Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl01032)

Alan:

>>5. We cannot be judged by the physical bodies that we
>>   occupy. Having an American Indian body, for instance,
>>   does not limit us from fully participating in any
>>   cultural context.

>Oh yes we can, and we are.  Racist "jokes" still circulate in abundance.
>In England the victims are most often Pakistani or Irish - and
>sometimes White American.  In London, racial attacks upon Asians
>(usually from the Indian continent) are sometimes violent and homicidal.
>The fact that an increasing number of ethnic minority people were born
>and bred in this country does not make any difference.

Yes, that's true, but it's a different point. We *can* participate
in any culture, except as people treat us as outcasts and mistreat us.

There's nothing in our constitution that prevents us from participating
in any particular culture, except for *ourselves*, for our own ability
to learn, adapt, and assimilate. We have to deal, of course, as you say,
with enemies and unwarranted prejudice form others, wherever we go.

It's what we carry *inside* that makes us at home in a particular place,
not the gender, skin pigment, nor clothes we wear.

-- Eldon