Nicholas Gunnell

SOC 101
Prof. Sarah Schlabach
2 November 2015
Race and Racism
One of hardest things that we as humans do not grasp in its entirety is the
subject of race. Race is a word that has had many meanings over time from the
rule of the Romans all the way to today. Race is a socially constructed term and
therefore has no basis on genetics or biology. WE make what race is and is not.
We form what distinguishes us from others, which creates invisible barriers that
divide and dispute. And racism is not a new word and has been around since
society has existed. Racism is institutionalized by society meaning racism is an
established practice amidst members of society. Racism is a form of hate and
drives certain people to commit violence against another person because of the
way they look, sound, behave, what they believe, gender, social class, and
countless others aspects that separate the dominant from the minority.
Racism in regards to race is prevalent within any given society. It is an
underlying factor that pushes many people to believe and act the way they do.
Some examples are the racial profiling of minorities and the assumptions that
certain races are lazy, criminals, and thieves. This can lead sometimes to
harmful precautions, which result in injury or even death. Racism has been
divided into certain forms since the 1880s in America. The first was considered
old-fashion; where a small group or mob would gather together, find someone
(usually of a minority group) and hang or lynch him or her with no consideration
for whom they were. The second was aversive racism, which existed heavily in
the 1940s through the1960s. This was subtle in the form of ignoring the minority
group altogether and pretending they did not exist. And the final is laissez-faire
racism, which means to place blame on the victim of the group. Their social
status is because of their inferiority. Nowadays, racism exists within government
institutions, schools, households, military, and other places and can often go
unnoticed because it is already so heavily rooted in the society itself.
I honestly used race and ethnicity within lay conversation and thought
nothing of the difference between the two. But now, I understand that race is
nothing more than a constructed mass that changes overtime due to the views of
the members of society. This class also helped me see that race morphed
according to what we placed as higher class and low class and ultimately means
that we have the power to eliminate it through constant work and the
intermingling of cultures and ethnicities. I also found it very interesting that soon
interracial couples are occurring more often and soon children with interracial
backgrounds will outnumber children with white backgrounds. This means a lot to
me because my girlfriend is Native American and its very cool to see how the
U.S. has the potential for an expansion of understanding and changing the way
we view others. I am happy to know that we have no biological makeup that

makes people greater than another. We are all simply brothers and sisters from
many walks of life and backgrounds.