Race

The main idea of Defining  Race and Ethnicity by Matthew SNIPP Article is that race is a as a socio-cultural ideology by the Spanish to discover whether a person of Jewish origin could be cleansed of Jewish blood through conversion, this belief, that race and social habits were linked allowed the Spanish to commit a number of atrocities against people of non-Spanish, non-Catholic origin.  The goal of the Spanish during the Spanish inquisition was to make a sovereign state of homogeneity, and by utilizing race the monarchy was able to not only control its citizens and create a culture of fear , but it also introduced the idea that race actually determined one’s genetic and cultural superiority level. This self-sustaining and pervasive belief system is the basis for what race became in America today.

During the modern era, the concept of race has survived as a result of centuries of work that was put into maintaining the racist status quo of almost 500 years ago.  An ideology of race that was developed to justify human slavery, and the violent mistreatment of non-white people, has the most profound effect on our culture now because whiteness’ survival was ensured with the diminishing of non-white humanity.  Examples of racial categorization exist in every piece of life we experience now, from signing standardized test papers, to filling out employment information, to the descriptors used for criminals on the news. There is no escaping it. The concept of race is ingrained in us from the time we are children on into our adult lives, and unless we consciously unlearn what we’re being taught about race, it persists beyond that.  The effects of racial categorization allow people to commit certain atrocities against others with little to no consequence because of how the concept of race has impacted the general public concept of humanity. People think very little of watching a black man get stopped by the police, they are raised with a fear of black men who are rapists, killers, thieves, and kidnappers, we are trained to believe that every Asian identified person is good at math, or is a “model-minority”, while all other non-white people are lazy and looking to live off of government expense.  These racial stereotypes are so deeply ingrained in our thought processes that we don’t question them; we accept them regardless of contradictory fact, or even contradictory personal experiences.

Frequently when discussing issues of race and stereotypes, the most common phrase one hears is that there is some truth in stereotypes.  This is one of the grossest misconceptions that hinder discussion and understanding. Stereotypes do not exist because there is truth in them; they exist because they whittle others down to a basic mold that keeps people from having to see beyond them.