[508] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Racism and what-not
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brandy L Evans)
Thu May 3 16:11:42 2001
Message-Id: <200105032010.QAA20794@department-of-alchemy.mit.edu>
To: Zhelinrentice L Scott <zlscott@MIT.EDU>
cc: "Michael M. Torrice" <mmt02@MIT.EDU>, mit-talk@MIT.EDU, liane@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 03 May 2001 15:47:50 EDT."
<200105031947.PAA10322@biohazard-cafe.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 16:10:49 -0400
From: Brandy L Evans <liane@MIT.EDU>
I think that an important distinction to make is between race and
culture. I am a quarter native american, but that doesn't play into
who I am at ALL because I wasn't raised in that culture. Now if I had
been raised on a reservation, I'll bet it would be a large part of who
I am - not because it's my race, but because that's the culture I was
raised in, and it is different from "mainstream" american culture. As
it is, I know next to nothing of the culture, nor do I look
particulary native american, and so it's not a part of who I am.
Because of this, asking "is race an essential characteristic of a
person" is a difficult question - do you identify yourself with a race
because of biology, or because of the culture that has been passed
down through the same path as the genes? Also, in our society it is
entirely possible to claim race as a part of your identity not because
the race *itself* is, but because of how you have been treated and
what your place is in society because of it. Like I said, I look
pretty white (my skin is actually paler than my albino
ex-boyfriend... and he's puerto rican, let's get into race and
appearance *there*), so I have in no way been treated differently by
anyone who may have treated me differently had I inherited darker skin
and hair. The biology isn't the determining factor, it's the treatment
that comes as a result of the biology.
My point is, saying "is race an essential..." is not good enough. The
word "race" itself is pretty meaningless anyhow; it makes it sound
like it's all about biology, when it's really about your culture and
your place in society. As evidenced by, as someone pointed out, the
Italians and Irish, who looked white as anything but were treated like
shit. Which could bring us into a discussion about what does "white"
mean, anyhow, but that's a whole other can of worms...
-Brandy
