This is a reprint of an article I felt was worth repeating: http://www.newsreel.org/guides/race/10things.htm
TEN THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RACE
Our eyes tell us that people look different. No one has trouble distinguishing a Czech from a Chinese, but what do those differences mean? Are they biological? Has race always been with us? How does race affect people today?
There's less - and more - to race than meets the eye:
1. Race is a modern idea. Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide people according to physical distinctions, but according to religion, status, class, even language. The English language didn't even have the word 'race' until it turns up in a 1508 poem by William Dunbar referring to a line of kings.
2. Race has no genetic basis. Not one characteristic, trait or even gene distinguishes all the members of one so-called race from all the members of another so-called race.
3. Human subspecies don't exist. Unlike many animals, modern humans simply haven't been around long enough or isolated enough to evolve into separate subspecies or races. Despite surface appearances, we are one of the most genetically similar of all species.
4. Skin color really is only skin deep. Most traits are inherited independently from one another. The genes influencing skin color have nothing to do with the genes influencing hair form, eye shape, blood type, musical talent, athletic ability or forms of intelligence. Knowing someone's skin color doesn't necessarily tell you anything else about him or her.
5. Most variation is within, not between, "races." Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population, be they Italians, Kurds, Koreans or Cherokees. About 94% can be found within any continent. That means two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.
6. Slavery predates race. Throughout much of human history, societies have enslaved others, often as a result of conquest or war, even debt, but not because of physical characteristics or a belief in natural inferiority. Due to a unique set of historical circumstances, ours was the first slave system where all the slaves shared similar physical characteristics.
7. Race and freedom evolved together. The U.S. was founded on the radical new principle that "All men are created equal." But our early economy was based largely on slavery. How could this anomaly be rationalized? The new idea of race helped explain why some people could be denied the rights and freedoms that others took for granted.
8. Race justified social inequalities as natural. As the race idea evolved, white superiority became "common sense" in America. It justified not only slavery but also the extermination of Indians, exclusion of Asian immigrants, and the taking of Mexican lands by a nation that professed a belief in democracy. Racial practices were institutionalized within American government, laws, and society.
9. Race isn't biological, but racism is still real. Race is a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunities and resources. Our government and social institutions have created advantages that disproportionately channel wealth, power, and resources to white people. This affects everyone, whether we are aware of it or not.
10. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remedy social policies and institutional practices that advantage some groups at the expense of others.
You can start any type of college fund you would like and it may be sponsored by anyone who would like to sponsor it. Your comments are indicative of a "racially challenged" person. Although I specifically stated that this was a reprint of an article that I felt was worth reprinting, you attribute the article to me and because I reprinted it, you feel that it somehow reflects my beliefs and thoughts. These are statements of another author that I thought were interesting and if that makes me a "racist" and "ignorant" in your eyes, then your eyes aren't worth looking through anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhite children have been the recipients of special funds, affirmative actions, and special treatment for years and no one complained, not even you. As soon as someone allows for others to partake in the same privleges that white children have enjoyed for so many years, you cry foul. You weren't crying foul when little black children weren't allowed to go to school or weren't allowed to learn to read. You weren't crying foul when those black children weren't allowed to walk into your schools, colleges and universities. And you weren't crying foul when the children of college alumni were allowed to attend college based on their parents attending college and black students couldn't go there because their parents weren't allowed to attend those colleges.
You act like someone has stolen something from you that it was yours by inheritance, that because you were born white you should get some special consideration or privlege.
Had white colleges allowed blacks to attend their colleges and had whites allowed blacks to receive the same scholarships, loans and grants they received to attend college, organizations like the United Negro College Fund would not have had to been formed. You tell me. In 1944, when the UNCF was incorporated, how many white colleges permitted black students to attend their colleges and how many scholarships were set up for black students? So what, there is a single organization that not only fundraises and supports black students but also has general scholarship funds for any student, including you, and you complain.
Just admit it, white folks have screwed just about every race they have come in contact with from the Native American, to the Asian, to the Mexicans and Blacks. The question is: Does that make YOU a racist?