Facts About Race

Politics/Social Issues - Social Issues

By: WriterChick 08-Apr-2012

Introduction:

In my life of 21 years I've come across many situations where I question why we have all of these different classifications and labels. When applying for college, a job, a survey, or people outright asking what you classify as.

When I bring up the subject of race the room resonates with a silence so loud no one dares to say anything and I am immediately ignored and left to stew by myself at peoples unwillingness to talk about and challenge this subject.

It's kind of sad really this separation of the human race into these different classification is from people with a certain skin color felt that they were superior or were better just because of that fact.

I researched this topic to get a better understanding of this horrible construct of societies creation.

After every encounter I would always have to same question what is Race and Why is it still used today?

Race Is a Powerful Social Idea

Race is still a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunity and resources. Our government and society have created many advantages of being white.

The experience most remembered was when I was shopping in the mall with my mother I was about 16. The store was mostly all White (I hate using this to describe people) my mother has curly black hair, dark brown eyes, a cinnamon skin color but mine is dramatically different I have light skin, blue grey eyes and light brown kinky hair.(look at my profile picture above)

There was a woman is the aisle over that kept staring at me and then my mother. My mother walked down the aisle to look at a shirt, I had found something I liked so I called out "Mom, look at this" every women in the store looked at me like I grew a second head, the lady next to me had a look of horror mixed with something else indescribable.

It made me wonder why they reacted the way I did, after we left the store my mother asked me what's wrong because of the puzzled look on my face and I asked "Why did those women react like that when I called you mom?" and she responded "Because they thought that you were White."

It's thing like this I have no understanding of.

Genetic Similarity

We can't know our entire genetic history. Our DNA is made up of bits and pieces from millions of ancestors. We all share most of the same ancestry. Humans are 99.9% identical genetically. Of the tiny amount that exist, 85% is found in any local group such as the Poles or Hmong. We are more alike than we are different

Genetic differences do exist between individuals and between groups, but those differences don't follow racial lines.

Nature

Race lies not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It reveals how our social institutions "make" race by disproportionately channeling resources, power, status and wealth to White people or people of lighter skin colors in general.

Human Subspecies Don't Exist

The concept of Race is a Modern Idea ancient societies did not divide people according to physical differences, but religion, status, class, and language.

Unlike many animals, humans haven't been around long enough, nor has population been isolated enough to evolve into separate species or races.

Despite differences on the surface we are the most similar of all species. Modern humans are a young species and we have always migrated, mixed, and married, we've always intermingled and shared our genes, so we are the most genetically alike of all species.

We Are All Mixed

We are all "Mixed". No human group has been isolated enough to evolve into a genetically distinct race. Humans are all amalgamations of many past groups.

The idea of any 'race' being completely pure is a fantasy, there is no possible way that you can be 100% of anything.

No one can trace their ancestry to find every one of those ancestors "Race".

Final Thoughts

Embrace that we as humans are diverse and love and see the beauty in our differences. Love your differences because they are what make you unique. If everyone would be the same it would be boring and the need to travel would disappear.
No one way of living is right over the other, just focus on being a good person and living life the right way.

The need for the many classifications are completely unnecessary and does nothing but separate.To me I only recognize one race and that's the human race.

The importance is to teach children as young as possible about diversity and that it's okay to notice the differences and that there is nothing wrong with being different.

To not like someone for their appearance is wrong on many levels as the way someone looks has nothing to do with their personality, education, family life, morals or abilities.

Look at it this way there is a vase of various different colors of roses and everyday someone one would come and say how beautiful the red rose is and completely ignore the others roses while they are all the same flower but different colors doesn't take away from the fact that they are all beautiful.

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Comments

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goodselfme 12/19/2012
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Right on compiled list. When people realize the mix we all are we are the same and different too.
ElaineChastain 4/8/2012
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You are dead-on. There are no races in the human race but the color divide is there. Until mankind stops moaning and complaining about all the inconsistencies and just gets on with living can we really start to appreciate all the beauty that is all of us. Well done!