Position on Race

• Race is a social construct produced by the dominant groups in society. The human society is seen through racial lens that colors our world black, white, Asian, or Mexicans. How we are seen and how we see others affects various domains of our lives and the lives of others; from the types of jobs we have, the money we make, friends we make, places we live, foods we eat, and the schools we attend.

• Race is something that is real in society, it shapes the way we see ourselves and others. For instance, if you see a tall black male that is 6 feet 7 inches tall, a person would stereotype him as basketball or football player. If you see a house with gates surrounding it, you would stereotype that home is owned by Mexicans. How whites can't dance because they have no rhythm. How all Asians are geniuses and all Chinese people know kung Fu. One of the first things we notice about a person is the race or ethnicity and we all automatically judge or stereotype them.

(Bruce Lee) All Chinese know Kung Fu



Typical Caucasians dancing.



The Great Michael Jordan. Stereotypes say blacks are good with basketball.



• Why does our human society stereotype different races? Deep down inside everyone knows each person is an individual and knows what that race is capable of doing. We as a people have been exposed with stereotyping through the things we see and learn.





What is Race?

Whenever most people are asked to define race, some people will discuss outward appearance while others will discuss ancestry. When people are asked to identify the races that exist, some will begin listing different races while others will say, "There is only one race, the human race."

How did we come about defining the different races?

During the Age of Enlightenment, a man named Johann Friedrich Blumenbach identified and classified five races: The Caucasian race, the Mongoloid race, the Malay race, the Negroid race, and the American race. A German Encylopedia, Meyers Blitz-Lexikon used images to describe a couple of the different races.

Caucasian Race (Meyers Blitz-Lexikon, 1932)

Mongoloid Race (Meyers Blitz-Lexikon, 1932)

Negroid Race (Meyers Blitz-Lexikon, 1932)

A person's race is determined by their ancestry, their physical features, and their ethnicity.

Scientific racism is the "use of pseudo-scientific and hypotheses to justify racial superiority".

In the image above, scientists are measuring the nose and jaw size of white men. The sketch compares black people to chimpanzees.

During the Apartheid in South Africa, a pencil test was issued to determine whether a person was white, black, or coloured (a person of mixed race). If people were uncertain about their racial group, a pencil would be slid into their hair. They were asked to shake their head a few times. How easily the pencil fell out would determine if a person "passed" or "failed" the test. If the pencil was stuck, the person's hair would be considered to be too "kinky" to be considered white and would be classified as "coloured" or "black". If the pencil fell, the person would be classified as "white".

Biologically, race is not real. Race is a social construct, but it has a social reality. The effects of race and racism are still shown in our society today. When race was created, it formed a social structure that gave whites privilege over non-whites. For example, a white kid can use "black" slang, listen to hip-hop music, and dress in hip-hop attire but he can easily shed that image and still be white. If a black kid were to do the same thing, he would still be profiled and people would still stereotype him.

Meyers Blitz-Lexikon: d. Schnellauskunft für jedermann in Wort u. Bild = Blitz-Lexikon.. Leipzig: Bibliogr. Inst. AG, 1932. Print.