Taking a position on race

Race is a very difficult topic to handle. It is very emotional and such a ‘taboo’ topic. You might get scolded by society for talking about certain racial aspects.

I feel that race should not be so frowned upon to talk about. I think it should be handled very carefully. But the fact is, even as far as a decade or two ago, people could throw around the “N” word on TV sitcoms and nothing was thought of it. But if it were used now, there would be lawsuits and all sorts of media coverage.

What is happening?

Why are we so touchy about something that should be getting better over time, in which may have gotten worse?

I grew up in a very anti-racial setting. My parents always said that African Americans were no different than Caucasians. Living in Flint, Michigan, the only racial issue I saw was that it seemed like more African Americans lived in the poorer city of my town than caucasians. I always felt like African Americans were poorer than whites growing up. But does this make me racist? Is this a racist thought? This is why I find it very difficult to take a position with race.

I feel that many people claim that they are anti-racial, or even racist. But I feel that everyone is blind to the truth. Someone who claims that they are anti-racial may live with racial lifestyles without even realizing it. For example, my own mother claims that she is not racist. She works at a burger joint where the employees are dominantly African American. At times, she will come home from work and tell me about the “niggers” at work. She’s told me that there’s a difference between being an African American and a nigger, and that that niggers are the trashier ones. But she also will call out on white people and say there’s a difference between being white and being white trash. But she claims she is not racist.

I’ve spent many years believing the same beliefs that my mom does. I’ve also realized that many people also feel the same way.

After going through the education system at my high school, it taught me to be less closed minded and put myself in other people’s shoes. Some of these “white trash” people grew up in poor environments. It’s not fair to put them down for something they had no control over. No one chose their life, or the pigment of their skin. So why should they be punished, and bad mouthed?

What is Race

What is race? People nowadays seem to pay more attention to how different races are, instead of what the race really is. So let me share some of my thoughts about race.

Before we get to know the race, let’s find out why are there different races.

Human was born in Africa 200,000 years again. And they migrated to other continents in the following times. As the human migrated to different surrounding, some changes little by little happened that make human easier to adopt the surrounding and survived. And as the times pass, the characteristics of different race fixed and stay unchanged till today. By the developing of technology, there are more and more contact and connection between races. Well, just like old friends haven't seen each other for a long time, people asked, “why is this human so different from us, is he even the same spice with us?" And part this idea of thinking continue today.

I believe most of you find out how different races coming from by reading the above. Physically, the differences between races come from different way to adopt the surrounding. For example, African American has black skin because the strong UV light under African sky, relatively short nasal cavity due to the warm weather in Africa.

Let's get back to the problem, “what is race?"  Imagine a family member of yours who was separated from you at young age, living in different country. And after all the years, you two meet each other again, although he might be dressing differently, speak different language,  listening to different music; but he is still your family, whether you like it or not. And what is race? There was no race; there is race only because of speaking of races.

A lot of people cannot believe the human origin in Africa at first place, because Africa nowadays is not a really developed place. It is understandable. It is face problem. I believe most people prefer rich relatives rather than a poor one, a higher social-stand relatives rather than a low one. Chasing the good is humanity, without it we human cannot have so many brilliant achievements.

The idea of race was origin in the time that humans with different characteristics meet each other. They admit each other as the same spices, but create "race" to classify each other. By the process of some people (country, race) being more developed than others, the concept of race transform into a political idea, to justify the activity that maybe harmful to other races and benefit themselves. For example, in the triangular trade, Europeans captured and slave Africans, and transfer them to America with an extreme odious condition. The way they treated African was unacceptable. But when they define African as a different race, and when it comes to a different race, everything they have done to them was okay.

So when it comes to what race really is and come from, I will say it is fear, the fears come from unknown. Human classify themselves, to avoid the unknown and the fear. People lie to themselves, believe in the stereotype, and think "when I know your race, I know part of you", however hardly realize that race does not help us understanding people, but in another side, help us misunderstanding people.

Maybe every single one of us has a different idea of race, but just do not repeat word for word what other say.