Post Reading Week 2

If i were to create my own definition of both race and ethnicity, I believe it would differ greatly from what we come to expect as one’s “race” in today’s society.  Throughout our whole lives we have been conditioned to think in certain ways and to adhere to a specific Western and Americanized perspective that is conveyed through the media.  Included in this is our perspective with regard to what race actually is.  As a whole, we come to identify race through physical characteristics and outward appearance.  This is where we get racial categories such as Hispanic, White, Asian, etc.  By adhering to such a standpoint, we create the idea that each one of these “races” is intrinsically different and separate from one another.  This is where the “biology of race” idea comes into place.  As human beings we feel compelled to categorize ourselves in order to create distinctions of similarity and dissimilarity within the general population.  What is inherently flawed with this view is that race is in fact not biological and that we as humans are essentially the same in nature.  We are all human beings composed of the same fundamental biological structures.  
With this, all human beings are considered to be of the same “race”.  We are all human, we all function in the same way, and all that separates us is physical appearance.  Of course one would find variety in physical appearances, so espousing race with humanity comes at no difficulty.  By seeing each other as human and intrinsically the same, we can then see each other as being this one universal Human race.  So my definition of race would be globalized and unifying in that it sees Humanity as “race”.  

So then, my definition of ethnicity would be one’s specific and cultural tendencies that arise in their character.  This definition allows for all of these concepts of being Asian, or African, or whatever label that you want to associate yourself with, but all under the notion that ultimately we are all intrinsically the same, that we are all human and equal.  

The biggest problem with the way that we see race today is the fact that associated with it are stereotypes, preconceived notions, and biases that skew the true nature of the beings that are being identified.  Alone, our conceptions of race are just classifications or categories for groups of people that exist.  Pure classification does no harm.  However, with classification we have associated  ideas of separation and superiority- inferiority complexes within the classification structure.  This is where elements of racism and oppression stem from.  If we are ever to break this oppressive structure of relation, we must begin to identify each other as equals.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  
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