The Tom and Jerry Tale...

Do you recognise this Cartoon episode???

One of my favorite cartoon programs which I have relished since I was a small child is the evergreen slapstick comedy series – “ Tom and Jerry.”  The never-ending cat-mouse game would keep me glued to the television set with both Tom and Jerry trying to outsmart each other with their instantaneous wit and intelligence.

As I grew older and started understanding the complexities of the society around me in greater detail, I noticed something really disturbing in my most favorite program. I found in certain episodes, hints of ethnic and racial prejudice that I had learned were commonplace in American society in the 1940's when the cartoon series was first launched. I felt racial stereotyping in quite a few episodes set in homes and gardens in American suburbs, with the owner as a white woman and the maid, black. It was never the other way round. Although I felt bad that such ideas could permeate through the basic fabric of my most favorite program, the fact was that Fred Quimby had woven into the episodes, the actual social practices and racial and ethnic stereotyping prevalent in American society during those times.

Talking of more recent times, my first tryst with American society happened when I flew into Atlanta on the 4th of August. I stayed for a week in a very trendy resort in “Big Canoe” nestled in the very picturesque Chattahoochee Forest, some 50 miles north of Atlanta. The resort had a sprawling 27 hole golf course.A striking element that really hit me was the fact that I did not find a single black person wielding a golf club. Their appearances seemed to be limited to assistance in loading and unloading the golf cart, but never playing golf themselves. Equally surprising was the fact that the General Manager and the staff managing the front desk were all whites whereas the housekeeping staff was Black or Mexican. Furthermore. during my morning walks along various trails, I observed that the forest reserve was dotted with sprawling bungalows owned by rich white families. The same white families were to be found lazing around at the Clubhouse while the blacks would be managing the bar and guest services. After my week long stay at the resort, when I came back to Atlanta and checked into the Sheraton Hotel, I found a similar divide wherein all the housekeeping staff at the hotel were distinctly Black or Mexican. The same was observed among the Uber drivers,the housekeeping staff at my dorm, the Tech Trolley drivers and those managing the dining halls at Georgia Tech.
I do feel bad about this divide that appears to exist in the workspace. It appears to be something we have taken for granted...

Indeed, today although we advocate aloud about securing to all mankind such lofty social values as no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, color or gender, and equality of status and opportunity; sadly we still seem to accept in our sub-conscious mindset, the general supremacy of the whites over the blacks, with the Blacks being stereotyped for the menial jobs. Each one of us has the right to pursue the job of one’s own choosing as per one’s expertise and interest, and stereotyping of jobs on the basis of caste,creed, color of skin or gender should be non existent in today’s technocentric society. My personal impression of the American society is one which is a melting pot of various

A poem from my Political Science Textbook 

cultures and where each individual has the freedom and opportunity to excel in one’s chosen field of endeavor. Each one of us should fervently strive towards upholding this ethos by systematically uprooting any kind of racial and ethnic stereotyping from our mindset. Because when the human mind is uncluttered off these narrow and hollow ideas and beliefs, then it shall get the requisite freedom to delve deep into the business of making our lives more colorful, meaningful and enchanting.

As has been illustrated in the article, many people have complained of the presence of the racial divide in society...

“Blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathjobs, relative to their presence in the overall U.S. workforce, particularlyamong workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher.”

“My skills are secondary to my race. My race is seen first.”

In this context I am reminded of a poem by the celebrated Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, which truly articulates a vision for a new world order where there is no discrimination, and where the spirit of globalisation shall transcend all national boundaries so that each individual and nation can realise one’s full potential surmounting all impeding forces that only underscore our differences. Education and the free innovative spirit shall be the driving force propelling the world towards perpetual advancement of scientific knowledge and betterment of mankind.

I wish to reproduce Tagore’s poem below which lays down the essential ingredients of the perceived  “ Heaven of Freedom : ”  

                                                 

             “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.

                                Where knowledge is free.

            Where the world has not been broken up into fragments 

                                By narrow domestic walls.

            Where words come out from the depth of truth.

            Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection. 

            Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

                            Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.

                      Where the mind is led forward by Thee                                                                           Into ever-widening thought and action.

            Into that heaven of freedom,my Father, let my country awake “   


That's all Folks!!!