on race and history (and the disparity between the views of many Europeans and my own)

So many newspaper headlines here focus on the progress that the United States has made- going from a country seemingly populated by racists to one that has just elected a black man as president (or as the papers are fond of saying "there will now be a black family in the White House"). They also speculate whether Europe could ever have "a European Obama". This morning, I read a letter to the editor in response to this. The woman noted that there was a Belgian politician originally from Africa who could potentially be the "Belgian Obama", if you will. Now, I may be misreading the reaction and sentiments of the citizens of the United States in relation to the election, but to me, it is more important that our president-elect is progressive than the fact that his skin color is darker than mine. While I do see it as a huge accomplishment that we have elected an African-American as our president, I am more proud of the unprecidented number of people who voted (notably the amount of young voters), the spirit and enthusiasm that seemed to affect everyone, the fact that so many people got involved in the campaign and in politics, and the sheer quantity of historical figures and moments that came out of this election. As viewed from afar (but through an American's point of view) I think that this election really brought home the sense that our government is a government "of the people, and by the people" (to quote Abraham Lincoln), and that is truly a sentiment unique to the United States of America. Or at least that's how I feel...

But what bothers me most is the sentiment that I am feeling, that Europe views the United States as finally growing up from "that horrible racism". I may be completely misreading the situation, but it seems as though the US is looked down upon for the way African-Americans were treated in the past centuries and decades. And for good reason. But, the other countries of the world should not feel that they are any more superior for their supposed lack of racism and intolerance. There were serfs in the Middle Ages and the Holocaust in the 1940s. And today, just as the United States struggles with the influx of Mexican immigrants looking for work, Belgium is learning to live with a population of immigrants- namely those from Turkey and Morocco, who came during the job boom of the 1970s. But while Latino culture and indeed most other "foreign cultures" have seeped into the mainstream American culture (although really, is there one singular "American culture"?), the Turkish culture and Belgian culture remain very separate, even after 40 years. Indeed, they seem almost loathe to begin the contact that must surely happen in such a small country. And while Belgian schools are required to offer Islam as a religion class to those who are Muslim, many cities do not allow Muslim women who work in governmental office to wear a headscarf. So I say that it is not just the United States that has work to do, but everyone, and instead of pointing fingers towards those who need change, we should all look at ourselves and our own society, and notice those things that need changing.

I was reading my host brother's girlfriend's blog from the semester she spent at Yale last year. In one of her posts, she noted how the US had made her notice the color of other people's skin, something which she did not like at all. And she noted that many of the waiters in restaurants, cabbies and truck drivers are "colored" (ie. Latino, African-American etc.), making her feel as though she belonged to the "entitled class", if you will. It's interesting, but I never really noticed the separation of cultures in the United States. Or at least not as much as I do now. I think it's not so much the United States that creates this change of awareness, but being outside of your comfort zone and away from the mix of cultures (or lack thereof) that you are used to. One thing that I have noticed (and have discussed at great length with some of the other American AFS students) is the lack of politically-correctness here (and I think in most other countries in the world). I think maybe because we have so many different groups of people living together in the United States, we feel the need to make sure we don't offend anyone. And I'm not sure that's such a bad thing (it can, of course be taken to the extreme). In Belgium, it is perfectly acceptable to imitate Chinese, even in front of a Chinese person, something that would definitely not fly in the Bay Area. And a few times, I have been shocked by what some of my other AFS friends have said, things that in the the United States would be considered racist. But here it's not, and this unexpected culture-shock has taken (and will take) a little bit of time to get used to. Surprisingly, like my host brother's girlfriend, I'm a little upset that Belgium/ my exchange has forced me to look outside my comfort zone regarding race and ethnicity. It's so easy to blame Belgium and Europeans, but at the same time, I acknowledge that this is a necessary and very important part of my development here. I'm not sure whether I'm upset by the fact that not everyone is as tolerant or respectful as I would like to imagine (please note, I realize this sounds incredibly naive. I know that many people harbor racist sentiments and can be outright intolerant. But in my optimistic mind, I feel that our society is overall getting beyond that...) or because I feel like my culture and country is being misrepresented in such an ugly way. Either way, something is bothering me- more than I had thought it would...

Another interesting thing to note- in Dutch, the word "gay" translates to "homo". Technically speaking, this isn't offensive, but because I've grown up hearing the word "homo" used primarily in a derogatory sense, it still feels strange to use it in conversations. And thus, the beauty of culture shock rears its incredibly confusing head...