as we are.  Only when people are educated can they learn to avoid problems such as racism. It is knowledge and laws that make us the leading and civilize races.

Narrator: What purpose does distinguishing people by the race serve?

Omi & Winant:  Due to its persistence in U.S. society, racial classification serves to give us “clues” as to who a person is.  Like we explained in Racial Formation, race is so imperative to our identities that without it, we are “in danger of having no identity” (Omi and Winant 362).  Even the fact that the immediate classification of people is so important for us to know (and the discomfort we feel when we do not readily know) exhibits how effective this classification scheme has been on constructing meaningful ideas about one another.

Takaki: Brings in personal experience with the cab driver incident.

Tompkins: I believe that distinguishing people by race is necessary because of the multitude of knowledge needed to construct an accurate perspective of culture.

Narrator: Who should take responsibility for solving racism?

Limerick: There seems to be a perception of the Euro-Americans as being innocent in terms of solving racial problems, racism is every ones problem not just those who are directly affect it by it. We must allow ourselves to be open to people’s experiences and hardships, and excepting them as reality.  Racism in North America is every ones problem, not just those who are directly affected by it.

Trask: Euro-Americans have a long history of oppressing others.  They have done the majority of the damage, and they should be the ones to fix it.  Most Euro-Americans are not even aware of the problem because there view of history tells them that those that they have oppressed have happily melted into the pot.  This is not the case, Native Americans are still living a hard life on reservations, and the Hawaiian people…my people…we are foreigners in their own home now thanks to the “glorious” imperialism of the Euro-Americans!  They must identify the faults within their society, and correct this cycle of oppression. (shakes fist)

Tompkins: You blame racism on only the Euro-Americans, but don’t minority groups discriminate against the “white” population?

Trask: Of course, but I think that the original problem lies most in the
Euro-Americans .  It may sound childish to say that they started it, but it
is true.  While there is discrimination and racism occurring in all
ethnicities, the largest amount lies in the Euro-Americans.  They must accept
this and work to defeat it.

Omi and Winant:  Racism can be from the majority to the minority or vice versa because it is a symptom contained within society.  We are all a part of society and we are all affected by the politics and ideology of racism.  These things are “the results of diverse historical practices” and should be “continually subject to challenge” (Omi and Winant 364).

Last Question: How can we solve racism both on an individual and societal level?  And can we ever expect to see a change?

Tompkins: Racism will eventually be extinguished, but only when we are open minded enough to see things from more view points than are in our history texts now. Racial divisions will never be forgotten because they are an essential tool, not only for recognition, but we also need racial divisions to expand our knowledge. So the key to ending racism is not to eliminate racial distinctions; it is to use those divisions to gain more knowledge.

Omi and Winant:  I agree with Tompkins that we must look at more viewpoints to gain a greater understanding of one another.  We need to understand that race is not “something rooted in ‘nature,’” but exists due to a system that has been cultivated (in our country) for over 400 years (Omi and Winant 364).  All of our viewpoints (and what has been brought up today in our discussion) need to be acknowledged by the public in order for a greater audience to become aware of this problem.  With time and effort, the distinctions we see in each other will not indicate inequality, but a diversity that enhances the richness of our collective knowledge.

Takaki:  The coexistence of different races is what makes certain groups interesting.  Within that diverse group there will be a variety of cultures, as oppose to a group that has one specific race.  The United States is a great example, we can see a variety of people that have origins from many different countries. Each of these back rounds incorporate their traditions and other cultural knowledge into the American culture, therefore making it more complex and unique. It is these differences that make America different, however, racism is one of the obstacle that prevent the coexistent between different races to flourish.

Trask:  Racism will exist so as long as there is inequality between the
different ethnic groups of the world.  Mr. Tomkins, (or is it Mrs. Some one
check) you say that it will vanish when we are open minded enough, well
what is that supposed to mean?  It’s an easy thing to say, but you haven’t
explained how we are to become that open minded.  I could say that the
solution is to stop that hate, but that would not mean anything unless I
could tell you how exactly... and I cannot.  I don’t believe that there is
any simple solution as of yet.