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Assignment 6: Miguel Montana

In Bell Hook’s essay, “Eating the Other” there is a relationship established between “the other” and everything that isn’t part of that group. Affectionately named, “The Other” this classification of people entails anyone that isn’t white, so to be a part of this group you have to be just dark enough that a person of this group questions your “purity.” What’s important to note, is that throughout my personal experience as well as in class, we have examined that you can also belong to this group as well as “The Other” all at the same time. As there is no realistic barrier of entry for being a part of the white majority, you just need to look enough like them and act enough like them to reap the benefits that being white entails. However, we’re examining the relationships that is shared between whites and non-whites as interpreted by Bell Hooks. The first thing is that there’s obviously some degree of ethnocentrism among  any group of races, regardless of their color. Whites aren’t the first to think of themselves as the all powerful majority and they certainly won’t be the last, either. That doesn’t mean this doesn’t serve as a starting point for interpretation into “how” the white majority views their counterparts. Which is perhaps best described as a tasteful yet cautious curiosity. This intense separation of “Us VS. Them” offers a unique form of appeal between the white majority and anything that isn’t white that’s very unique to any minority group that finds themselves in a position of needing to interact with white people on a daily basis. This perhaps can serve and is suggested by Hooks as the breaking point at which the racial division can crumble, as white people are still people, and their inherent desire to satisfy their curiosity is perhaps far greater than any desire they have of hating a group that hasn’t personally wronged them, I think.