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Race

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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You tell me.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Blagsta
    You tell me.

    Well, you brought up that idenity matters in response to stargalaxy's comment on 'why does race matter'. The implication is that you think that the two are interlinked in a way which denies any separation.

    So the onus is on you to explain your point.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm asking you what you think.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Blagsta
    I'm asking you what you think.

    I'm aware of that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No I don't. Identity is what is most important to you where it matters, not what it 'should' matter about. You could identify yourself as human (well, probably) down to the guy who lives in the back bedroom at number 54 fish road. You can pull parts of your identity from where you grew up, what your racial history is, family history, what university you went to and so on and so forth. Being black or white doesn't have to be the defining factor and doesn't even have to be a factor at all.


    Your turn.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So the fact that the one thing you can't change about your appearance is your skin colour and people make assumptions based on this isn't important?
    I'm not saying that race/colour always defines identity internally, but it does shape how people see you.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yes, but how others see you isn't always accurate or relevant to the judgement in hand.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Identity is, at the end of the day, a social construct.

    I should imagine race would be more pertinenet to identity in racist societies than it would be in non-racist societies.

    I don't believe that the construction of an identity around race is innate.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Fiend_85
    Yes, but how others see you isn't always accurate or relevant to the judgement in hand.

    No, but in a society such as ours (which is racist), it is an important factor. Black mates of mine often say that they tend to get perceived as black first before anything else.
    But just 'cos someone is black, doesn't mean they have the same identity as someonelse who is black. A mixed race mate of mine in Birmingham gets pissed off when people assume he likes reggae 'cos he's black. He doesn't, he hates it. He's of African roots rather than Carribean and the two are quite different.
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