Why do you only hear 2 colors when races are discussed and the rest get named by their nationality?

Question

Blacks and whites are referred to as a color but every other race is refferred to as a nationality or some other generic term, like asian and latino. Shouldn't we all be referred to as american? If we were, do you think that it would help racism in our country? And I know that blacks are formally referred to as african american and whites are refferred to as caucasians, but in general conversation it's usually black and white. I don't know about you but my skin isn't white. I usually go from a peachy color in the winter to a deeper olive tone in the summer. And my friends aren't really black, they all have really pretty chocolate and caramel tones. In fact, I have had summers I have been darker than some of my lighter caramel toned friends. Is it more of a mindset? I just think that the terms came from when they were integrating and wanted to define differences. So shouldn't we put those terms behind us?

Answer 1

That's a good observance. But it stands that the people
of American are just as full of bullshit today as yesteryear.
We still tend to fight among ourselves and promote hate
and dissatisfaction with one another, yet we call ourselves
a christian nation. Even with a war ongoing a22holes still
find time to criticize their fellow american citizen. Maybe
one day we will be so busy trying to fwwk each other over
that some other country will drop the big one up our asses
and take over. We wouldn't have to worry who's the
supreme one then it'll be the ones kicking our asses.
I believe the reason we can't win the war in Iraq is this
very reason, the Iraqui's have one thing in common,
they all dislike our asses. We are over there together
but as you can see from many of the questions flying
over yahoo answers, there is a great deal of separation
sexism, racism and hatred amongst us all. I know that
there has been a lot of good answers and love displayed
by some, but after reading some of the garbage do you
think that anyone can trust their fellow American to
cover their back in times of danger. Why I wouldn't
trust one of you fu2kers to guard my back, I would take
my chances with the Shiites.

Answer 2

That's a really good point. And I think you're right, pointing to colors does, in part, define the gap between us. I remember growing up and hearing that white lies are good, the bad guy wears a black hat, blah blah blah.

I think it's ridiculous the amount of attention we spend on color. There are definite cultural differences, but these should be embraced, since we're all American.

Here here!

Answer 3

If you want to put an end to all those terms..
try and get the government to dump all of
those forms that say you have to mark
either black or white race, to get a job.
We didn't label ourselves. I've been marking
that little box since first grade.

Answer 4

The categories of race are archaic social constructs that were started by our country's pro-slavery forefathers; and even today in 2007, they continue to affect social relations adversely. No, no person is exactly black, white or yellow. These are simply expressions of our societal constructs. I do think defining people by their so called "color," and not by the content of their character, is terribly confusing and inane.

Think of a library in which all the books are classified according to the color of the book cover, instead of the subject matter of its contents. All the books with red covers in one hallways; brown books are arbitrarily placed in the reference section; blue books are always on the bottom shelf. Can you imagine how confusing it would be for anyone to find a book on any subject? Let's say you want to find a Chinese cuisine cookbook and a book about astrophysics. Where would you begin?

I think that's one of the reasons our society is so screwed up and people are so racist; we're looking at so many social issues based on race and color, and not at the content of each person's character, the life experiences of individuals.

Answer 5

I read an article earlier about a farmers rule that one drop of black blood made that person black and that is how the color thing got turned upside down.It was some way they used to do things during slavery

Answer 6

I could not agree with you more, but you see this is how many elitist in the media perpetuate racism in this country. Just us folks do not see any difference between ourselves and our friends. good for you for saying this. We need to get the media to see the light and put those terms away in the history books.

Answer 7

Yes

Answer 8

I agree, I'ts the people who only see in black and white who use those terms

Answer 9

wow good question gurl! i totally agree with you!

Answer 10

BECAUSE THEY ARE SELFISH, AND WHEN YOU MIX THEM TO GETHER YOU GET CHOCOLATE MILK. I GUESS IF YOU MIX PUERTO RICAN WITH CHINESE YOU GET SMOOTHIES OR SOMETHING. THEY THINK WE ARE IMMAGRANT, WELL THEN WHITE PEOPLE ARE HILL BILLIES AND BLACKS ARE SLAVES, WELL NOT ALL, I LIKE SOME, BUT MOST ARE MEAN.