What is race? Write 2 paragraphs in which you explain what this term means TO YOU. Please do this before continuing onto unit 1.
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Race is a way that people are grouped based on how they look. An example of this is based on their skin color, hair color or the way their hair looks or feels, and also the way their face looks. This idea of race categorizes people, and this is where the complexity derives from. The idea of race doesn’t have much to do with science – it’s more about how we’ve thought about people throughout history. Nowadays, discussions about race often center around so many issues of identity, culture, historical experiences, and social inequality. Recognizing and understanding the impact of racial identity and the consequences of racial discrimination are critical for fostering more inclusive and equitable societies. It’s also essential to be aware of the historical context that has shaped the concept of race and to approach conversations about it with sensitivity and respect. Race has often been connected to identity and belonging. People often feel a sense of belonging and commonality with others who share their racial background.
With identity I am talking about how someone sees themselves and how others might see or view them. People from different racial backgrounds might have different and unique experiences that shape who they are and why they are the way that they are. With culture it becomes another big part of these conversations: it’s like the traditions that people have and different ways of life that they live. Different racial groups have their own languages, foods, and holidays, which all make up part of their culture and their norm. It will most certainly be different than others. Historical experiences are also a major part of discussions about race. There are things that have happened in past generations where a specific race or multiple races were targeted and treated unfairly. Sometimes, these experiences become really hard and difficult to talk about and still have a huge impact on people today! Lastly, social inequality is a big concern. This means that not everyone is treated the same way in society. People from different racial backgrounds might face challenges or be treated unfairly just because of their race. These discussions aim to understand and address people being treated unfair, everyone should be treated with fairness and respect, no matter where they come from or what they look like.
Very thoughtful first post, Chayanne! Now, I am interested to know how you think after you’ve seen the materials for unit 1!
Hi Professor, after watching your video and the youtube video, “Race as Myth” I believe my thoughts still stand the same. The video explains that the differences in our genes are much more complex than the simple groups we call races. Our genes don’t fit neatly into the categories we’ve made based on things like skin color. Instead, they show a wide range of variation that doesn’t match up with the clear divisions between races. Surprisingly, the differences in genes within a single racial group can be bigger than the differences between different racial groups. This helps us understand that races aren’t actually separate groups with distinct genes. I loved that in your video you explained what race is, and what it is NOT. From a biological standpoint, there is no set of genes that define distinct racial categories. This means that the traditional racial classifications we’ve used historically do not align with the actual genetic variation among humans.
Thank you. Lots of people are surprised about lack of genetic basis for racial classifications!
In my opinion, race is a way to categorize or divide people into groups based on physical characteristics and cultural differences. For example, based on my skin tone and appearance people may believe that I am African American. Technically, I am African Latino descent meaning I am part Latino and part African. I could also identify as Latino based on my country of birth, culture, and ethnicity. I look at race as a phenotype or observable trait or characteristic amongst a group of people including but not limited to appearance, behavior, and development, etc. to categorize a group of people. People in my culture share similar behaviors, traits, and characteristics of Latinos and African Americans. Personally, I identify as a human being to take race out the equation when describing myself.
Unfortunately, race categorization is one way people discriminate against you or a group of people. Race divides people into groups when it’s important to unite the masses. We should eliminate categorization by race if the world is to move toward equality or move towards a more just society. In my own culture, people discriminate based on skin color, or they may discriminate if you are from the countryside of the country as opposed to from the city side, or you may encounter discrimination if your family is culturally more African than Latino. We can’t control how we were colonized or how our ancestors’ generations came to be, but we can control the future. Treating individuals equally without bias is an easier way to eliminate race discrimination and make things more just in our society for the future.
This is a very thoughtful response. I wonder how you would revise if after looking at the materials from the unit?
I believe the article and the video is correct in saying race is a social construct used to obtain power. This has been the thought for centuries.
I would not revise my response after reviewing the materials from the unit. The response provided earlier is attributed to me moving away from categorizing humans by race as there are things far more important in society than division and discrimination. We can’t fixed past generations thinking but we can fix future generations and hopefully make our planet less divided.
Coates underscores my point regarding looking at race as a phenotype when she states, “The strongest argument for “race” is that people who trace their ancestry back to Europe, and people who trace most of their ancestry back to sub-Saharan Africa, and people who trace most of their ancestry back to Asia, and people who trace their ancestry back to the early Americas, lived isolated from each other for long periods and have evolved different physical traits (curly hair, lighter skin, etc.)
Excellent. Very thoughtful. Also, professors love it when students include passages from the text! Well done!
