Public Perception

After reading Chapter four in Race I believe that caring about your public perception is a larger component for non-whites that it is for white people.  When meeting someone for the first time someone might seem a bit weird, but if they’re white they still have that going for them. If said weird person is black, then they have double the negative perception.  The public perception of race overrides the existentialist idea that one can decide who they want to be and how they want to be viewed.  Black people have to deal with the double consciousness of being seen as stereo-typically savage, timid and lazy, while although on a smaller scale, white people have to deal with liberal guilt. People cannot magically stop caring about how other people view them, as Taylor said, that’s why we care about what we look like in the workplace and on first dates.

America has long been considered a melting pot, but this could not be further from the truth. To be warmly welcomed in American society people changed their names, forgot languages and traditions while attempting to assimilate into mainstream society.  People try to leave their original and racial identities behind to be viewed as more American. The racial stigmas in America are too strong for full disclosure.  No one, especially racial minorities, can afford to openly act and decide who they want to be.  There is a culture of judgment amidst Americans, a culture of limitation and institutionalizing potential.  Living this way is dangerous and leads to inauthenticity, but as of right now there is not an easy solution as Taylor admits in his feeble attempt of a utopian solution to unlearning our version of race thinking.