Blog Post #1

  When reading “Why Race Matters in International Relations”, written by Kelebogile Zvobgo and Meredith Loken, I was reminded of an argument made by Enrique Dussel’s  in “Europe, Modernity, and Eurocentrism” which I have recently studied in my Critical Black Studies course. In his work, Dussel discusses the foundation of modernity in Europe- more importantly, how race and racism influenced modernity and eurocentrism. His main thesis is that race was constructed to create universalized differences in order to hold power over individuals. Dussel argues the idea that race and racism were not innate, they were created by the minority of white European land owners who were entirely outnumbered by the rest of the population in order to divide them and ultimately conquering them. This was briefly mentioned in Zvobgo and Loken’s work as they exampled ways in which race has been manipulated through out our history. 

Personally, I find that the commonly used terms “modernity” and “progression” seem to have less and less meaning to the point where they are becoming empty words filling the pages of our history books. While most people in today’s society can agree that racism is a monstrosity that has taken place in our history, those in power who represent the public turn a blind eye when it mounts their own authority. As Krishna states, there are “systematic politics of forgetting, a willful amnesia, on the question of race” (3) that influence the entire world; while we claim to live in a more progressive time, the title we give ourselves undermines how much work truly remains.

I’m thankful to live in an era and community where the narrative of race and racism has evolved since the 20th century; where people of all races are able and willing to stand up for the inhumane behavior and treatment people of color have endured, especially in the western world. In today’s society, social media has played a substantial role where individuals are able to voice their opinions and follow influencers of essential movements. “Cancel culture” can be attributed to the justice of several communities in recent years. Social media platforms have empowered individuals to come together and stand up against our nations wrongdoings, examples being the 2020 BLM movement and the 2017 Me Too movement which have ultimately electrified our world with fearless voices. I believe that the age of social media has immense potential to creating radical change in our society, but at the moment this utility is an unarmed machine. Radical change hasn’t been made because we as a people haven’t experienced radical acceptance of our reality. As Zvobgo and Loken illustrate in the article, people refuse to ask the hard questions…to accept the harsh realities of systematic racism and to acknowledge that our “modern” society was manufactured on the very concepts we are trying to abolish. I believe that racism has saturated most aspects of today’s world. While no one is inherently racist, the world we live in has an impact on everyone whether we realize it or not- most are subconsciously influenced and might not be fully aware of how our environment has effected them. 

I don’t have the knowledge nor experience to confidently argue how to cleanse our nation of racism, especially when it comes to the intricacies of international politics. However, I am an open minded college student who wants to educate myself on such affairs, and I know that there are so many others who share my position. While I feel as though I can’t rightfully suggest solutions to ending racism, especially through a politician’s point of view, through my own experience I believe that educating our younger generations with candor about our social climate can be truly beneficial. If academic institutions were to incorporate required courses that educated students on systematic racism, these students would be able to acknowledge and unpack their own racist tendency which had developed through our current social climate. Most people don’t want to be racist and stand up against it. However, the world we live in is racist and by inhabiting it we ourselves are influenced by it. I think the first step we must take as a society is to acknowledge this and then educate ourselves on these influences so that we may combat them and ultimately cure them. We as a people out number those in power; if we are able to unlearn tendencies that have been taught through systematic racism, we can then hopefully create a new system entirely.