Race to the finish.

Race is a socially constructed concept. It has no biological backup or scientific basis, it's simply a free-floating idea based upon humanity's observation of physical traits, and the stereotypes we attach to these traits. There's no biological or genetic foundation for the grouping of people according to race, but it's a concept that we all generally adhere to quite readily, without necessarily thinking through the consequences.

I had an extremely interesting and challenging class today with my Comm T&F class today. Essentially, we studied race, how it's the ultimate communicative concept, and how we all essentially adhere to this inexact dividing line with such rigidity that we end up justifying things like land appropriation, the Holocaust, apartheid, eugenics, internment, segregation, slavery....the list goes on. Kudos to my prof, who managed to do a very sensitive, intelligent, and insightful talk on concepts that can bring many people to riots.

That doesn't mean the class was easy to sit through: I have a chronic case of empathy, and it was more than disturbing to see things like Michael Richards' (best known as Kramer on Seinfeld) break down during his comedy act and exhibit some of the most vulgar and raw racism I've ever actually witnessed in a non-fiction setting. Pictures of grossly anatomically caricatured African Americans in historical documentation were also a part of the examples given, along with a clip from Top Gear on "Mexicans". For me, this experience was extremely uncomfortable, for two reasons: first, because I empathized for both the people who had to deal with the way they were so inaccurately portrayed, and secondly, because I am a white person observing how people from my ethnicity have essentially trashed everybody else, or developed some sort of superiority complex.

I can't do anything about my skin colour. I'm white, I will always be white (unless I'm embarrassed, sick, sunburnt, cold, or dead, in which case I can be a veritable rainbow of colours)...but like everyone else in the world who doesn't want to be Michael Jackson, I can't do anything about my race. I am also incapable of changing the mindset of any people who are racist, white or otherwise. And while I can do my best to be a good influence, there are no guarantees.

This is an issue that has hit close to home for me in the past little while due to the fact that my boyfriend of almost a month isn't white, and the fact that this was an issue with some of the people I'm close to was a bit of a shock to me. It broke my heart a bit, confused me, and really made me think a lot about how people are such flawed creatures. We really have no idea what we're doing sometimes. This guy is one of the strongest, funniest, and kindest people I know. He's one of the very few people I know who will be honest with themselves, and will genuinely look for what the right thing to do is. He's been there for me in some of the toughest times I've ever faced. Even before we were dating, we were close for a long time and the whole "race" thing--while sometimes funny (he makes fun of me cause I can't dance, I tease him about his hatred of cold weather and his huge, curly hair...pretty much an afro at this point) isn't so much an issue. With us, anyway. But some people can't look beyond that, which drives me up the wall. Stereotypes are only stereotypes; and people are so much more than the labels we put on them.

I can't change the whole world. But I can change my world: do my best to salvage the relationships that are important to me, cut out the ones that are a waste of time, and just keep going. Racism is such a bizarre, unnecessary evil, and I'm completely weary of it. I don't refuse to give people a chance based on race, and I don't favour one over another. Every person's an individual, and ought to be treated as such. Personally, I don't want to be judged based on the transgressions of every person who's ever fallen under the category of "white".

We're all a part of the human race, after all...and that's all that matters.