Georges Woke up Laughing - Contemporary Cultural Anthropology

Megan Woods

Professor Kovic

Contemporary Cultural Anthropology

December 2, 2012

Georges  Woke Up Laughing

Racism and discrimination are not unique to the United States. Sometimes racism can stem from things other than just the color of your skin. In America, Haitian are discriminated against for be Black. In Haiti, they are discriminated against for being a different type of Black than the Mulattos. Haitian immigrants face racism both from their home and from the United States. This discrimination is often unfounded and based solely on the color of their skin.

In the United States, Georges faces discrimination at the hands of the police for being a black man driving through a predominately white neighbor on his way home from work. This over-generalization of race is harmful to the preservation of culture. You cannot simply assume that all blacks are going to share the same heritage and traits. You must also consider nationality and history as defining characteristics of a person. A Nigerian immigrant is going to have a vastly different history than that of a Haitian immigrant, but both will be subjected to the same discrimination simply based on the idea that they are both Black.

In Haiti, there has historically been division between those who are black and those who are mulattos. Those who were mulattos were considered more educated and refined. Many Haitians feel that this distinction between the two groups is fabricated as they all bleed the same color when cut. Mulattos prefer to think that their blood tie to their White French ancestors affords them a higher status.

Haitian immigrants face discrimination when applying for work in the United States when applying for professional jobs due to the lack of differentiation between the types of blacks. Although many Haitians already obtain higher education than most immigrants when coming to America, they are still considered uneducated lower class citizens due to being generalized as Black. This type of general racism still permeates the United States to this day even though we are seeing more and more examples of intelligent and cultured Black Americans.