Of course we’re referring here to what people mean when they say black, white, Asian, etc.
That one word and others related to it cause and/or result in so many problems today.
Why?
How is such a term as race defined today?
A general definition might be:
A group of the human species based on inherited material body attributes.
There are problems with this definition.
Race has been defined in several ways throughout history. One was Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid. Another was white, red, yellow, and black. There are others.
The current US Census website defines five racial categories. Despite its problems, it is probably the closest official classification.
White – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa
Black or African American – A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa
American Indian or Alaska Native – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment
Asian – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands
The numbers of the population in each of these categories are based on self-reporting on the census forms.
The recent actual census forms would seem to indicate that more than five exist, so the issue is confusing. According to them, Hispanic is specifically not considered a race.
If we were to follow these census guidelines, to be intent on segregating different appearing groups or regions, and to call them races, there would clearly be more than five.
For examples:
Hispanics would be expected to have their own race.
Persons of Middle East or North African descent are classified as white, despite differences from the whites of European descent.
Those darker-skinned persons from the Indian sub-continent are different from other Asians.
Where do the Portuguese and Brazilians fit in?
What about Australian Aborigines?
Red-skinned Indians of North America?
And who says whites are the “original peoples of Europe?”
Politics has raised its ugly head on this issue. A great deal of political philosophy and practice is based on what they call “race” as indicated above.
But what does science say?
We’ve written blogs dealing with science. There is good science, bad science, and politically-biased “science.”
Based on what appears to be good, current genetic science regarding our material bodies, the evidence indicates that all humans belong to a single race — the human race.
Thus any breakdown into “race” becomes purely a social and/or political construct — not a true racial difference.
So why the problem?
From ancient historical times, some people have felt it necessary to express their superiority over others. They have made decisions based on one or more aspects of a person or group. These aspects could be many different things — generally a different bodily appearance, a less sophisticated technology level, or a different culture.
Based on science, these are not racial or sub-racial aspects. They involve other characteristics and are mistakenly called or referred to as racial.
Many people even today have bought into this racial construct, believing that a different bodily appearance has a significant, usually negative, meaning.
Any attempt to group people as separate “races” by material appearance is flawed.
You can’t normally tell who or what a person really is just by noting their bodily appearance.
Humans are complex beings, different in some respects, but more alike than different. We tend to emphasize external appearance differences rather than recognize the vast similarities of the whole. We are similar in so many more ways than the appearance of our material body would suggest.
We need to recognize each person as an individual, not someone whose existence is based largely on skin color or some other visible material characteristic.
When left to their own resources, young children will naturally make friends with children of other so-called races. They recognize another young child to be a person like themselves. They will judge that child based on character — things like similar interests, attitudes, playfulness, friendliness, and other aspects — not “race.”
Yet we’ve heard recent reports of cases where friends of different “races” were driven apart by race theory indoctrination.
Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory proponents, and those of similar mind are undoing all the good that black leaders like MLK and John Lewis, as well as many whites, have done to bring people together.
We all have to become like little children in our relationships to come together.
And there is a larger concept in play here that most people don’t consider. A human is so much more than a material body indicates. We are not limited to a material body.
We must learn that we are primarily spiritual beings. We are spiritual beings before, during, and after our material bodies. Many of us will have multiple material bodies here on earth. Some of those bodies may be as what are called whites. Some of them as blacks. Some as Asians or others.
Not until we realize that we are all interconnected life forms will we ever come together and be united in love as citizens of the universe.