#5 Would I Make Love with a Black Man? My Views on Racism and Othello

"Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:
She has deceived her father, and may thee." -Brabantio, Scene III (Othello)

"Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe." -Iago, Scene I (Othello)

For those who are not familiar with William Shakespeare's Othello (c. 1603)
watch this funny 3 minute video:

Basically the idea is simple: Desdemona is a Venetian beauty and Othello is a Moor. Before proving his worth in front of the entire Senate and Desdemona's senator dad in times of war, Brabantio, he was less than everyone else - a moor with a dark skin.

Racism... Among Races? And Others

WHEN WE talk of racism, in the most fundamental sense, it refers to "the prejudice or hostility towards members of other races." Adolf Hitler in his quest towards making the Jews realize the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question", makes this idea pretty clear. However, the concept and definition of racism is still debated upon today by both lay people and scholars alike. This is primarily because of the arbitrary definition of race.

Race refer to "a group of people (supposedly) distinguished from other groups by physical or biological differences". As to what exact demarcations should we lay down, almost everything is debated upon. I pretty sure that everyone is more that familiar with this. Not just because we study about it in class as Political Science majors, but because we live by it.

My fifth blog entry focuses on the reality of racism. Rather than taking it all in light of scholarly debates, I will be analyzing my reception towards its idea. Am I a racist? I'm pretty sure to some extent I am. But really, by how much? I crazily took online tests and personal evaluations. Hope you guys enjoy reading! :)

I am a partial racist and I can feel it

I'm going to be honest. Inasmuch as I attempt to ignore cultural and racial divide, I cannot. There will always be a facet in a person of a different race which makes him or her different. It could be the color of their eyes, their skin, their hair, their stature, their built and also, the language that they speak. I always fear the idea that humans have the natural tendency to prefer certain races over the others. This might be brought about by colonization wherein our standard of beauty (from a Filipina's perspective) is so western to the point of personal contempt of being a Filipino. Oh no. I hope not.

One night I overheard my sisters talking as to how much they wish to look like Europeans with all the "godly" features that they so possess. They question the fairness of being born a Filipino when most people in the world attempt to covet that western charm. Well, I attempted to answer the question myself and honestly, I found it hard to decide. Because being a Filipino, the idea of the fair-skinned is beautiful, that pointy nose is perfect among many others had been inculcated in me. No matter how much I try to scrape of this wrong mentality I am constantly being met with more crossroads than one.

In politics, I have minor tendencies to generalize. I still have "that" slight fear for Germans and Japanese. I still, somehow, hate the Spanish. I regard the Greek and the Romans as the stirrers of civilization. Indians are good at math, along with Chinese. And the list goes on. Good thing, as a political science major, I was opened to the idea of plurality. Somehow, it further diluted my bias towards certain races. For one, I have digested the whole idea and reality that a single act of wrong committed by a person of a certain race does not represent that race from which he or she comes from. I believe that it takes mind and self conditioning to overcome racism.When the age of Colonization recreated the world's idea of what is beautiful of what is conventional and what not, we, the Filipinos are no exception. And when we speak of colonization, we are not talking about days of domination. We are talking of years, decades and even centuries. When everyday of your life you are being called indio or monkey, when the idea that you are inferior is being constantly being shoved down your throat, would your mind not be conditioned?

It is actually a sad experience, a sad story. To hate what you are because some olive-skinned conquistadores tell you that you are no good. If there is one thing I know of human nature is this - we often take happiness for granted but we keep the otherwise to the grave, or at least bits and pieces of it. Again, could anybody blame us?

At the level of the personal, would I have a relationship with a black person?

Racism is a grand narrative. In this part, I would like to focus more on the level of the personal - would I ever date a black man. Well, not that I am in a nearly three-year relationship with mushy, that thought is certainly out of the table. But how about if I rephrase the question this way: would I still date Mushy if he is a black man?

I believe that the answer is, yes. Hitting it straight to the point, if there is one thing that I have learned about love in such an early age, it would be this: it is not blind but rather shuts down the hateful things in a person in order to let the love grow. My religion teacher and friend once defined love to me as "loving the unlovable in a person". Before, the idea was disgusting to me given the fact that during that time, I have not fallen in love.

Is it possible to translate this romantic love into a love that accepts all races? I believe so, it could be. But then again, it takes a great measure of understanding that 1) people do not have a say with regard to the race from which they are born into, 2) skin color and everything else is not a choice and lastly, 3) like how the popular cliche goes, "beauty is skin deep". We have to overcome our prejudices in order to minimize our racism levels not just for the sake of colonial freedom but also mutual respect for humankind.

So... if I were to be courted by Othello, would I say yes? Definitely! He's strong and loyal and brave and most of all, he's a nationalist. However, one virtue that he lacks that might ruin his chances for having me as his girlfriend would be trust. Only if he trusted Desdemona, she could not have met her untimely death in his own hands. Indeed, "beauty is skin deep". At the end of the day it all boils down to what character you possess rather than the faux beauty you attempt to project. ✻