Hitler taught I am not White
Richard H Erlich,
Henderson, NV
My wife, who is Inupiat, keeps reminding me of this. So, how do I fill out the race question? Other- Jewish?
I am Isaac; I am Ishmael
Jonathan Aaron,
Owings Mills, MD,
As a Jew, I have always been intrigued by how Hitler twisted Jewish identity, indicting Jews as having bad blood and thus being an impure race requiring extinction. In the summer of 2015, I visited Berlin and discovered a fascinating art exhibit that challenged people’s notions of identity and asked viewers to identify as Isaac or Ishmael; I chose both as affirmation that I am above all else part of humanity.
We’re Created Equal; Act like it.
Wherever I may go, my sister and I are always questioned about our ethnicity, we apparently look Native or Brazilian or Indian. I don’t know if I should be offended or flattered. I hate when people think of all maids as Mexican or Latina, it’s just rude. No one should be put under a generalization by ignorant people who are most of the time just confused. This is what is aggravating me the most, being on the dividing line, I am Mexican and White, listening to both ends talk about the other in devastating ways. When some of my friends ask me if I speak Spanish I say, “Does it look like I do?” The fact being that I am tan and like some Mexican food, shouldn’t make me a stereotype. I used to think I was just American or white. But now I know I’m also all of these wonderful ethnicities too, German, Irish, Mexican. I guess this is what makes me… Me.
“Race” is not real, just hate is…
Race will never be proven biologically. Race is a label people put on each other to discriminate the other. There is no cell in the body that can prove race is genetic or biological. During World War II the ideology of “race” and “racism” reached to Germany and led to a man exterminating over 11 million people. This man was Adolf Hitler. He believed that these people were of an “Inferior races” (e.g., Jews, Gypsies, Africans, homosexuals, and so forth). According to the Institute for Human Genomics, we share 99% of the same DNA codes with each other! So why are people so cruel to others just because they look different? This study shows that we should be able to stop racism and discrimination globally with these statistics and studies. In conclusion “Race” will never be biologically real, but it is still there under our noses each day of our life. I hope that our next generation will not have to grow up knowing the tragic word, that is Race…
“White” is not a skin tone
R.E.A.L. Talk,
High Tech Middle Media Arts,
7th Grade Trailblazer
It has always confused me when people call others “white”, or “black”, because no one’s skin is “black”, or “white”. Besides, no one names their kids the color of their skin, so why do we call them that? In the past I have made myself feel guilty because someone once told me that I was Hitler’s version of “pure” and “perfect, ”blonde hair, blue eyes. I also feel responsible, and feel that I have to be racist because throughout most of history, I would be what was thought of as the “superior race”. When I was in 4th grade someone told me that I was racist because me and all my friends were “white”. I thought that meant that I had to be friends with other “races” just to prove that I was not racist even if I had nothing in common with them and didn’t get along with them. I have now learned that I should be friends with people because they are what I look for in a friend and “race” has nothing to do with friendship.
Race doesn’t exist, but racism does
Race is NOT real, yet it could mean life or death for someone. According to Vox, an American news website, “There isn’t a race chromosome our DNA that people can point to it simply doesn’t exist, this of course does not mean that the concept of race isn’t hugely important in our lives”. Although race is not scientifically and biologically real it can affect someone’s life greatly. Evidence from the American Anthropological Association says that “Physical variations in the human species have no meaning except the social ones humans put on them”. Therefore if humans hadn’t made these categories there would be no race or racism. “During the 19th century people used “race” to justify the retention of slavery”. This means that race was created so that certain people could have power over others and get free labor. Proving that racism created race because of the human hunger for power and categories. Although race does not biologically exist, unfortunately since we made these “racial categories,” racism does. So let’s end this social construct that we created for power, because we are one race… The human race!
