Kyana Burgess,
Durham, NH
As an anthropology student, it’s my job to be as respectful and ethical as possible when dealing with race. While it has been proven that race is more of social construction than a genetic one, but racial social identity is very real. So the contradiction exists: academia believes race is a construct, but it’s lying to say that there aren’t very real experiences and ramifications of racial social identity that affect millions of people each day. I want to be respectful and understand others’ experiences, but as a white person, I don’t want to give the impression that I personally have experienced severe negative effects of the social construction of race when so many have had worse experiences. What says do I have in this? Does my opinion, other than that we are not genetically as different as a race can make it seem and that everyone deserves to be treated well and equally. I don’t how to properly discuss race, other than to listen and be as open to others as possible.
