Does race define who a person is?

[thriftylefty]

Anthropologist developed the concept of race to describe us, we have misused to concept as a way to define each other. I grew up with a kid who I would describe as white but I would define him as black because if you didn't look at him while he talked you would hear a black kid. I think he thought of himself as black being the only white kid in that part of town growing up in a black family since he was in diapers.
Conversely I know small town black people who tell me they were uncomfortable the first time they visited an urban area and didn't prefer to live there for the same reason a small town white person would not prefer to live there.
What we learn from cultural Anthropology is how we describe each other has no bearing on how we should define each other.

[Chevykid]

Number3 was the correct answer right??

[Farrowlane]

Originally Posted by Cali BassMan

Does Race Define us?
Do you think the White Farmer in Missouri has more in common with
1. A white lawyer from San Francisco
2. A Latino Gang Banger from San Antonio
3. A Black Farmer from Arkansas

you just answered your own question

That's a pretty open ended question. Maybe this lawyer comes from a family that lived in or near a hispanic neighborhood. His family may even be white hispanics from Spain. He may be fluent in spanish and have many Hispanic friends. He may have been raised with Latinos and is very aware of Latino culture (I'm assuming Mexican here).

This white farmer may hate lawyers and lawyer types. He may be very religious (unlike most lawyers and much like black farmers) and not feel comfortable with urban dwellers of any kind. He may think and breathe agriculture, much like his black counterpart in Arkansas.

On the other hand. He could be a member of the American Nazi Party or the KKK. In that case, he would prefer the association of the white SF lawyer, who may very well find him disgusting.

You're question has far too many variables to be answered intelligently.

[wktully]

Race, like religion, sex, car I drive, house I live in, work I do, body shape, etc. are all labels we create in order to define our fellow man. It gives our ego (our mind) something to latch onto and create from. Someone is overweight *bang* "they must eat too much and can't control themselves and and and........." So much for that person having a chance at defining themself. You've already got an opinion about them. The passage of time is not what will diminish the issue of race - the release of these labels and definitions our brains "auto create" will. Don't allow your mind to draw from society or the past to define someone by their race or whatever - that unknown person is a blank canvas - give them an open space to "be". It's a right now choice by each of us - not decades of time passing by that will eliminate pre-disposed definitions. We're all humans last time I checked

[stan4]

Originally Posted by Bennie Flowers

To many, race works like politics. You have a liberal democrat and a conservative republican and you are able to identify their beliefs, religious backgrounds, educational background, economic class and their overall lifestyles based on that ONE label. It's easy to do and in many cases the characteristics of that label, liberal or a conservative, seem to be true.

Although can race really work that way? Some individuals try. Well, many try. How about THE MAJORITY of this country try. They try and in some cases they are right but in many cases they fail.

.

I already disagree with the first statement. Your political affiliation does not have to have anything to do with any of the other statements you made. And thinking like that is what divides us.