Race

I have always heard the term "race" and thought it was a legitimate thing. But after really learning about the term race and the effects of it, I have realized it is really not even a word. Race is really just a social construct created to arbitrarily categorize people. I had never thought of racism in this way until I actually read the exact definition of it. Also, growing up white I never realized some of the things that people with color face everyday. In the article, "Daily effects of white privilege" it really opened my eyes to the simple things the majority go through that is no big deal but to others (who face racism) is an obstacle. One statement in the article that stood out to me was, "I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin."I had never thought of the fact that bandages only come in "one" flesh color which is nude. On a black or Latino person this would stand out more than if it was on a white person. There were also a lot of other things in the article I never would of that as a "white privilege" until I actually read and thought about it. Some other facts about race I thought were interesting was that race has no genetic basis. There is not one characteristic, trait or even gene that distinguishes one "race" to another "race". I had never thought about race and genetics and it makes sense that they really do have no correlation with each other. Another fact that surprised me was that human subspecies don't exist. In fact, we are one of the most similar of all species. Yet, "race" makes it seem like people are from entirely different hemispheres. I really enjoyed Jane Elliot's demonstration on race through her experiment called "Angry Eyes". She really made me realize what it is like for people that go through racism not just for an hour, but for a lifetime. It really disappointed me how one of the students from the demo walked out and ended up leaving. That was not fair to the thousands of people who face racism every single day and cannot just walk away from it. I hope in the future we can have more people like Jane Elliot who care about the feelings of those facing racism and help put an end to the cruelty people endure.

Social Class

Equality is a very important aspect to American society. All people expect equal chance, opportunity and choice. One concept though that exists in society today, social class, contradicts our expectations of equality. Social class is a large group of people who rank close to one another in wealth, power and prestige. But if our society is supposedly “equal” wouldn’t everyone belong in the same social class? This is why our society is so troubled. We call ourselves equal when there is clearly a huge distinction between the poor and the rich. One fact that I read about that really alarmed me about our society was, “If a 1 ½ inch block were to equal $500 of income, the average American is only 7 feet off the ground, the average family would be 12 feet off the ground while some families incomes propels past the top of Mt. Everest (29,028 feet).” This really opened my eyes to see how our society is really split up when it’s supposedly equal. This also relates to the 99% and how many people think social mobility is possible with education and hard work. This analogy though is not what society is like today. Many people move up in social class because of wealth, power and prestige. Power is the ability to get your way despite the desires of other people. Wealth is property and income and prestige is respect or regard. Now the question is, should success and high social class be determined by education and hard work or power, prestige and wealth? This is the reason social mobility has been very hard for many Americans today. It’s hard to see a change in the future too because it seems like the rich (power elite) keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. Hopefully things can turn around for future generations and every one can have a better equal opportunity and social class can be determined by education and hard work over power and prestige.