Race to me, just means the different races of people there are. Unfortunately, is isn’t exactly that simple in our society. In NYC, there are myriads of different ethnic backgrounds that make up the statistics of people that live here. People are usually grouped into categories of race based on their physical features and where they came from and what history has taught us. I’m an Asian American and do feel a kind of distance between us Asian Americans and those whom came from mainland China. They’re less accepting of us and see us purely as Americans but it isn’t a huge concern for me because Asians usually have very little Asian on Asian crime in NYC. It is almost solely a cultural difference that causes the two groups to be less consolidated. In life, we should take accountability and responsibility of how we progress in life. As someone that loves literature and the idea of existentialism, I strongly believe that only things of significance or meaningfulness should be a part of our progression but we are the ones that give those things meaning. I’ve never felt racial injustice because I’ve never cared for what others had to say about me. I see it, I acknowledge that it exists but it isn’t so dire that it affects my mental and physical capacity to move forward in life.
For example, the Black Lives Matter movement. They are not oppressed, they are free, beautiful people just like the rest of us. We are in a country where there are boundless opportunities, we just need to grab ahold of it and fight for what it is we want. I also believe that they also wouldn’t want to be seen as oppressed, a minority, to be pitied for when it comes to opportunities, they work just as hard as anyone else but this goes for all people. Race shouldn’t hold us back from making meaningful connections, going through our stages of life and unlocking our true potentials.
I’m not sure what you mean entirely by your last paragraph. Perhaps you can clarify?
In my personal understanding, race refers to the classification of a population into distinct groups based on shared physical attributes, including but not limited to skin color and facial features and other physical characteristics. Beyond these superficial features, there may also be commonalities in terms of cultural practices, social practices, religion and ancestral roots among individuals belonging to the same racial group. Race is a very important social factor since it makes us identify ourselves as people belonging to a group and in this way certain types of patterns can be found in a community.
Race is a determining characteristic in a society since it is possible to determine with different properties, where a person comes from. The race is our base and our stamp, something of which we should feel proud since there is history in it, how a group of people with similar characteristics formed a race over time and how the race has endured through the centuries.
Good. I wonder if you will revise any of these thoughts once you go through the unit 1 materials?
To me, race is the contrast between a species’ physical characteristics. Race has as much to do with your skin tone as it does with your features. People can tell which group an individual belongs to based on the distinguishing physical characteristics they each possess. Generally speaking, White, Black, Native American, Pacific Islander, and Asian are the five main races, according to some. There are, in my opinion, primarily three races: Black, White, and Asian. Your race is a very different thing from your ethnicity or nationality and can have a big impact on how people view you or treat you in general.
Race will always play a significant role in our society since it continually has an impact on how we conduct our daily lives. Whether or not you think race is a fundamental aspect of our society and ought to be excluded from its advancements, it doesn’t really matter anymore, in my opinion, because it has already established itself as a defining characteristic of our society. Even though some people may not want race to be a defining aspect of their lives, it is and always will be for the broader public and society as a whole.
Why race, though? Like why do you think it is both a categorization and an identity?
In my experience, race is understood as a construct made up by humans, to divide and control groups of humans based on outward appearance, specifically, skin tone. Race created a criminal power structure, used to exploit and abuse large groups of people. I don’t know when exactly the idea of race, or the word race, became a part of human existence, and hope to learn more about that this semester. Race is an uncomfortable topic and one that I hope to learn as much about as possible in order to be a part of fighting and obliterating racism today, and wherever possible, repairing damage done by racism.
The idea of humans existing in different races led/leads to crimes against humanity such as the enslavement and torture of human beings. The idea of race continues to permeate our world’s society, especially through large systems of government. One example is the extraordinarily disproportionate amount of black and brown-labeled/identifying people incarcerated in the United States. This leads to major educational and economic gaps and opportunities. To be honest, I am not sure how to “correctly” write about race because deep down, I believe and know we are all the same, and that race is a construct as a means to control and divide. Referring to people in general as “brown” and “black” and “white”, makes my skin crawl because of what it has meant throughout history. I also get confused when ethnicity comes into play. At the same time, I also cannot disregard the massive influence the construct of race has over our lives, within community, and what race means in other people’s perspectives. I am eager to learn more.
Why is it uncomfortable? I agree with you that it is, but I am always thinking about why it is…..
What do I think of race? I’m glad I’m taking this class because I do not feel like I’m qualified to talk about this subject but hopefully throughout the semester I can gain a greater understanding into the matter. But I didn’t answer the question: I think race is a way of differentiating between us as a people, a simple way of categorizing us as a population, think the census for a example.
