Final Essay Questions #1. Explain why anthropologists no longer think the race concept is the best way to understand human variation. There are many anthropologists that argue that race concept is not a scientifically useful term. The reason for this is because race concept is a social construction and race is a relative construct. Arbitrariness of classification varies from place to place and person to person.
In contrast, Black Americans perceive that racism is a constant reality in their lives, White individuals continue to respond toward them. Micro-assaults are probably most similar that what has been called “old fashion racism because of their expression is deliberate, conscious, and explicit as seen in many countries around the globe. Racial micro-aggressions are use today towards blacks and Hispanics world-wide. Micro-aggressions reflect an unconscious worldview of White supremacy that directly assails the racial reality of non-White people. Racial micro-aggressions have an accumulative and harmful impact on people of color invalidating them as racial/cultural beings, undermining their spiritual and mental capacity, imposing a false reality on them.
Concrete Responses The essays included present a compelling but biased study within the context of class, race and gender. History shows racism has been clearly practiced in the past; however much has been done to correct the unbridgeable and immutable differences in race, gender and class status in the United States. Rothenberg emphasizes, in the collection of essays, past views of Euro-Americans’ superiority in intelligence and abilities over darker skinned races. Throughout the history of the United States, discrimination against race and gender has been documented thus creating various classes according to race and gender. Racism has been defined as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2010).
Race is nature and ethnicity is nurture; that is, birth characteristics versus cultural heritage” ("What Is the Difference"). However, there seems to be a tendency for people to substitute ethnicity for race "Some educators and researchers use ethnicity interchangeably with race because we believe they are still uncomfortable with race, racism and its role in education. But, if we abandon the concept of ‘race’ we also abandon discussions of power, domination and group conflict, economic exploitation, political power and powerlessness” (The Socially Constructed Nature of Race).
In his article, entitled Mixed Blood Jeffery M Fish examines the cultural base of racial beliefs and concludes race to be a myth. To support his argument, Jeffery Fish illustrates an outline of human evolvement. He argues that that individuals differ physiologically because of adjustment to regional environments and these relative adjustment does not define human into individual races. In America, racial terms such as “black” or “white” does not discriminate between separate human species. Its very much alike the terms tall or short.
Walter Benn Michaels' argument makes more sense than Giroux's, because the idea of keeping diversity apart of our lives keeps America from becoming truly "united." Benn Michaels says that focusing on race as the thing keeping America seperate is entirely wrong. The main problem comes down money and class. Class differences are the sole reason why America is diverse and not united. When focusing on race and ethnicity the real problem of social class differences gets brushed under the rug.
According to the article, Native American mascots bring more negativity than the luck they are supposed to bring, “…(1) they [mascots] reflect and reinforce stereotypes, (2) they harm Native Americans, and (3) Native Americans do not have control over them,” (IMHTNA). Native Americans are already stereotyped against by having “red skin and feathers in their hair.” Seeing this exact image portrayed by many school mascots reinforces these stereotypes and keeps people thinking close-mindedly. However, it’s not just recently begun to be a problem; Native Americans were treated harshly back in the 1800s as well. The United States government was cruel to Native Americans in more ways than one, “The soldiers attack your villages and kill your women, children, and old people,” (Lakota). In many cases, the United States government had agreed and signed a treaty with the Native Americans, but then had broken the treaty soon after.
Therefore, many people try to avoid talking about such controversial subjects. When living in a country comprised of a variety of races, one might think that acceptance and the freedom to live free of discrimination, especially by law enforcement officials, should be automatically granted, for a society of different individuals allows the realization that a specific race is not the only one inhabiting this world and that other races are here for the same reason. And yet this is not the case with the majority of the population today. Even though black people tend to be less educated and are lower income, the judicial system is racial profiling because white people commit the same amount of crimes as blacks but more blacks are in prison than whites. In 2010, the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that “in the United States an estimated 558,700 African American adults were incarcerated under the state and federal jurisdiction.
Race is an influential idea and a continuing concept, made-up by society. It has also fostered inequality and discrimination for centuries, as well as influencing how we relate to other human beings. A “stereotype” is an oversimplification about a person or a group of people. We utilize stereotypes when we are incapable or reluctant to attain all of the information we would need to make impartial judgments about people or situations. In the absence of detail, stereotyping in many situations allow us to arrive at a general conclusion of these groups.
S. Gold mentioned that in his article and attributed it to David Stoll. However, this is a conclusion reached based on the issues raised by the part of the American population that sees only the detrimental side of immigration. That attitude is one of fear and paranoia. There has always been a part of society that is very concerned about the purity of the White race. Many of the reasons that the original colonies chose to break from the British and the reason other Europeans came to this country was to live freely, worship freely and create a less repressive society.