Is Race Real?
Exam 1
1. What is race? Is it “real?” Why or why not?
• Race is a social construct that everyone suffers from every day. Over many decades human beans created a racial lens that separates our world into different categories based on skin color, hair type, and even how we act. Is it real? Yes and no, we (humans) made it real. We created this illusion that there are different species in the human race. So, in our minds race is real because we made it real! However, based on a biological mindset race is not real. We are all the same in so many ways. For example, skin color doesn’t come from a different species, it comes from the amount of pigment in our skin called melanin. Over hundreds of years humans in different parts of the world have …show more content…
It is very sad to me that we have such a horrific past based on race. My first example is African slaves, the consequence there was they made up almost all the labor force. Meaning the men who really needed jobs didn’t have any because the slaves were free labor. So, it made it very hard to get a paying job in that era.
• Second, so many wars were based on differences of race. For example, the Civil War. So much blood spilled and so many lives effected. The consequence of that war still hits home for many people. Families were torn apart and hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives all because they didn’t see African Americans as humans.
• My third example is an individual consequence of believing race is real. If someone truly believes that we are different than they will treat people of other ethnicity’s differently resulting in conflict. Conflict is a sizable consequence because it has endless possibilities and outcomes, whether it is physical or verbal. You never know who you are talking to. That’s why respect goes a long way with people.
4. Provide an example from course materials of a racial category changing/shifting over time. Explain how and why the category changed in
1. What is race? Is it “real?” Why or why not?
• Race is a social construct that everyone suffers from every day. Over many decades human beans created a racial lens that separates our world into different categories based on skin color, hair type, and even how we act. Is it real? Yes and no, we (humans) made it real. We created this illusion that there are different species in the human race. So, in our minds race is real because we made it real! However, based on a biological mindset race is not real. We are all the same in so many ways. For example, skin color doesn’t come from a different species, it comes from the amount of pigment in our skin called melanin. Over hundreds of years humans in different parts of the world have …show more content…
It is very sad to me that we have such a horrific past based on race. My first example is African slaves, the consequence there was they made up almost all the labor force. Meaning the men who really needed jobs didn’t have any because the slaves were free labor. So, it made it very hard to get a paying job in that era.
• Second, so many wars were based on differences of race. For example, the Civil War. So much blood spilled and so many lives effected. The consequence of that war still hits home for many people. Families were torn apart and hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives all because they didn’t see African Americans as humans.
• My third example is an individual consequence of believing race is real. If someone truly believes that we are different than they will treat people of other ethnicity’s differently resulting in conflict. Conflict is a sizable consequence because it has endless possibilities and outcomes, whether it is physical or verbal. You never know who you are talking to. That’s why respect goes a long way with people.
4. Provide an example from course materials of a racial category changing/shifting over time. Explain how and why the category changed in