Chapter 10 mainly discussed race and ethnicity and the role it plays in society. Ethnicity is referred to as a shared cultural heritage, often deriving from a common ancestry and homeland. Race is referred to as a category of people widely perceived as sharing socially significant physical characteristics such as skin color. Race and ethnicity tend to be kind of blurry because people don't know one from the other they believe they are one in the same. The textbook brings out a point that race is a social construction meaning we see race based on skin color and not on anything else because that's how we are programmed to do so. Skin tone is used a mechanism for every little thing such as slavery and segregation. During segregation the phrase “brown paper bag test”was created to determine whether a one was too black or light enough to participate in certain events. If your skin was darker then the brown paper bag your would not be able to participate in certain groups or events. This is just one example of many in which is used to determine one's place in society. Alice Walker coined the term "colorism" a mechanism used to assign people to a certain race.
Since race and ethnicity is something that was coined by culture it tends to vary constantly and it never stays the same. Can we honestly say there is a real definition for these words? Are we all one in the same? Diversity brought about a change in society, it sort of made everyone feel welcomed and made everyone feel as if their race would be included. Race and ethnic groups caused a lot of tension for sometime bringing about discrimination based on skin color NOT race, majority and minority based on skin color, stereotypes etc. Diversity brought about such a positive change and allowed things that weren't normal years ago to be acceptable now. Diversity in my opinion accepts everyone's skin color and accepts that people are who they are they weren't asked how light they want to be or how dark they want to be. Race and ethnicity seems to be a very heavy topic years later because of the old mindset and traditions of some individuals. Growing up I was taught that there would be some darker skinned black girls that wouldn't like me simply because I was a lighter skinned black individual sadly I did experience a lot of situations with this. I realized that for so many years that African American is the only race where people come in a VARIETY of shades but we always compare with who's light skin and who's dark skin and there is truly just a skin color difference. The color blind theory really has an effect on people today which means people are so caught up in what your outer appearance is we never realize we are all the same. I tend to see this with black people a lot another example is when I hear black guys say "I only want a light skin girl dark skin girls look dirty". I believe for years this way of thinking was instilled in the minds of black people since slavery, the darker skinned blacks worked on the plantation in the sun when the lighter skinned blacks worked inside of the house cleaning and doing what ever else. We sometimes are so caught up with the skin color of individuals that we look past that we are black. I myself am attracted to dark skinned males, it's funny because all of my friends think I'm crazy but I was raised around a lot of dark skin people so I guess that's what I grew to love. Black is black and that won't change! Colorism is a fact and that needs to be changed.
The video "Race: The Power of Illusion" was basically about how humans tend to only look at external differences to be the main reason of one's race. People only look at body shape, hair shape, eye shape, eye color, skin color and other factors. In the video it was said that "race is NOT biology however it is an idea that is ascribed to biology". Race is just a myth we are all one, race was just created to make everyone dislike the next race and to put us against each other. Being one that ran track throughout my entire four years in high school I have NEVER been beat by someone who was white and since I'm Jamaican we always get labeled as "fast runners" and I know some very slow Jamaicans who would suck at track. I always believed that being black gave me an extra advantage over those who weren't. I'm best at sprinting and out of every track meet I have been to never once did I see a white girl running in a fast pace race. My thinking was so limited because that's how I was taught and my coach would never allow the black girls to run cross-country he only would allow us to run short races in a quick amount of time. Its so interesting how the world tends to put these labels on individuals and how our minds actually conform to believe these things. We make assumptions on what we see and we are looking at the outward appearances rather than other factors that can come into play such as whether the white person trained hard enough to win etc.
I read the article "Beyond Black and White: Remaking Race In America". The only two races acknowledged for a long time were black and white but there are many other people in the world that do exist. There seems to be more multiracial Americans which means people are marrying outside of their race which is a beautiful thing. It was interesting to see that the girl in third grade was trying to clarify her own identity. She did not know which one to circle so she circled both since she is multiracial. I believe that there isn't an option for those that are considered multiracial and there should be a choice that says just that. I believe race shouldn't exist and everyone just be who they want to be. Race limits you and who you really are because sometimes you may not be acknowledged for being more than one race. One of my good friends is Dominican and Black because her mother married a black man but when asked her ethnicity she will say that she is Latin American and black but people will in turn say well which one are you more of? I never understood that question but then I realized America limits you to who you want to be.
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