Where Race Does Not Matter?

Where Race Does Not Matter? (REFLECTION #1)

Author: Cecil Foster

By: Deena Jacob

To start off my first reflection on the book, "Where Race Does Not Matter, I'd like to talk about one of the strongest points the author brings forth and that is the way black people were treated during the age of Modernity. According to the facts in the book, I find it troubling that black-skinned people were treated so bad that they were considered less than humans. They were the race that was not fully realized or acclaimed than those perfected beings of the higher achieving civilization, cultures and nation states. Black people were held as slaves and then in apprenticeship and tutelage until the white elites of the world deemed they civilized enough to govern themselves. A culture that was constantly under alienation from other cultures, a culture where the lived experience was always lagging behind the perfection attained when humans reach their full potential. But although this was the case, thankfully "the world marched to its own beat" in Cecil's words and over time followed its own designs. This new way of thinking was that which had allowed the Western Civilization to enter a new millennium, or a new spirit of Modernity, "an era in which, for the first time in the Modern human experience, race did not matter". As a proud Canadian citizen I can say that the beginnings of this new era can be seen in the multiculturalism at exists within Canada. It can be seen in South Africa, as the author explains in her book, where power has shifted from white hands to Black. And it can be seen in popular culture the world over, where it is now acceptable for a Black man to appear as God in the movies, for Black actors to car off top awards, and for much of modern music to be drawn from Black culture. Based on what the author writes in the book, today Blacks who were once excluded are taking up leading roles in institutions, agencies and states that were once intended exclusively for a different people. Although this is the case, this does not mean that racism no longer exists. But the attitudes towards Blacks and other minorities and their place in society has changed. Another interesting point that the author makes that ties to racism is that there should always be meaning to having black skin. According to the author, Black skin is a