microphakia976

I was watching this documentary and it talked about how race is more of a social construct than a biological one. Scientifically there is only one race and that is the human race, so to put into perspective races do not exist. So why do you think many people judge or put people into categories solely on race rather than anything else. For example some say asian americans are inherently smarter because of their race, some people also say blacks are not as smart as their white counterparts because of their race but they are more athletically inclined. If you see an asian and a black person, in the room, you might not know it consciously but you immediately associate certain qualities for the black person and certain qualities for the asian person. Or if you see a white person and a black person walking together, you automatically assume the black person is poorer and the white person has more money(not everyone assumes that though). But in fact that is not true, one has as much difference in dna between a white person as an asian or black person. This was concluded when in the documentary a white guy and a black girl took a dna sample and found only a three base difference, she had the same amount of difference with her african american counterparts as well. So what do you think? Btw you could look up the documentary on youtube.

AceAites

As for intelligence, it's probably because Asians are known to work harder in the US, because of CULTURE. African Americans, on the other hand, have parents who don't discipline their children as much in terms of Education as an Asian would. (I don't know many black parents who threaten to disown/physically beat their kids if they got a B+).

It's just culture-based. Asians are not smarter, but since environment has a lot to do with affecting intelligence, maybe it's because Asians grew up having to study all the time, thus their brains adapted to critical thinking and information-retention since childhood.

The same thing goes with the White/Black stereotype with wealth. It's all a cultural bias thing.

drinkyoupretty

I don't see how something being a social construct makes it an illusion. Race matters because we made it matter. Until we live in a world where racism has been eradicated, ignoring race is not going to help anyone. That said, knowing race matters is not the same as attributing qualities to someone before knowing them because of their race.

dfree124

As AceAites said, the difference in races are the result of environment, or culture.

ForeIN

I think it depends on where you live...I think the U.S. overthinks race-we are all humans in the end

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silencefell

there are definitely scientific differences between races, like, in anatomy, we learned that you can identify a person's race by looking at their skeleton or hair samples. but yeah, most everything else, like intelligence or wealth are based upon nurture. but at the same time, it could be one of those things where one race is more inclined to a specific action (like asians and school, blacks and athletics), but that's only so much so as you can say that there are differences in gender, where guys are stronger/faster/better at math: there are exceptions.
so really, there are cultural differences but that doesn't necessarily mean that those are the rules.

Voberaptor

I think Asians are the smartest because they're very independent people.

IceQube

I agree, and it's disappointing to see this kind of collectivism exist in our world today. And I don't see the whole race issue going away anytime soon ... many still think of Obama as our "first African-American President," we use race to benefit some racial groups at the expense of others in the college application process, we have National Achievement Scholars, etc.

See? We're still bunching people together by race - and that's at the heart of racism.

HSMCCP

Meh, biologically-speaking, each race has a characteristic susceptibility to particular diseases (e.g. blacks and sickle cell anemia, Asians and stomach cancer, whites and skin cancer) due to a certain way in which their biological and immune systems are built...so I don't think race is solely dependent on culture and I don't think race is an illusion.

performersmom

This is a great thread. The respectful and inquisitive tone is wonderful.
Your thoughts would be of interest to this thread as well:
"Race" in College Admission FAQ & Discussion 9

microphakia976

Sickle cell is not a racial trait, it's the result of ancestors living in malarial regions. In addition race does not account for genetic variation in humans. So you may think sickle cell anemia may be something accounted to only blacks, that is not the case either.

neorobie

And not all Asian countries place emphasis on education! Look at Cambodia for an example.

HSMCCP

^^I said susceptibility, not trait....lrn2read

LaChicaBuena

I watched a similar documentary in one of my history classes last week. Was that the same documentary where the African-American cross-country runner was announced as being valedictorian (I think her name was Gorgeous) at the end?

microphakia976

Why did you say just blacks are more susceptible, why don't you say people living in the mediterranean region where malaria is more rampant? See that's my point, you may not know it but that's how you subconsciously classify people by race.