Blog Entry #5 - Final Thoughts

Introduction

Readers, it’s been a pleasure writing down and sharing my thoughts with you all about Marc Aronson's Race. Almost as enjoyable as writing this blog, the reading of Race has been an important step in my understanding of the problems that our country faces today. In this blog post, I will be wrapping up my thoughts on my book, as well as my thoughts on the current issue of race within our country.

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Firstly, I wanted to appreciate Aronson's style of writing one more time, as I have in the majority of my blog posts. I think what has made this book on such a serious topic easy to deal with and understand is Marc Aronson's knowledge of historical events. I know that my blog posts have dealt more with Aronson's style more than his content, but anyone who has read Race knows the effectiveness of his specific stories. While I enjoyed the small anecdotal passages, where this book really shines is in the history lessons. It's no surprise why these sections were so enjoyable to me, as Aronson has a doctorate in American history. He is also very knowledgeable on the history of humans as a whole. His wealth of knowledge on the exact subject of Race as well as his elegance in discussing it really appeals to me. A book full of pure information with carefully crafted arguments allows its readers to fully understand the ideas presented, as well as form their own arguments. I do not fully agree with all of Aronson's views, but the lack of theatrics and focus on logical conclusions still makes this book alluring to me.

The Importance of Educating Yourself

Whether or not your author made similar rhetorical choices to mine, I think that one thing we can all appreciate our books for is their ability to explain uncomfortable topics to us. Reading news story after news story regarding race-related murders and rigged court cases is taxing on the human spirit. Any American should educate themselves on the issues within our country, but at one point, terrible accounts in the news begin to form clots of outrage. Books like Race give us all the facts we need to educate ourselves on the ideas presented. They also allow us to form our own conclusions, making arguing for or against certain viewpoints easier in our futures. Even books that are more fictitiously based give us a simplified version of what is happening around us, educating us. This is why reading about topics like these is so important.

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Especially for people our age, who will be leading our country in not a half of a century, education on racism is critical. I believe that giving ourselves a basis for how to have difficult conversations is what will ultimately drive change in America.

I do not know how to fix America's race issues. But personally, I believe the way out of the situation begins with understanding and conversation, not conflict. Reports of injustice in America should be enough to start conversations within our government, and to some extent they have. But a lot of the energy that could be put towards progress has been put instead into fighting and cutting ties. 

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I think that what we are doing in this class is important. While our blog assignments may seem like nothing more than additional busy work right now, talking about racism is going to make a difference in the future of America, and in turn the rest of the world. It's been really great talking with all of you readers about our views, and I hope you have enjoyed reading my posts as much as I have enjoyed reading yours.

Thank you for reading.