Should race be eliminated?

Question

Race is a modern idea. People in the past used to identify themselves by their culture, language, etc. Today, it's by the color of the skin. That's what race is. Yes it has caused a lot of problems, that is obvious. So why is race still around. When I take an exam for school, why does it ask me what race I am? So they can say that black ppl score better than white ppl or vice versa? It's just ludacris to me. And why do some races keep holdin themselves back with stereotypes? Example:Black ppl don't swim. How ignorant is that? Because of it, many black ppl don't go in the water because the idea is "crazy!" Oh yea and black ppl and chicken. That's a good one. Cause genetics state that if you are black, sorry, you are just gonna chose Churches Chicken over a burger at McDonalds. Makes no sence to me. Would it just be a better idea to eliminate race completely? I mean what does it matter anyways? Seriously. What does it matter anyways...

Answer 1

Firstly, there are 2 concepts of race. One is the social construct (eg. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian), the other is archeological (eg. Congiod, Noridic Caucasiod, Mongoloid, etc). Many scientists have presented theories to support the anthropolotical/scientific construct of race, with each theory presenting anywhere from 5 to over 20 different TRUE racial categories.

Because mankind has been evolving, and interbreeding between true races and ethnic groups since adam and eve, many current athropologist/scientist argue that there is no REAL true race and that all humans are products of a montage of ethnic/racial blending occuring over thousands of years.

For the most part, how we identify racially today is highly superficial, being based on modern/current national, georgraphica, cultural and linguistic heritage and/or disposition. Within each social race can be found the same DNA/genetic and aesthetic traits/characterisitcs from the many races/ethnic groups that have existed throughout human history.

Here's selection of celebrities who are members of various racial/ethnic groups, their socio-racial cateory denoted by () followed by their various ethnic, racial and socio-racial heritages :

1) Iman (Black) - Semetic and/or Arabic [these are Caucasian groups) sub-Saharan African.
2) Heather Locklear (White) - Amerindian, Caucasian, sub-Sahran African.
3) Jessica Simpson (White) - Amerindian, Caucasian
4) James Brown (Black) - Amerindian, sub-Saharan African
5) Halley Berry (Biracial/Black) - Amerindian, Caucasian, sub-Saharan African

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Here's a selection of various groups by ethnicity, region or nation:

6) NiVanuatu (Vanuatu) - Mongoloid and sub-Saharan African (primarily)
7) Modern Day Maori (New Zealand) - original indigenous people said to be Mongoloid with strains of Congoid/Sub-Saharan ancestry; however, all modern Maori are Caucasian European mixed.
8) Blacks and Hispanic/Latinos - especially among those with ancestrial roots in the Western Hemisphere, these two groups have a very the genetic similiarity of having high frequencies of Amerindian and/or Caucasian ancestries.
9) Indigenous Asian groups - Asians come from a variety of ethnic mixes. There's Indian where the original people were Dravidian, a very dark and ***** like in appearance; said to be one of the first caucasian groups to evolved out of Africa. Moden Indians are mixed with varying degrees of nordic, arabic, other asian, and congoid ancestries. However, the sub-continental African 'genes' are said to be faintly present among the modern population. In other areas like China there are Han and Mongol descendents who have distant caucasian ancestry. There's als the spread of Islam and the ethnic mixing that came with that, which spilled into Asia. And in places like Cambodia and the Philipenes scientist have discovered substancial traces of sub-Saharan genes among the indigenous population there. Asians are a highly diverse group.

I could go on, but mixing and interbreeding between different ethnic groups and races has been going on for a very long time, before the start of Western Civilization. This is why we can all trace our ancestry back to Africa no matter what we look like; we all are offspring of ethnic groups that evolved from there.

So, to really answer your question:

Yes, the use of racial categories should be eliminated

Answer 2

To the young lady that said it would hurt our culture: I don't think eliminating race would eliminate our heritage. It is very possible to celebrate cultural diversity without regarding skin color and hair texture, which is so varied that the concept of race these days is utterly useless. Culture and Race are two entirely different ideas if you look close enough. Just because my complexion and curly hair resembles someone else's doesn't mean we share the same CULTURAL heritage. Not all people labeled as "Black" have ancestors that were American slaves; and not all those labeled as "White" had ancestors that arrived via Mayflower or Ellis Island. If anything, having to define oneself by race takes away our rich heritages.