I don’t have any deep, permeating thoughts on race at the moment. I just think it’s a tool to put us into boxes but putting us into boxes isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can allow us to how certain races are affected by laws, practices, policies, medical or otherwise. But then you would have to get into why are some worse off than others? Some extremely worse off. Practices and policies made by those who seem themselves superior than other races and with the power, the means and the will to put those beliefs into action.
And I’m sure I’m just scratching the surface. I hope by the end of the semester, I can answer this question more thoughtfully and concisely. Thank you for reading.
Why don’t you feel like you are qualified to speak on the matter? What qualifications would one have to have to speak on it?
I guess I’ll start with what first comes to mind when I think of race. When I think of race, I normally think of the way humans are categorized into groups based off of their features such as skin color, hair and eye color, and their cultural background and where they’re from. I feel like I should know more about race than I actually do because I feel like I may confuse race and ethnicity or have the lines between the two blur. Although I feel they definitely relate to each other. Race I think is more of a social construct that divides individuals into groups based off of surface level things and can cause more harm than good. This divide between races over the years I think has gotten much better but there are of course still so many problems with hate crimes and racism.
I hope that in this class I find more clarity about what race really is and learn about how to be more conscious and aware of my social surroundings. Especially since I’m living in a city like New York that has so many different types of people here from so many different racial backgrounds. I feel like I know a lot about the why African-Americans in the United States have it a lot harder than white people because that is what I learned about when I was growing up. But I would also like to learn about other races and cultures and see if similar things are happening in those places like they did and still do in the U.S..
This is a thoughtful response. Can you clarify the last sentence? Are you asking if there are race/ethnic bias in other countries?
To me race was originally made a social construct to categorize people. I believe race and the beliefs have changed over the decades , however it brought upon much discrimination before. Although I am proud and greatly acknowlege my race I do find it difficult to view the social construct behind it. Often I see many people questioning and denying their race. This makes me very intrigued to learn more about race overall.
Race can bring upon negative factors because not everyone has the same perspective. Their are numerous factors that separate us as a society and race can often be one of them. Someone with a corrupted mindset may find one race more superior than another and often one may act on this toxic mindset. Racism used to go on very out in the open and was a heavy issue. We have moved passed it but not completely it still goes on today. It may not be as heavy hitting, outloud and as disruptive as before but it still takes part today.
Thank you for your post. I’m not sure I would agree that we have moved past it at all. Sometimes I feel like we are going backwards. Part of this, a large part, is because I don’t believe American society has ever really processed the racial injustices of the past several hundred years…
My race has always been a complicated topic for me. My name is Hunter Littlewolf Unis. I got my Middle name from my father who is fully Native American and comes from the Powhatan tribe. My mother is white, which is how I appear to most people. I always find it exciting when people ask me “what’s your nationality” as most people assume I’m fully “White”. When I explain my nationality to them they usually say “I knew you were mixed race, I just wasn’t sure what the other race was” It can be painful when I’m grouped in with my mother’s nationality, as I was raised in Minnesota, Stayed on reservations and attended powwows as well as classes about my culture, and attempted to learn my native language. It’s almost more painful that I feel I have to justify it or that people won’t believe me when I tell them the truth of my origins.
Race in a broad sense is important to me. There are clear cultural differences that have a deep, rich history and need to be preserved. The things that make us different racially can have a big impact on how we view the world around us. This can be both positive, and negative. There are clear biases surrounding race, especially in America, that need to be addressed and changed to ensure equality for all. I advocate this message in my personal life to the best of my ability.
This is a very interesting response. Thank you for sharing.
I personally see the definition of race as a way of defining a group of people by its similarities culturally and mostly physically. All human beings come from a long line of ancestry that defines our appearance, personal likings, and even personalities. That can be exemplified physically by the color of our skin, the curvature of our hair, the color of our hair, and even our height. Of course, not everybody will look the same. Even if they are from the same race, their different ancestry and background will mostly define their main attributes.
For many people, it becomes part of their identity as human. It can be easier to bond with people who we are able to identity ourselves in, either by their similar background as us, or culture that is mostly present on that specific race. As a Latina, I do feel more inclined on getting along with people who also share the same or similar background as me culturally. Although it’s easier finding similarities with people in this specific case, it’s also really important that we don’t limit ourselves regarding that. We must always stay open to learn and comprehend what comes with being from a different race and culture.
Yes. Thoughtful response. Thank you for sharing.