Monday, September 14, 2009

The Myth of Race


Race. It is the giant pink elephant in the room (no pun intended there). People seem to always be aware of it, even if only on a subconscious level. But why? Why are we so tied to race? Race, even when we attempt to avoid it, seems to have a way of creeping back into our minds. We seem to be most conscious of it when among those who do not share our skin color--even if we share the same values. Why? Why do we care so much about it? And why do light-skinned people want to be dark when they are clearly white? And why do dark people want to be light-skinned when they very obviously will never be (Michael Jackson not withstanding)?

I once wrote a paper in college entitled "The Myth of Race." I researched the history and development of the concept of race. While "race" in general has always been an issue for humans, the most recent concept, which is based on skin color and physical outer characteristics had its roots in Darwinism. Now I do not care to war a debate on Charles Darwin or his many admirers, but on those who would later apply darwinian thought to the social world and use it as a "scientific" ground for their very beligerent racsim. Guys like Chamberlin, Hitler and many of the presigious elite of the academic world in the U.S. bought into the field of eugenics, which has largely been condemned by today's standards. I think when many people think about race, they are confused. We seem to lump everything into one giant category and call it "white" or "black" or "hispanic," simply because we identify a pattern of behavior and associate it with skin color.

It cracks me up when Americans call black people "African-Americans" and somehow think that every black person in the world is simply that--"African-American." And "Africans" are not one unified people, but rather have thousands of very distinct and diverse ethnicities, religions, traditions and cultures. Geographic lines and boundaries are often very arbitrary and reflect some treaty made by countries thousands of miles away, who have no concept or idea about the people who actually live there. Think of L.A. Within just a few hundred square miles, thousands of racial and ethnic backgrounds not to mention languages are represented. Or California for that matter. To say that there is a typical "Californian" is like saying "well you know those New Englanders--they're all the same." So why do we make such a big deal about it? And should we care if other people are racist?

Race goes deep. But I would argue--only skin deep. Race is the color of one's skin, hair and that's about it. Things like culture, ethnicity, religion, language and values are very different and distinct categories that may or may not intersect. It has to be taken on an individual basis. But I understand that this runs counter to human nature. We instinctually look for and identify patterns and then create categories in our minds. The problem is when we attempt to do this with race, we are often wrong because race is probably the smallest factor in identifying any group. But we live in a age of "demographics" and polling, largely for marketing purposes so that we sell our products to this group or that group.

We have also been trained from a very young age to do this. We mark "White" or "White-hispanic" on forms(apparently a very important distinction)and divide our churhes into categories like "black" churches and "Spanish" church and even "children's" church. Now this in itself is no evil. But it also tells children that they are very different from one another. While there are many differences to be celebrated, I do not believe that race is a worthy distinction. Hear me out. Anytime, we make distinctions as superficial as the color of skin and hair, and make much of them, we always end up majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. This is why I believe that race is not really a legitimate group. A "white" south-African who recieves American citizenship would technically be an "African-American." This goes to show that these distinctions can never be totally acurate and are often misleading.

I propose that we do not deny the color of our skin, for that is equally as dangerous, but simply put race in the right perspective, just as we would think about the difference between the color of paint. The Bible says that we are all one race, fallen short of the glory of God, with one remedy--the blood of Jesus Christ in whom "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."(Galatians 3:28) One Kingdom--the kingdom of heaven with one song, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!" Now that is a group I want to be a part of.