Race and the Construction of Human Identity, Essay Example

This paper will be accessed confidentially according to three short presentations over the course of the class with special emphasis give to critical engagement of the readings. I will identify the argument being presented, access the assumptions on which the arguments have been made and contribute my personal point of views on the author’s views rather than simply paraphrasing the articles. These arguments will be accesses through clues presented in the texts of the papers and an active thinking process. I hope to find assertive and contrasting views of each of the articles in order to make sense of the best way to critically analyze the text.

• Identify the Argument
• Look for Clues
• Look for Assenting and Dissenting Arguments to contrast the views in order to critically analyze views.

Race has been a form of human identity going back to the seventeenth century and still leads to much discrimination and stereotyping in today’s society. The purpose of this article is “to identify the consequences and ramifications of race bias and prejudice and mixed-race and how it has affected human identity in today’s culture.” (Smedley, 1998).Academia’s and scholars view racism as a man made stereotype which has absolute no bearing on any intrinsic value with relation to validity. On a differing view ethniticity may have a different capacity with relation to degrees of distinction because of how people are treated with relation to color. Dealing with different cultures is nothing new to people; the only difference is how the issue is perceived in today’s society. “Some people may still have the tendency to appear unyielding and rigid and in total opposition to take others into their quaint and comfortable society as a whole.” (Smedley, 1998). This is most often seen in small towns or by cultures that are traditional or simply closed minded.

Through time it has been “quite apparent that there are certain privileges that are obtained natural with the privilege of being born white or Caucasian.” (McIntosh, 2010). This is the first paper that was written by a white person on white privilege. “Men have often noted that they are over advantaged but still refuse to grant the same privileges to women who accomplish the same goals and do the same work as them.” (McIntosh, 2010). There is a certain ideology which goes with ‘white privilege’ and that is the idea that men are taught in general not to believe they are the supreme race. This makes it very difficult for them to see others as equal and to change their ways. It is up to women to help to reveal the ‘true concept, definition and existence of white privilege in order to bring it to a halt. After only writing this article did the author realize he was part of ‘white privilege’ which was not fair and just to the other minorities of the world.

Jeffrey Fish brings strong in his article that the fashion of race is only an illusion brought by man and should not determine who or what a person’s worth is. He touches on the “possibilities that evolution, genetics and various modifications of man may have contributed to this bizarre radical injustice.” (Fish, 2010).  Geographic placement may have had a large emphasis on color and physical differences between the races for the most part. It is a shame that Americans stoop to the level of classifying a human being according to their blood line rather than seeing all individuals as equals and what they can contribute to society as whole. That is pure discrimination according to Jeffrey Fish. Different heritages tend to contribute to a person’s prestige in the community in which they reside. Many of this discriminatory nature are innate and are both external and internal and need to be thoroughly examined so there can be justice attained. Legislation and communities have moved forwards since the days of Civil Rights but unfortunately there is still much discrimination amongst us.

References

Audrey Smedley “Race and the Construction of Human Identity” Retrieved February 25, 2010 from,http://www.alfanos.org/pdfs/03_intro_philo_spr09/15_Smedley.pdf

Peggy McIntosh “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Retrieved February 25, 2010 from, http://www.myessays.com/details.php?eid=4728

Jeffrey Fish “Mixed Blood” Retrieved February 25, 2010 from, http://www.free-essays-free-essays.com/dbase/1c/alx46.shtml