Race Is A Racist Concept

Focusing on racial, sexual or any group-based understanding of difference rather than on similarities or differences between individuals, we focus on generalities. Making a generalization based on race or sex or anything is a form of prejudice. Race is a social construct vaguely founded in biology (and, possibly, socio-economic background): big surprise, different people look, think, act and experience the world in different ways. We group ourselves according to similar backgrounds and creeds. We mentally assign others to groups based on our perceptions of their backgrounds or creeds.

Our perceptions of things do not create reality in those things. Things exist as they are and are not directly affected by our feelings or assumptions about them. Yet, our prejudices about things, and people, will change how we respond to and act toward them and, in the case of people, how they respond to us.

Everyone is prejudiced. It is how we cope with the world of infinite variation and possibility. We form a conclusion based on past experience and make educated guesses about what that will mean next time. We catalog each bit of information we receive about the world and construct an explanation of the whole catalog that is coherent to us. For example, we generalize physics and assume if we kick a football, it will move and our toe will not be hurt very much, while the opposite will be true if we kick the side of a building. It is human to make assumptions based on partial information. This can also be called prejudice.

When the partial information is about a person, we run the risk of our prejudice becoming an ism. People make generalized assumptions about others based on limited information and their perceptions of what “group” the other belongs to. People are racist and sexist and all kinds of -ist, because they allow their natural inclination to form prejudices influence how they perceive and respond to other people.

The use of general terms for groups of people is a socially constructed shorthand to indicate a set of probable attributes possessed by members of that group. It is not “true,” but rather a socially constructed shorthand. The acceptance of the existence of racial groups is an acceptance of the “truth” of the assumptions contained in that generalization. Therefore, the belief in racial categories is a racist belief. Other types of categories are similar, whether sex or religion or nationality or age or body type or health status.

People, when you get them alone, are individuals. Each person has a unique set of experiences, beliefs and physical characteristics. Pair any two people and you will be able to find ways in which they are similar and ways in which they are different.

Similarities are to be celebrated. Differences are to be accepted and explored and learned from. Having compassion for others as unique individuals is the only way to counteract prejudice. We must reflect on our assumptions about others and note the inherent prejudices they embody. Prejudice is an inherent human quality and can not be faulted in and of itself. Hatred, persecution, discrimination, favoritism, these are all active expressions of the natural processes of prejudice.

Our prejudices are naturally created by our experience and background. The way we express them, or allow them to influence our behavior and future beliefs, is within our control; we are responsible for all of our own actions and for how we behave toward others. If we reflect upon our understanding of the world, we can become aware of our prejudices. If we are aware of our prejudices, we can take steps to prevent them from negatively impacting those with whom we interact, or our own perceptions.

NOTE: This is not a condemnation of any social programs, such as Affirmative Action. The important thing about those programs is they are necessary to counteract the institutional and sometimes unconscious prejudices people have against groups they believe a person to be a member of. It is another form of prejudice, that is certain. But while there is irrational prejudice influencing the behavior and decisions of those in power, a balancing prejudice must be use to counter it. Whether, or to what extent, humans, Americans, or anyone, can eventually find the rationality or compassion to guide their actions and reactions, is a completely different topic.