The Color of Race

Racial categories have a long history in the United States and many other regions
of the world. The concept of race is an unsupported social construction yet society uses race to classify people in all aspects of life. There is no genetic marker that defines race, two individuals of the same race can have more genetic differences then two individuals of a different race. Although race has no biological backing the idea of categorizing people based on their has completely altered the entire world and the way we think of others.

Prior to class discussions and readings about racialization I did not think much about where race came from. I knew that racism existed but never thought about how race came to be. after exploring the idea or racialization I realized that humans are more alike than any other species. Therefore in order to separate people, creating categories based on color would almost guarantee that there would be no intruders into the “elite group”(either you’re white or you’re not).

Separation based on racial categorizing goes on all around the world. Take Latin American for example, Dominican Republic and Haiti separated by one small river yet they have completely different views on race. And my particular belief is that Dominicans do not want to affiliate themselves with Haitians because they are too "black" (Haitian skin color is too dark) Dominicans stereotype Haitians as Whites stereotype Blacks, as if they are part of a different race. the darkest Dominican which would be considered Black in the US will call themselves Indio, Dominicans hate being affiliated with Blacks which is why Haiti was not excepted. When Haitians were imported to work the low paying jobs that Dominicans would not, Dominicans felt superior. Dominican Republic wanted their independence from Haiti, they felt their blackness was different. Although Haiti is considered a poor country today it was not always that way Haiti was once a strong country on the verge of greatness embracing there African ancestry and trying to protect that from people who did not respect it. Why wouldn't Dominican Republic want to be affiliated with this type of strength other than their skin color. Even with Dominicans in the US, some of them are dark in color and have African features but when mistaken for a person of African descent they become very defensive. Even though, just like Haitians they are of African descent.Color, one of the easiest ways to separate people from each other because it's the first thing you see. Separation by color has stagnated races since the beginning of time.

Works Cited

Angier, Natalie. "Do Races Differ? Not Really, DNA Shows." Do Races Differ? Not Really, DNA Shows. 22 Aug. 2000. The New York Times on the web. 29 Jan. 2013< http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082200sci-genetics-race.html>.

"Black in Latin America." Haiti and the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided . PBS. 2011. WNET. 16 April 2013 < http://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/

Gallagher, Charles A. Rethinking the color line. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009, 2007, 2003, 1999. pgs 18-22

Feagin, Joe R. Racial and Ethnic Relations. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2011, 2008, 2003. 1-14.