Sociology 11

By

Carlos Adams Ph.D.

Adjunct instructor at Green River and Pierce Colleges

When I was asked to write about race for this newsletter, I wondered where to begin. The complexity of race confounds people as they try to simplify the nature of race into neat and well understood categories. There’s an ongoing conversation on race, yet most conversations lack even a basic understanding of race. The myths and assumptions about race usually provide the conversational framework and attempt to address racial issues without addressing the nature of race.

What is the nature of race? First, race is a paradoxical social construction. Race doesn’t exist on a DNA level, yet most people believe it does. The social construction of race assigned positive and negative attributes to certain skin colors and racial ancestries, yet these attributes have no scientific basis. We all have certain biological realities in terms of skin color and physical features; how we react to, define, and value these realities are the social constructions. Although race doesn’t exist, the belief that it does has a material impact on people’s lives.

Second, the nature of race is about power, always has been and still is. The creation of race was to acquire and maintain power using physical features and racial history as the means to acquire and maintain power. Elites, who would become whites, created race in such a way as to provide the foundation for white supremacy. In doing so, a racial hierarchy, with whites at the top and all others below, developed into a rigid structure unwilling to change. People of color now use race to empower their racial group as they seek a more equitable society. In the sixties phases like Black power etc. echoed across the world. People of color caught onto the game and realized race was indeed about power. One key difference between the goals achieve through acquiring power is whiteness used power to dominate while, in most cases, people of color used the power of race to create a more democratic society.

Next, the nature of race conflates biology with ethnicity to assign certain ethnicities with a biological given. Yet, race is based on biology while ethnicity is based on culture. Race and ethnicity are closely related but race is a myth while ethnicity is real. In addition, in America race supersedes ethnicity. Your ethnicity is absorbed into a particular racial category.

Fourth, the nature of race is intersectional and generational. Not everyone experiences race in the same way. Race cannot be reduced to a singular issue outside of gender, sexuality, or class etc. and these differences influence racial experiences. A person’s generation also determines the nature of race. There’s little doubt most millennials view race differently than their parents or grandparents. The generational differences are real in the sense that there is greater interaction and integration in most of the country experienced by the millennials than their parents or grandparents experienced. This increased interaction and integration has reduced the divisions from the historical solid barriers like Jim Crow and anti-miscegenation laws to more contextual barriers. Many of the barriers existing today depend on the context where the racial interaction takes place. One may not have a problem with race until the individual is competing for resources or influence, then race becomes apparent and the historical barriers rise up to divide people not unite people.

Next, the nature of race relies on myths, assumptions, and stereotypes in order to determine who has access to power, how the access of power is obtained, and when access to power is available. Most individuals have never explored race within an academic setting. Most people learn about race from friends, relatives, and the media. In doing so, most people’s understanding of race stems from the myths, assumptions, and stereotypes introduced to them by friends, family, and the media.

In addition, the nature of race lies in its pervasiveness. Race plays a role in everything a person says, does, or thinks because it influence a person’s or community’s perception of the world. Racism may not always be present, though some would argue that In America, no one is outside of systemic and institutional racism, but race is always present. Because of its pervasiveness, no individual or no interaction among people is race neutral.

In addition, the nature of race resides in the differences between individual and collective identities. Race was constructed to provide those associated with whiteness feel entitled to be seen as an individual identity first and a racial group second. Most whites identify in terms of ethnicity or nationality rather than race. Most whites don’t think of their whiteness until they are the racial minority, the race becomes real. For people of color the individual and group identity dynamics works in a way where they are seen as a racial group first and must earn the right to be seen as an individual. They must prove they are not the stereotype.

Finally, the nature of race is evolutionary and fluid. Unlike the dualistic construction of racial categories where one is part of or not part of a particular racial group, the construction of race evolves depending on the historical moment and social/political environment. Whiteness has evolved from racial superiority to racial normality or neutrality and non-whiteness has evolved from inferiority to something not normal or neutral. The fluidity of race develops from an intricate and influential interaction among the various racial groups as each group uses race to acquire and maintain power to serve its social needs and emotional desires.

So if the nature of race is a socially constructed myth, why has it become so real in our lives so fast? My research leads me to believe this racial reality happened as fast as it did for two reasons. First, race is so easily recognizable. Unlike gender, sexuality, and class, it is difficult to hide race. A person can distinguish race from a distance. While a person may not be able to easily recognize a particular race of an individual, the idea the person inhabits a racialized body is easily recognizable. The second reason is empirical truth: the truth that can’t be questioned. Exploiting the empirical truth found in the unquestionable word of God, the absoluteness of science, and the rigidity of the rule of law, elites convinced people race is real. If God says race is real, if pseudo-science proves race is real, and if the rule of law determines racial realities, then who would argue race is a myth.

This is only a brief introduction to the nature of race. Within each aspect developed above, the complex and contextual nature of race needs more investigation. My research on and involvement in the nature of race has provided me with an understanding of these complexities and contextualities, which is still incomplete and always will be. As the nature of race evolves, our understanding of race will evolve. Race must become an ongoing conversation among people and within institutions. The conversations need to be courageous, patient, and open to possibilities.