Is it Important to Acknowledge Race?

[TheN3rdyOutcast]

The question is up there and pretty straightfoward.

Why do we define race/ethnicity?
Why must we humans put everything into catergories?
Why am I asking you these questions that you may not even care about?

[Miserabilia]

The question is up there and pretty straightfoward.

Why do we define race/ethnicity?
Why must we humans put everything into catergories?
Why am I asking you these questions that you may not even care about?


Why do we define race/ethnicity?

mostly as a physical trait, like hair colour or eye colour but also to indicate where you are from or where your ancestors are from.

Why must we humans put everything into catergories?

It's in our nature :P

Why am I asking you these questions that you may not even care about?

I think this is a question that most people care about.

[CosmicNoodle]

Well yes, for instance if your describing someone then ethnicity is a good point to make.
And its in human nature to want to learn and understand, categorising is one of the best ways. Provided there are enough accurate categories

[Karkat]

I don't think race matters as much- as it's kind of stereotypical and there's some uh...Broad generalizations.

NOT TO MENTION RACISM. ISN'T IT GRAND?

Ethnicity is a little different, because it's a great way to learn about/get involved in cultures, learn your roots, and such.

But dear god, I'd love it if people would stop going "YOU AREN'T THIS BECAUSE YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE IT".

Why thank you. I never knew I was indeed Swedish, and not Cherokee. (If you cannot detect the ungodly amount of sarcasm in that last sentence- I'm not even Swedish... When I say that, going by the ONE ethnicity I am the most of [as in not race because that's different to begin with], I am Cherokee, people go "NU UH, YOU'RE SOMETHING WHITE LIKE UH EUROPEANISH." Or, my favourite, when speaking to non-Americans "YOU'RE AMERICAN"

Why yes. I am. Thank you for ironically agreeing with me. I will never get the people who jump to the conclusion that "American" [as in United States of America, as in white people by their standards] is an ethnicity. Hate to burst your bubble, but it's not quite what you're thinking of.)

I think that all in all, people are a bunch of dicks and will discriminate against you in any way possible, so there's that, but in my opinion, race is kind of an outdated marker that most people can't handle. At least ethnicity is a little more culture-related, race is almost entirely political...

[JamesSuperBoy]

is it important

well yes in some situations it is very important race/ethnicity may dictate the cultural norms for a person.

[Stryker125]

yes, quite important.

[Camazotz]

Yes and no. Race is a social construct, so one could argue that it doesn't even exist.

I do believe it's important to acknowledge differences and similarities between groups of peoples to understand how to accept or tolerate others.

"I don't see color"- Yes you do, but looking different doesn't have to affect how you judge or treat someone or an entire group.


Too many people can't differentiate between prejudice and racism. They confuse "race" and "racial" with "racist." They look for false equivalencies where none exist. Prejudice only becomes racism when those biases are acted upon. Prejudice can be offensive. Racism can be exclusionary, destructive or even deadly.

Here's one question you can ask to help you make the distinction: Was there an event that had real-life consequences? If so, it's racism. Racism can be documented, charted and graphed. It's a systematic method of denying rights and opportunities to a group of people. Prejudice refers to an internal bias, typically based on superficial attributes.

If it's a hypothetical scenario, chances are it isn't racism. For instance, Cuban talked about a hypothetical situation in which he would cross the street if he were walking late at night and encountered a black man in a hoodie or a white man with tattoos and a shaved head. He did so -- however clumsily -- to acknowledge the biases he holds, which are similar to the type of biases we all have, if we're being honest.

In doing so, he steered the conversation to a place our society isn't sophisticated enough to handle comfortably. The failure to even comprehend the terminology is but one barrier on the road to progress. "Racism" is too loaded a term to be used incorrectly. And lately it's in real danger of being misappropriated.

The greatest fallacy is that racism will die off when the octogenarians like Sterling are gone. That won't happen because racism is too deeply entwined with American society, dating back to the first draft of the Constitution. And a generation that has not grown up watching footage on the evening news of attack dogs and fire hoses being turned on black civil rights marchers can't recognize the more subtle signs of racism that still survive.
…
Where Cuban should be reassured -- and the rest of us should be reminded -- is that having prejudiced thoughts doesn't make someone a bigot. Only acting like a bigot does.

What Mark Cuban is Really Talking about by JA Adande (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10972668/mark-cuban-candid-take-race-prejudice)

[Karkat]

Yes and no. Race is a social construct, so one could argue that it doesn't even exist.

I do believe it's important to acknowledge differences and similarities between groups of peoples to understand how to accept or tolerate others.

