Random thoughts on race

I'll say a few things on the perennial topic of race in American that I don't see discussed:

1. Is it ever appropriate to feel closer to members of your own race? I think that needs to be disambiguated. 

i) It's natural for many people to feel closest to their immediate family. If their family members are the same race, then they will feel closer to members of their own race.

However, that's misleading because the racial component is incidental. You'd have the same dynamic in a biracial family.

ii) I think it's natural for people to feel more at ease around other people who speak the same language. Suppose I'm an Anglo who can speak broken Spanish, or a Latino who can speak broken English. In situations where it's effortful to speak a different language, it's natural to prefer the company of people who speak the same language. You can just relax and have a conversation. You don't struggle to understand or be understood.

So people who belong to the same language group have a natural affinity or solidarity. It's easier for them to be around others who speak the same language. 

But once again the racial component is incidental. There are many examples of different racial or ethnic groups that speak the same language. Likewise, some people are fluently bilingual or polyglot. 

iii) Of course, there exceptions. There are missionaries who learn a second language, spend years working with that people-group. Become very attached to members of that people-group.

Likewise, a guy may fall in love with a woman who's native language is different from his own. Although it's a challenge for him to speak in her language, he will rise to the challenge, and acquire greater fluency by spending ever more time with her.

iv) Another example is a deaf child. The parents and siblings (if any) have to learn sign language. They do that because the familial bond is stronger than the linguistic bond. 

v) Friendship is based on more than a common language. People who dislike each other can have a common language. 

2. Given my views on illegal immigration, a friend once asked me if I thought we had a duty to report illegals to the authorities.

i) For the record, my objection to illegal immigration is that it results in things like ID theft of SS numbers, emergency rooms going bankrupt, illegals going on public assistance (for which taxpayers foot the bills), &c.  

ii) If I recall, I said private citizens aren't police informants. We don't have a civic duty to spy for the police. 

Now, if I was driving through my neighborhood and I saw a burglar breaking into a house, I'd report that. But what I do or don't report is a question of personal discretion.

For instance, kids violate ordinances about not skating in this or that place. Obviously, that's not the sort of thing I'd report. Indeed, we should be grateful when kids do something that innocuous. Same thing with people smoking in a public park. Stupid ordinances. 

iii) But there's another distinction. Years ago, Linda Chavez had to withdraw her nomination due to a "nannygate scandal". Now, I do think public officials ought to obey the laws they impose on the governed. 

That said, it isn't hypocritical to treat friends differently than strangers. Indeed, the essence of friendship is to give friends exceptional treatment. You do favors for a friend that you don't necessarily do for strangers. You make exceptions for a friend that you don't necessarily make for strangers. 

Hence, it wouldn't be hypocritical to oppose illegal immigration as a matter of policy, even if I treated certain illegals I personally know differently. Policy is about strangers, not individual friends. And, of course, the scale is completely different.  

3. Systematic discrimination against Asian students has been practiced by Ivy League universities.  My own position is that if, say, Asian-Americans got 80% of the slots at the Ivy Leagues because they outperform other ethnic groups, that's the way a competitive system is supposed to work. The best rise to the top. 

It's no different than sports. In sports, we don't take points off a winning team because it wins too often, and give those points to the losing team to artificially even the score.