| Race and Racialism: Q&A |
 Q:.We
need to judge people as individuals and not as members of some race. I
live and act in the world as an individual, I do nothing as "a
White person."A: It is, of course, one's choice how to see oneself. But no matter how many of us stick our heads in the sand, issues of ethnicity will not go away. Ever. Race as a viable biological construct does not cease to exist despite your unwillingness to be identified by it. What if John were to say, "I live and act in the world as an individual, I do nothing as a Homo sapien (or mammal, or vertebrate, etc.)?" The fact is, that being a Homo sapien (or male or mammal or vertebrate) impacts upon our biology in such a way as to help define our behaviors, aptitudes and capacities. No one doubts this. Research demonstrates that race also helps to define our behaviors, aptitudes and capacities. So the most accurate reply to the above statement would be that you may be an individual, true, but you are a White (or Homo sapien or mammal, etc.) individual. |