Race is an interesting topic.
Before I go too in depth, I’ll define what I mean by race, so as to not confuse people. When I mean Race, I’m talking about the broad unspecific stereotypes for generic humans beings. Race’s most likely use, is to define Others with similar base genetic features, typically generalized to historical continental settlement patterns. This gives us broad groups to use like “white”, “black”, “latino”, “Asian” and “south east Asian” or can be more targeted to regional distinctions. Even though there is no anthropological difference between “Race” to make it a characteristic difference of the human condition and the experience of being human in our society.
That’s not your fault, the concept of Race has been made so static and rigid that it’s hard not to. Yet, so ambiguously vague that the issue becomes so layered and contextually based that it can refer to skin colour, nationality to ethnic culture.
In our current society, race is like a scar that people walk around with, a streak across their faces that speak truths so old they are imprinted into our minds. The concept is a tool of division, a skin deep barrier to an otherwise congruent person, faced with their own struggles, desires, hardships, wants. What we’ve done is attached a bias of historical division to the genetic variants that have emerged within our common human population. So we see stereotypes, we see the wrongs of others on the face of strangers, we see ideas, instead of people just as human as you.
Why is that?
The problem starts early and is deeply ingrained in our global social fabric. Our concept of race starts with our exposure outside our own family and is shaped much like any of our other social perceptions. Race is a pivotal area of concern because the deep social attachment we develop as we grow. In general, our genetic-variant* race is most often used to subset institutional systems, social ideals, and ideologies. “Black people are criminals; Asian people are smart. White people are attractive etc.” However, these stereotypes are both perpetuated and systemically entrenched through day-to-day practice, institution and media so as to create a self-driving cycle. Even our tools to fix them, like affirmative action programs miss the point of empowerment. By specifying funding through racial and historical discrimination, we create hierarchies within already broadly disadvantaged communities, emulating the larger issues facing society and increasing social division systemically.
http://time.com/91081/what-science-says-about-race-and-genetics/
I don’t have to identify an example of race division, because you know several: it’s the story of the lucked out and socially disadvantaged minority. Yet, if you are the majority; the narrative is just as prevalent, but inverses to depict, a groundless social nuisance.
In any given country the idea of race is installed into culture making it a sensitive topic yet a universal issue. The ambiguous nature of Race allows people to segment and group people with qualities that make them victims and aggressors without facts. I’ve left out facts on race because the issue of race is a much different dynamic in many different places yet the underwriting aspects remain ever consistent. The social division caused by race, is characteristic to many people’s social identity. The concept of race riots, and oppositions are not confined to any corner of our planet. Race-based social propaganda and manipulation of historical perspective, is how the powerful have crafted the political associations with the Other, the Oppressed, the Unproductive members of society. The narrative is easy, once there is a social situation that can be used to further the Powerful; the only tool needed to enslave the collective social conscience is the perception of difference, Race.
This division between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ is the foundation for social instability. It creates a “contextual Other”, prying on social history to classify and modify information as the easiest way to manipulate public opinion on the basis of Race. When considering the self-identifying nature of Race, Bi-racial (multi-ethnic) individuals are inside a unique position in society. There is a conflict of identity, an unbalance created by a perceived difference that sees genetic diversity as an identification choice, instead of a perspective in duality, and in doing so Others demand a position rather than insight.
In recent world events there are two fresh examples of Race, propaganda and institutionalized bias: U.K Brexit and American Black Lives Matter Movement.
Propaganda meets Civic processes
The Brexit vote comes as the ongoing migrant crisis facing the European Union continues steadily. Much of the Race oriented fallout from the voting plays on the dramatization of the Other, in this case being the Syrian Refugees. Demand on institutions and resources make refugees an easy target for social unrest political manoeuvring. The perceived social bias, intolerance and culture compatibility and flexibility, create a hostile environment in which we see increasing acts of xenophobia towards new migrants.
Institutional Bias requires real life action
The black Lives Matter Movement is a movement recognizing and raising awareness to the inequalities Black Americans face in the United States and around the world. The problems facing Black American’s are systemically entrenched. It started after the abolishment of physical slavery, followed by the economic and psychological slavery of segregation and culminating in the psychological and social bias and perception as “the violent Other”, marked by a proportional rate of police violence, arrests and incarcerations in present day America. The validity for the movement is entrenched in the issues that gave birth to it: higher than normal incarceration rates in American prison system, Higher amount of Black American’s getting shot by police and institutional and systemic discrimination. This creates a loop of activity, in which status quo breeds fear, lengthier incarcerations and ingrains the social bias which fuels the latter points. It creates a vicious cycle, in which escape can only be found in the education and exposure of the systemic flaws of society, rather than the further condemnation of minorities within an unjust society.
Next time you hear racial buzz words like “White”, “Black”, “Hispanic”, “Asian” and “south east Asian” note their use and who’s using them, but more importantly think about and educate yourself on “the Other”. The context in which a racial group becomes a perceived issue, is a context in which the label of colloquial racial identities is longer used to identify, but to classify and victimize though collective social perception.
A) We need to explore our ingrained bias and start to put together why we hold a specific perception with Facts or,
B) Understand the contextual history of the Other to understand and better recognize the social factors that made regular people, “the Other” in any given situation
Most importantly, the concept of “Race” is buzzwords for creating division, while perpetrating the issues creating the problem. This inherently means, that there are people in inverse social positions that benefit from the downfall of “the Other”. Failing to recognize, call-out and using your own social power to empower the Other, you are just as bad as the social Oppressors using race to divide people. Wilful Social Negligence.
So maybe, that’s why people like to talk about Race, because it’s easier to divide, than it is to share social power to fix the problem. It’s easier to look at a group that has been traditionally marginalized and say “it’s their fault” or “that’s how those people are you know?” because truly empathizing, like a normal human, would mean we have to see their issues as just as valid as your own. Because they are. we’re all the same.
So how do you fix this issue?
Learn. about “Their” history, preferably from a knowledgeable member of their community.
Think. usually when we learn about “the Other” it’s in ‘side culture’, that’s when we make jokes or generally less guarded. This is where we reinforce negative ideas and stereotypes.
Compare. stereotypes are generalizations in behaviours or traits, this is a great example of when correlation does not imply causation.
Because as you reinforce stereotypes with words, they’ll later manifest as actions, as well as perceived vs. actual intentions. When we stop to see our similarities, we build relationships and perceptions based on values and interest rather than bias and ignorance. Ultimately quashing the “Race” idea’s negative characteristics.
- Genetic-variant race — “perceived” isolated racial features such as: skin colour, melanin concentration, eye colour, hair texture/pigmentations etc.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/22/science/do-races-differ-not-really-genes-show.html?pagewanted=all
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