REVISION: RACE: A Superficial Game

Rosita Lema                                                                                                            September 20, 2016  

    Race: A Superficial Game.  

 

       http://www.africanholocaust.net/images/egyptian_race_ethnic.jpg 

 For more than two hundred years race has classified humans into distinct groups based on physical traits, ancestry, and genetics. Legal scholar Pilar Ossorio opposes the idea of race due to the lack of any real scientific basis. For Pilar Ossorio “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups.” In essence there are no real genetic markers that can explicitly define one race from another.  However for centuries society has used the idea of race as the biological reason for the establishment of an unjust social hierarchy. Ultimately as a sociological concept, race has promoted the classification of different races and the existence of inequalities amongst them. 

In Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain, 1800-1960, Stepan states that "the history of racial science is a history of a series of accommodations of the sciences to the demands of deeply held convictions about 'the naturalness' of the inequalities between human races". Racial science has been used throughout time as means of caterogarizing human races and unfairly classifying them as inferior. This distinct classification as Golash-Boza explains in Race & Racism: A critical approach has paved way "to notions of white or European superiority that became concretized during the colonization of the Americas." As Golash-Boza further explains the unfair racial categorization has been created as a means to justify "mass genocide and brutal exploitation". As a result these racial categorizations and sociological concepts have brought lifelong inferior social positions for many different ethnic groups. 
Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Clyde Ross understood at an early age the misfortune and adversity he would have to endure as an African American. Growing up in the south he quickly learned the oppression and inferiority he was subjugated to because of his racial identity. And when efforts to fight back for an equal treatment were made the constant lynching of Black man by white man embedded into him and others like him the fear and superiority the white man had over him. The brutal exploitation of constant lynching became an informal system of enforcement of white supremacy. A political suppression that lynched around 3,959 black men from 1877 to 1950.  However, Clyde Ross never gave up and headed north in search for a better life. After years of hard work and saving he was able to buy his family a house in Chicago. However, his racial identity and the misfortune attached to it prevented him from receiving an equal housing mortgage contract and an  unbiased treatment. A fight for racial equality which Clyde Ross is still struggling with today in Chicago as his story is unfolded by Barbara Brotman in http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-contract-buyers-league-20150724-story.html.

http://shrbeta.brack.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/15.0212.lynching.jpg                

As a young Latin American women born in the United States I have cherished the opportunities of being part of two different cultures and knowing two different languages. However, race and the attached misconceptions to Latinos has followed me throughout my entire life. Growing up in a predominantly Latino and Black community I remember being able to see the exterior differences between me and my childhood friends but not think much of it. As I grew older I became aware that these exterior differences were in fact determinants of the way others would perceive and treat one another. For the most part my racial identity has been a key contributing factor for who I am today. As a direct result of my race I have been given some opportunities while blindly robbed from other even greater opportunities. Most importantly my racial identity determined the type and level of education I should receive at an early age. As a Latina student I was immediately classified as a "newcomer" and placed in "English as a Second Language" class. Although I was born in the United States my racial identity classified me as a "new comer" and prevented me from receiving the same type of education as other students. By the third year of schooling I had successfully passed all the English language assessments and was ready to be moved into regular classes. However, I was not placed into regular English speaking classes and the main contributing factor for this was my external attributes and my racial identity.  

Being of Latin race I quickly realized I had to work twice as hard in two different languages and that the unfair treatment will always follow me. However, learning two different languages has been a great benefit to me in the long run. By living in an extremely racially diverse city my abilities have helped me gain many different employments and experiences. And so I have come to cherish my own unique racial identity and use it to my advantage.  

Rosita Lema                                                                                                    September 20, 2016  

Race: A Superficial Game.  

 

       http://www.africanholocaust.net/images/egyptian_race_ethnic.jpg 

 For more than two hundred years race has classified humans into distinct groups based on physical traits, ancestry, and genetics. Legal scholar Pilar Ossorio opposes the idea of race due to the lack of any real scientific basis. For Pilar Ossorio “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups.” In essence there are no real genetic markers that can explicitly define one race from another.  However for centuries society has used the idea of race as the biological reason for the establishment of an unjust social hierarchy. Ultimately as a sociological concept, race has promoted the classification of different races and the existence of inequalities amongst them. 

In Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain, 1800-1960, Stepan states that "the history of racial science is a history of a series of accommodations of the sciences to the demands of deeply held convictions about 'the naturalness' of the inequalities between human races. As biological anthropologist Alan Goodman distinctly states that "Biology has become an excuse for the social differences" amongst different races. Furthermore, the distinct classification of different races paved way "to notions of white or European superiority that became concretized during the colonization of the Americas." As Golash-Boza further explains the connections between race and racism being "the belief that races are populations whose physical differences are linked to significant cultural and social differences within a hierarchy." Unfortunately these sociological concepts have brought lifelong inferior social positions for many. As was the case for Clyde Ross who amounted a great deal of losses throughout his life. Growing up in the south he quickly learned the oppression and inferiority he was subjugated to. The constant lynching of Black man embedded into him the fear and superiority the white man had over him. As he searched for a better life Ross moved to the north and bought his family a house in Chicago. However, his crucial racial identity prevented him from receiving an equal housing mortgage contract and unbiased treatment.  

http://shrbeta.brack.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/15.0212.lynching.jpg             

   As a young Latin American women born in the United States I have cherished the opportunities of being part of two different cultures and knowing two different languages. However, race and the attached misconceptions to Latinos has followed me throughout my entire life. Growing up in a predominantly Latino and Black community I remember being able to see the exterior differences between me and my childhood friends but not think much of it. As I grew older I became aware that these exterior differences were in fact determinants of the way others would perceive and treat one another.               For the most part my racial identity has been a key contributing factor for who I am today. As a direct result of my race I have been given some opportunities while blindly robbed from other even greater opportunities. Most importantly my racial identity determined the type and level of education I should receive at an early age. As a Latina student I was immediately classified as a "newcomer" and placed in "English as a Second Language" classes. Although I was born in the United States my racial identity classified me as a "new comer" and prevented me from receiving the same type of education as other students. By the third year of schooling I had successfully passed all the English language assessments and was ready to be moved into regular classes. However, I was not placed into regular English speaking classes and the main contributing factor for this was my external attributes and my racial identity.  

Being of a Latin race I quickly realized I had to work twice as hard in two different languages and that the unfair treatment will always follow me. However, learning two different languages has been a great benefit to me in the long run. By living in an extremely racially diverse city my abilities have helped me gain many different employments and experiences. And so I have come to cherish my own unique racial identity and use it to my advantage.  

  

  

  

References  

Brown, T. N., Williams, D. R., Jackson, J. S., Neighbors, H. W., Torres, M., Sellers, S. L., & Brown, K. T. (2000). “Being black and feeling blue”: the mental health consequences of racial discrimination. Race and Society, 2(2), 117-131. 

Golash-Boza, Tanya Maria. (2015). Race & racisms: A critical approach. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Stepan, N. (1982). Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain, 1800-1960. Springer. 

www.theatlantic.com/projects/reparations/