We should stop the labeling and continue the celebrating of our differences, which aren't necessarily race related. Race is an outdated and unnecessary classifier.

Answer 3

First of all that is a great question...

Race and Sterotypes...

In our popular conceptions, we have a notion of race as being sort of simple divisions of people - divisions among people that are deep, that are essential, that are somehow biological or even genetic, and that are unchanging, that these are clear-cut, distinct categories of people. And that is not the case. All of our genetics is telling us that that's not the case. We can't find any genetic markers that are in everybody of a particular race, and in nobody of some other race.

Now, I would never say that race doesn't exist. One of the things we're hearing now is that the human genome project is somehow showing us that race doesn't exist. Well, what it's showing us is that the simple biological notion of race is wrong.

But just because race isn't something biological, that doesn't mean it's not real. There are a lot of things in our society that are real and are not biological. I think we would say marriage is something that's real. It's real because we have laws that we follow. We have social traditions that we follow. And those things are real. And race is real in that same sense. It's real in the sense that we create it in our relations between people. We treat people a certain way based on what race we believe them to be. Race, as we understand it as a social construct, has a lot to do with where somebody will live, what schools they will go to, what jobs they will get, whether or not they will have health insurance.

So race does play a very important role in our lives, and I think race is real as a social construct. It's not real as a biologically definable thing. But it's no less important because it's a social construct. It's still, in this country at least, it's a very significant social stratifying practice…And similarly, there is a way in which, regardless of genetics, we live in a social world in which we ascribe races to people, and we have race as part of our personal identity, and that's still very important for the world in which we live.

Answer 4

In theory that would be great. But segregation goes all the way back to the bible. You can't undo 1000's of years with taking the race category out of exams (which has been debated for years). Its all stereotyping. Blacks don't swim, whites are arrogant, women are ignorant etc... its not just color. The vast majority of women still believe they have to do anything for a man and we have to make sure he's happy.
It is crazy and ignorant that in this day and age we hold ourselves to these standard.

Answer 5

I agree. Race is a stupd box you check on a census form, not a characteristic. I dont think it helps anything. And I think that it IS something we notice about people, but thats only because we have been trained to do so. If we phased it out, hopefully it would just be a bad memory in the history of the world.
To me, culture is far more important than skin color.

Answer 6

Yes that would be a great idea theoretically. But when it comes to actually implementing it, it won't happen, or if it does, it's not going to last long. Think about it, if you are of a race that dominates all the other races socially, politically and economically would you give all that up just to make people equal with everyone else? Chances are you said no. That's how it is unfortunately, people are greedy and nobody is going to give up their dominance to everyone else.

Answer 7

Just how do you propose we eliminate race? You can stop asking about race, yes. You can also stop answering about race. Realize, even when the forms ask for your race, you are not required to answer it. Most form even make it optional for you to answer.

Does it matter? At this stage of integration, perhaps so. If we (the government) didn't keep track of it, how do we even begin to know if we are integrating or segregating? We are often called the "melting pot." I don't agree with this. We are at best, we are the "mixing bowl." It will perhaps take hundreds more years for us to truely melt. Perhaps never.

Remember, race itself is not discreminatory. Discremination is. I consider my race to be something like my weight or height. It's a fact about me. By itself, it is neither positive or negative. It just IS.

If you don't want to answer the race question, don't answer. You have that option.

Answer 8

Where are you getting your data? I guess I should assume that you have polled EVERY person of color on the planet, correct? No, our races have been the way that they are since the beginning and long after you have taken your last breath will continue. You are telling people to disregard their ancestry and their heritage. Not gonna happen. Sorry. Look at it this way; What's more eye-catching, a garden with different, beautiful flowers or one that has ALL the same color?

Answer 9

In the distant future, as the lines that seperate us converge through education, inter-marriage and exposure to others, the idea of race will evolve into something more interesting. The way it is right now, it's a useful tool for gov. and finance to determine your future and what kind of choices you might make...break free from the stereotypes and live FREE! =)

Answer 10

confident, any style of existence could be eradicated. there are a lot of eventualities, yet indexed under are some. Non guy made: asteroids, the super crunch concept, substitute in earth's orbit closer to or further from the solar as a results of a greater physique of mass close by, yet another species substitute into dominant, epidemics, storms, etc. guy made: nuclear, conflict, worldwide warming consequences...