Race does not equal culture

[Budguy68]

that was long and a little hard to understand...

i do not believe that there is such a thing as race ....i believe that race is more of a socially constructed thing...meaning that the meaning of race differs depending on the culture you come from...

For example, in mexico there are people that consider themselves white...but when they come to the US they are no longer white they are mexican...so there is a difference in meanings...there.

You're right. White Mexicans don't identify themselves as whites when they come in the US for some odd reason.

Iam guessing it's because they are afraid of being called a race traders by other Mexicans and also white Americans won't truely accept them as being one of their own. They would accept a german white person as one of their own but no a white Mexican. Iam just guessing though.

I have a few cousins, a sister, brother and a father who have blue eyes, very light colored skin and hair. I am kinda curious to ask them if they consider themselves white or do they consider themselves brown. Its a very unconfortable question to be ask but I wonder what they will say.

It really shouldn't matter but yeah.

 

[Budguy68]

Humans are weird in the sense that we are probably the only species on Earth that discriminated people for what race they are. Just because somebody is one race it should not mean they cannot be apart of a cetain culture. Some countries are more tolerant than others, but certain countries claim a certain homogeniality is crucial fo thier culture to survive. A dream of mine and many of my friends(some would calll us hippies) os to see culture pass racial lines. Why cant people just be referred to as American as appose to african american, hispanic american, or asian american if they are born and raised here. I can understand if you are one way and then you just change, but say for example your parents are different races from each other, and one parent comes from a family that believes homogeniality is important. When you are born into these types of situation one family may not accept you because you are "mixed" with something else. Say a Greek family takes a vacation to South Africa(just for an example) and most of the family dies in a car accident - just the infant boy surviving. The infant is took in and raised in an orphanage around where many zulu happen to live. Say nobody ever adopts this boy and he grows up around these people. I donnot know how the zulu in South Africa would handle this because I donnot know mush about them, but would they allow this boy to learn and speak their language? Would they consider him zulu or just a lost greek kid if zulu is all he knew? Or would they hate him for what he is? Would an indian girl born in China be treated equally than the Han majority? Woud they be considered Chinese? The answer to the question regarding both the South African and the Chinese situation will probably no. Neither the lost greek boy nor the indian girl would probably be welcome with open arms. I am sure there have been plenty of situation where people in situations similar to this have been accepted, but most of the time they will not like to even associate with sombody who is racially different. As much as I value indivuality( one should at least tolerate their neighbors customs), if somebody grows up around a certain type of people not knowing anything about their ancestory or not being directly connected to their ancestory and only knowing the traditions of the people around them, then they should be accepted into that group. This is even a problem with diverse nations like the US and Canada. We were all one color anyway, way down the line we are all 99% similar when it comes to DNA. SO why do people have such biased ideas about race-culture relations. Does anybody understand what I'm saying? Do you agree or disagree of what I think? I am very open-minded so post what you really think. I appreciate your time.

Great post, very well said.

I been trying to say a very similar message for a very long time here too.

I don't like the idea of tolerating other people's customs though.

Should we tolerate those who aren't tolerant themselves? Should we tolerate people who are against gay, colored people and women rights and against freedom of expression? What will you do if their numbers become many?

 

[Amakelapetou]

i am so sick of race threads, no offense but your among your own on this site, why dwell on the bad, why not exchange history culture, art.

I APOLOGIZE IF I OFFENDED YOU. THIS WAS JUST SOMETHING THAT I WANTED TO PUT OUT THERE TO SEE IF PEOPLE AGREED WITH ME. I WAS NOT TRYING TO DWELL ON ANYTHING. I AM JUST INTERESTED IN WHY HUMANS DO WHAT THEY DO AND HOW THEY REACT TO CERTAIN SITUATIONS. THIS WAS ONE OF THE CASES. I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW SOME WOULD HAVE BECOME FRUSTRATED WITH MY POST AS IT IS A BIT NEGATIVE. ,AGAIN I AM SORRY THAT I OFFENDED YOU.I DONNOT DWELL ON BAD THINGS I AM JUST A VERY CURIOUS PERSON.

 

[Budguy68]

i am so sick of race threads, no offense but your among your own on this site, why dwell on the bad, why not exchange history culture, art.

Well this is a race forum....jk

I'll confess that I mostly well on the bad things myself. But thats why I use this forums for. I use it to discuss issues with people and I hardly ever have anything nice to say.

I believe that in order to solve problems they must be discussed and talked about that way we better understand them and solve them. Would you agree with me that kids this days think that they must follow a certain standard in order to fit in? That is if they are black they must act black or if they are brown they must act brown else they will be outcast?

Where is the fun in having a forum and internet where everyone agrees with you.. lol. Wouldn't things be more interesting if everyone disagrees with you? The best ideas in the world are those no on agreed with at first.

 

[ElDominicano]

I hear both of you, it's cool I spent a good amount of my life discussing issues such as this one, and it's a waste of time in my opinion, people don't change,
"no matter where you go you are what you are player, and you could try to change but thats just the top layer, man you was who was when you got here"-Jay-z