Race constructed to keep us separated
Adrian Headley,
Roslindale, MA.
Thanks for the wall!
Culture, Melanin, Stereotype, Appearance, Organize, Myth
Stanley Filipowicz,
Dana Point, CA
p>Our oldest ancestors are from Africa, according to the out of Africa model. This is an environment where the sun is extremely prevalent and inescapable in everyday life activities. The color of our skin is dependent on how much sun exposure we receive. If we are exposed to more sun we produce more melanin making our skin darker. Originating from Africa our skin is going to be indefinitely darker due to sun exposure. If your from Ireland your skin will be much lighter due to the lack of sun and ability to absorb more vitamin D.
Our culture defines us and social concepts have made it so it categorizes us as well. If you are from the southwest “redneck” is a commonly used term to define a specific group of white people. This appearance organizes us into groups with visual aide as the first tool used to group us into categories. While stereotypes are true to some extent, they are so ingrained in us that we live our lives based on those stereotypes. If you are told time and time again that black people (higher melanin count) are less likely to own a home or more likely to end up in jail then those repetitive accusations are going to be ingrained in your subconscious to become possibly true.
Race is a myth that has no biological evidence of being true. If your skin is dark your hair might be curly from one part of the world or it may be wavy from another part of the world. Our geographic barriers define how we look, and our cultural indifference’s define how we act. Race is socially constructed.
One Mirror With Many Different Reflections.
Keith R. Barnes,
Colorado Springs, CO.
I hear people talking about being a part of a pure race. Race is a distinction placed upon one’s physical and genetic traits most notably skin color. Race is a social construct created to make one category seemingly superior over another.
Biologists and anthropologists have discovered race mixing throughout the history of humankind. I have both an African and a Native American bloodline or diaspora (and maybe others). Therefore, what am I really – Black or Red? While I choose to identify as Black/African- American, I am really a mirror with many reflections.
Learning Latine is not a race
Sabrina F.
San Jose, CA
Growing up I racially Identified myself as Latine, but then I learned that it isn’t a race. This made me confused as to what I should identify as since I never considered myself white and neither did others. That is what lead me to learn that race is a social construct, but it shouldn’t be ignored since racist structures exist. Now I just identify by my ethnicity and nationality.
Why should we care so much?
Lulu,
Depew, NY
I understand that race is significant. I understand that it’s such a big part of people’s identities. I’m just wondering: why should it? We don’t have to see everything through a racial lens. Not everything is motivated or affected by race. I just think it’s more divisive than anything. Race is a social construct. Ethnicity, lineage, and culture are better ways to describe ourselves, but I still think that all those things can interact and we don’t always have to fall within hard-set lines.
Social construction to maintain white dominance
Jana Everett,
Denver, CO
Studying the creation of race as a concept in the 1500s and its use to justify slavery, colonialism, genocide of indigenous peoples, segregation–is heartbreaking
Inequality, Segregation, Defining, Evil, Degrading, and Culture.
Tyler Henry,
Ladera Ranch, CA
In history, race has been used to segregate, define, and degrade people. It also has been used to raise people higher than one another creating inequality in humankind. All of these are different acts of evil. A person’s culture is a product of race. It allows people to connect with their past and grow as a group of people.
A Social Construct, Race Matters Everywhere
Mohammad Salem Shirzad,
Sacramento, CA.
As an afghan immigrant, I have witnessed the roots of race in different geographical and social contexts, from Afghanistan to the United States. It is sad to say that race do matter in today’s societies all over the world. But this is the truth in today’s world.
Cosumnes River College
I didn’t think it was real!
Toya James,
Albuquerque, NM.
I am biracial (Black/White) and born in Cleveland in 1959. By “it” I mean race. I thought more people knew race is simply a social construct and that racism was something education erased. I have only recently realized how widespread the buy-in is in American society and that race was invented to oppress. The picture was taken in Brazil in April 2013. I am in the middle.
We’re one people on one planet.
Jedd Birkner,
Torrance, CA.
Race is a social construct. Prejudice is a way of expressing ignorance and fear. Senseless hatred is passed from generation to generation. I pray that the people in my country with hatred in their hearts for those they perceive as “the other” become a smaller and smaller minority with each generation. I grew up in a lily white suburb in the 1960’s. Race was something we saw on TV. I neighbor told me a racist joke once when I was around 5 years old. I repeated it to my father, a WWII vet. He told me in no uncertain terms that the language and sentiment I was repeating was not tolerated in our house. I am grateful to my father for that lesson. In my village there were two groups of blacks: the Jones family and the sons of the Nigerian ambassadors. I considered them blacks but I was on a first name basis with five of the six (the oldest Jones brother was an upper classman and, accordingly, I didn’t rate to be in his social group). I am grateful to live in California now in a diverse community. The differences make life interesting, learning about a bigger world. It pisses me off that so many people can be to ignorant and hateful still. Move on, idiots.
Race is socially constructed…yet matters.
Shannon Nobles,
Lansing, MI.
(Why are) My ancestors still effecting my life
Shaun Donovan,
Wales.
I hear people still talking about the past, still thinking like the past as if it were today . Everything we know and think is because of the social construct of what life should be.Isn’t it time for a new way of thinking and a new way of living.
Race Doesn’t Exist, We Create It
Jenna DeBell,
LONGWOOD, FL.
Race doesn’t exist, we create it.
