What is Race?

Race is just a social definition that we have grown so accustomed to that we believe it is biological. It is hard to believe but race wasn't originally based on skin color and in many places, it still isn't based on skin color. Race used to be based on where you came from. Your race was French, German, African... Now we call that your nationality because a lot of those people are considered "white" these days. In the late 1800s the Irish people were considered non-white. They were painted as drunken black people. However, today we look at an Irish person and we would call them white. I wonder if black people will ever be considered white? I really don't think so because we base everything off of skin color. You are only white if your skin is white. If you are black, Arab, Indian, or Asian you will probably never earn your whiteness. In America we define race with skin color. However in other places (like Japan) they define race by earwax. I remember this story of a black person talking about their identity. He just wanted to be called black, not colored and not African American. We created the word African American for black people but a lot of the time these black people are not from Africa. The boy said "I don't know why they call me African American, I'm not from Africa."

PS...Mr. Sal --> can you do your best to watch the episode about masculinity I gave to you or just give it back asap because the semester is ending!