The Truth About Race

Here's the blunt truth about race in America:

In America, race is a social construct whose only significance is in the context very racism that created it. Think about it:

When you fill out an application, you're supposed to list the information that is relevant to your qualification to work. We--- the intelligent people--- recognize that race in itself has no scientifically observable significance that would affect one's effectiveness at a task; the color of your skin or your heritage would not affect your ability to carry boxes, type, sing, write, direct, or whatever it is you do.

Yet, they still ask for your race. Well, if it has no work related significance, then why do they ask? Think about it:

1. They don't ask for your race because it affects your qualification; they ask for your race so that the racial trends can be studied to make sure that there is no discrimination taking place.

It's a safety measure. Think about it:

Because of racism, various places of work have quotas about how much of a certain race must be present in the workforce. Sociologists and historians and lawyers and various humanitarian organizations are the only ones who really use this information (some employers use it differently, which I will address shortly). The entire need for information regarding race is spawned by the existence of racism itself; without racism, race has no significance.

So, of course, then there's the obvious:

2. They don't ask for your race because it affects your qualification... to work. They ask because it may affect your qualification... to work for THEM. In the worst case scenario, they ask for your race because they want to discriminate against a certain race under the false pretense of race determining the ultimate worth, inferiority, or superiority of a person; again, intelligent people know better. And again, racial discrimination itself creates the excuse for the existence of race.

And, even though I call this The Truth About Race, the fact is that the phenomenon of labeling for labeling's sake exists in a sphere much bigger than race. Any label by which we discriminate short of age--- because with age often does come physical, tangible conditions that affect the suitability of people to work in certain conditions--- exists because of the -ism thereby associated. Sexism creates sex; classism creates class; racism creates race; ethnicism creates ethnicity.

Now that I've written a bit, I can even isolate the incidents into two types: discriminatory labeling and anti-discriminatory labeling. In short--- using the idea of race for illustration--- race either exists for the purpose of racial discrimination or for the prevention of racial discrimination. But in and of itself, race has no significance. The day we decide that race no longer matters, there would be nothing (rational) that could reassert its significance.

Whoa O_o