The concept of race has always baffled me. Judging a person’s character, intelligence and abilities merely by the color of their skin does not correlate in anyway. In fact, it seems ridiculous. Race is referred to as “groups of people who have differences and similarities in biological traits deemed by society to be socially significant, meaning that people treat other people differently because of them.” The phrase that resonates with me the most from this definition is “deemed by society.” Race, and all of the problems and tragedies that this word brings with it was all created by humans. It really is just a social construct, and without it, the world would truly be a much more harmonious place. However, after thinking about societal patterns, race as a social construct doesn’t seem so out of the ordinary. Think about it- human beings have always felt it necessary to pick sides or to establish groups. For example, when we go to school we quickly find our place in the social hierarchy by finding people like us where we “fit in”. We have chosen a side and didn’t even realize it. This pattern starts young and soon transforms into divisions in economic status, divisions in religion, divisions between the popular kids and the nerds, the jocks and the art students, the Knights and the Florida Gators. So many factors and predispositions are considered when looking at a person nowadays; the idea of judgment before even getting to know someone has become an almost standard way of life. It has become the norm to be on one side or the other. Breaking all boundaries, whether it be of race, religion, or political stance, and by realizing that we are all members of the human race- we all share a common skeleton, we all breathe in and out- is the only way we can come to terms with this unnecessary judgment. It is interesting to me that in times of tragedy, like the recent events in Las Vegas, people become colorblind and will even risk their own lives to save someone else, perhaps even a stranger. Why is this? Perhaps if we could figure this out things might begin to change. As said by my favorite band, “Under clothes, under skin underneath we’re all the same. For when you remove the tricky tricks, only skeleton bones remain.”
Race is socially constructed to oppress
Carla Corroto,
Columbus, OH.
Race is a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that DOMINANT members of a society consider important, because it benefits them in some way to do so
“You’re Not Chinese; You are Filipino!”
As a 12 year old, I had encountered in many times where people say very messed up things including something racist. Since I’m a brother of younger sisters including my older sister, I also have my own responsibility to teach my siblings about the things happening in the world like terrorism, pollution and other stuff like that. Me personally, I don’t really like talking about this type of stuff, because I might offend someone and sometimes I might think what I’m gonna say but put it in the wrong way where i may sound very messed up. The Name of this story has to do with a experience I had encountered in 3rd grade in Explorer Elementary. When I was in 3rd grade I did not really get racism but I knew it was bad, A partner and I had to do a project about what are you and where you are from. I searched the Philippines with my partner and images popped up of Filipinos. My partner was insulting the way they looked and I remember exactly what he said, “You Filipinos really do look ugly!” When I get insulted I didn’t want to say anything because I knew that if did, it would gotten even more messed up and I didn’t want to get in trouble. Now that I know more about racism I wish I would have said something. In 7th grade we learned about events in history about racism, Some of the really cool things we got to learn about was the Holocaust because i’ve all ways wanted learn what caused it and now know that it was about racism. It was really depressing learning about the holocaust because so many people died at that time. The teachers are not making us learn this because they want us to feel depressed, they are teaching us about our history.
Race is a Social Construct
Race is not biological. It is a social construct. There is no gene or cluster of genes common to all blacks or all whites. According to Angela Onwuachi-Willig, “Were race “real” in the genetic sense, racial classifications for individuals would remain constant across boundaries. Yet, a person who could be categorized as black in the United States might be considered white in Brazil or colored in South Africa. Unlike race and racial identity, the social, political and economic meanings of race, or rather belonging to particular racial groups, have not been fluid. like race, racial identity can be fluid. How one perceives her/him racial identity can shift with experience and time, and not simply for those who are multiracial. These shifts in racial identity can end in categories that our society, which insists on the rigidity of race, has not even yet defined.” This means that society has categorized “races” or “skin color” to their own personal experiences. Society categorizes people in groups but it isn’t all the same. Although race exists in our world, its just created by social constructs.
Less fighting, more talking about it!
I have not experienced racism. It’s as flat as that. My whole family are nice people and I have not been exposed to racism. However, I do know quite a bit about it. From the history of how racism came to be to the people who changed it for better and worse. My ethnicity is German because I was born in America and my family has lived here their whole lives too. A long time ago my ancestors came from Prussia, Germany. I enjoy studying other cultures and they are all fascinating. I love to travel and go to new places like Mexico, to learn the language, surf, and simply be immersed in their culture. I used to think that each person can be put into a category and can be defined as a person by where they come from. In reality that is not true and who you REALLY are is defined by what you are in the inside.
Race Is Not Real!
“Race is not a biological trait” says Michael Yudell, co-author of the Huffington Post and associate professor and chair of community health and prevention. It is in fact just a social construct created by people to separate others. If you look at just a person’s DNA you will not see anything that determines their race. This is because we are all the same species, (Homosapiens), and we all have slight differences that makes ourselves unique because of where we live and our choices. And in fact, we are NOT completely different people. This is because the differences we have are less than 6% and that is determined by the places we live in because of the conditions there. And also, our own choices, for example, how you choose to work out that one day and now you have more muscle and less fat. The fact is people should not be defined by ‘race,’ and instead by who they are as a person. So, why is this important you ask? Well, because race is social construct that society has built and puts people into categories and in turn this sprouts racism, and leads to a decline in our society. Don’t YOU think that’s important?
