For this week, I looked at Rainier Spencer's "Only the News They Want to Print" in which Spencer claims that non-scholars are too involved in spreading information and misconceptions of mixed race peoples. Non-scholar activists are publishing their pieces on mixed race and overly simplify the experiences of mixed race people. Spencer claims that this must stop and more scholars on mixed race should have more voice on the matter.
I agree with Spencer on this matter since many people tend to act first, think second. It takes someone with a touch of professionalism to be able to think first, act second. Many pieces from non-scholars are filled with stereotypes and emotion rather than facts and numbers. This is dangerous because it portrays an image of mixed race people as people who are incapable of being emotionally stable or comfortable with their identity, and makes them out to be a bunch of sad sacks roaming without purpose. With emotion, they can be marked as insecure and unapproachable. With facts, they can do something about whatever problems they may be going through.
The danger in having non-scholarly people having a larger voice in media than those with proper education on the subject is that this misconception about mixed race peoples can turn into yet another stereotype. There are many articles titled something along the line of "The Struggles of Being Mixed Race," but not so many on the benefits of being mixed race. There is a depressing image painted of mixed race people, but none of these articles or videos show any facts on mixed race experience or statistics.
Where is the line between being rational and being obsessed with race?
An example of non-scholars using emotion to show their feelings
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