"I don't see color"- Yes you do, but looking different doesn't have to affect how you judge or treat someone or an entire group.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l74402qimV1qzr2iro1_r1_400.gif

I really should just shut up until someone who better explains it comes along, then agree with them. And not talk out of my ass like I always do.

[Abyssal Echo]

Yes, its very Important.

[phuckphace]

I don't see how it wouldn't be. Race is one of the most prominent aspects about humanity, for better or for worse.

[Horatio Nelson]

image (http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l74402qimV1qzr2iro1_r1_400.gif)

I really should just shut up until someone who better explains it comes along, then agree with them. And not talk out of my ass like I always do.

I thought I was the only one that did that. :P


Race is totally important. We don't all live in the same place and do the same stuff.

[Lovelife090994]

To me even if just to know your Hair Care then you may need to know your racial/ethnic ties. For history you have a history simply based on what part of the world you are from. Your roots and cultrue are important and if we were to ignore all race and ethnicity then where would the history and culture go? We are all human, but we have so much culture that it would be weird to ignore it. To me, why not at least keep ethnicity for description. I think we should not be racist but also that we should acknowledge culture. Do not see color, see the differences and learn something.

[tovaris]

race is important to our understanding of the human condition, filiologie of races are diferent, also understanding how races came to be is important, not to mentiom they give us wealth of geneti diversety matherial...

[Faolan]

There are race boxes to check on almost every federal form in the US that say, "black," "white," "hispanic," etc..., and it wasn't until recently that the boxes "other" and "mixed" were added. Even though I would be considered white, I mark "other" because "white" is a terrible category. It includes almost everyone in Europe, people from Southwestern Asia, and, to an extent, hispanic people. I'm actually a mix of Anglo, Irish, German, and Ashkenazi, so in my opinion the term "white" is really too broad a category.

The categories exist for a few reasons. Firstly, it helps determine demographics and how "races" compare in statistics such as employment, salaries, education, etc... Also, though not as positive, is the fact that it's human nature to label things, whether it be race, gender, or sexuality. We like to make comparisons between things in people. It makes us feel more secure in an otherwise totally unorganized world.

[Blood]

Yes and no. Race is a social construct, so one could argue that it doesn't even exist.

I do believe it's important to acknowledge differences and similarities between groups of peoples to understand how to accept or tolerate others.

"I don't see color"- Yes you do, but looking different doesn't have to affect how you judge or treat someone or an entire group.

Very well put, I came to try to say the exact same thing.

[Jean Poutine]

Race as in physical features doesn't matter beyond these physical features. We classify humans based on race for the same reason we do dogs in different breeds : both to acknowledge physical differences and because the mind loves categorization. A person's race to me is just like a person's hair color - irrelevant to the greater scheme of things.

As a French-Canadian, I'm going to speak heresy, but to me ethnicity doesn't mean much either. Language and culture are malleable, and should be. Cultural divisions IMO is one of the things keeping the human race from achieving true greatness. I would rather see every ethnicity coagulate into one single, human cultural mass, keeping good ideas from every culture and throwing out the barbaric parts, and the same with language. Greater human understanding and the lessening of divisions would do amazing things for our species.

We're all homo sapiens sapiens. To me, that is the only thing that matters. As long as manmade ethnocultural boundaries keep walling their members in, it's impossible for anyone to call everyone brothers. When the poorest parts of the world seem so far away, it can be hard to justify helping others when people in our own backyard are starving or homeless. A completely united mankind is a strong mankind, speaking the same language, having the same values and cultural mores, believing the same things. Too bad I'll never see that in my lifetime.

[TooYoungToDie]

Personally I don't judge books by their cover but it's interesting to see where people or people's ancestors are from :)

[StUnicorn]

I dont care what race you are but we must be able to acknowledge races and differences between races without it being considered a hate crime.

[Lovelife090994]

I dont care what race you are but we must be able to acknowledge races and differences between races without it being considered a hate crime.

In fact even in study it can be interesting how the races differ sometimes. The culture involved or the proper knowledge for things like health care can say a lot.

[AbigailBM98]

defining ourselves as members of different racial groups just prevents further integration and equality between all humans. as long as we continue pointing out the differences between white and coloured people we will never achieve full integration.

[Miserabilia]

defining ourselves as members of different racial groups just prevents further integration and equality between all humans. as long as we continue pointing out the differences between white and coloured people we will never achieve full integration.

I disagree partly.
We should always remember and catagorize, just like we differ between eyes and hair colour, or other physical properties;
there's nothing wrong with that.
We shouldn't go out of our way to take race in account though.