Gates, Jr. "Writing Race"

I can definitely see how racism fits perfectly into the realm of terministic screens.  The influence of past experiences and ideology of a person has much to do with how they view other races.  With their predetermined feelings on race they see all people in that race with a tarnished view.  This prevents them from having a clear and fresh view on each person as they have predetermined screens that have been in the making their whole life and in some cases before they were alive with family values.  These terministic screens can be evident in writing about race.  The view of the author alters their writing on certain races just as their though process is altered when a non author views someone in a race other than their own.  I would not go on to directly state that race is definitely a terministic screen in the way that Gates historicizes “race” as something that someone rights.  I would say that it definitely can be.  To state that it definitely is would be generalizing all writers and that is impossible as writers come from all walks of life and have limitlessly differently views on life and race.

I find the following excerpt from the reading as very telling when it comes to how people in history have viewed race and how they separate separate race from culture to culture.

In 1973 I was amazed to hear a member of the House of Lords describe the differences between Irish Protestants and Catholics in terms of their ‘distinct and clearly definable differences of race.’ “You mean to say that you can tell them apart?” I asked incredulously.  “Of course,” responded the lord.  “Any Englishman can.”(5)

As the Irish Protestants and Catholics are both predominately white their physical appearance do not differ much.  In fact they can come from the same countries and be living in the same neighborhoods.  Although the lord states that any Englishman can tell them apart.  This is because of the difference in culture.  I believe that the lord is stating in a way that we can sometimes use race as a way to categorize the way people act, not just their heritage and physical appearance.  By a person conforming with others they create their own ‘race’ no matter what country or culture they are originally from.

I can see how females and minorities have been treated somewhat similarly throughout history.  Often you can exchange the words ‘women‘ and ‘blacks‘ when talking about the disadvantages in society.  They both have had to work very hard at earning their respect in society and taking advantage of the same things that white men have used to educate and tell stories of their lives.  One of those things that they are utilizing more and more is language and writing.  I believe that the world of literature is somewhat diverse and differs from the normal culture.  It takes longer for females and minorities to break through in the literature world because white men have been so dominant in writing for a very long time.  As previous cultures have mistakenly seen them as less when it comes to intellectual beings they do not receive as much respect in their writing.  During recent times women and African-Americans especially have proven to our culture that they are equal when it comes to their profound ideas and ability to share them through literature.

Work Cited
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. “Writing ‘Race’ and the Difference It Makes.” Critical Inquiry 12.1 (1985): 1-20. JSTOR.      http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343459