Destinee Cason

aEDUC 2120 Lesson Three- Race

 

In lesson three, you will read about what race is and what it means to me. You also will read about how i view race in general. You will also read about activity I performed. This lesson is also about understanding that you cannot just stereotype someone for the way they look. This lesson teaches that there are many people that look like one race but is the complete opposite from that race.

 

1. How would you define race? What does “race” mean to you?

 

Race to me is a way to label people for their skin color or the way they may look. To me race means many things. First race is one of the large reasons why people treat each other badly. Race is also a way to put someone down in terms of their looks. I also believe that race is just a way to have a political advantage. To me race means that we have another thing to label us by and to further judges us for our looks and discriminate.

 

2. How many races do you think there are? What are they? How do you decide which race someone belongs to?

 

To be honesty I think there may be more then like five to be simple. I think they are whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians. Without asking a person about their race, I would categorize them by some things. First the way their skin town looks. I would also look at their facial structure. Then I would look at their height.

 

3. Would you trade your skin color? How do you think your life would be different if you looked like someone of a different race?

 

I would never in my life time change my skin color. I love that I am tan all year round. Well it would make a lot different if I was white. Like if I had no tan and my hair and eyes were not brown then my life would be a little different. I think that I would not be called a Mexican.

 

4. What stereotypes have you heard or seen about different racial groups?

 

I have heard a lot of things. Like Mexicans are dirty but they will work. I also heard that they will cut a person then shoot a person. I also hear that Mexicans are only good for field work. I have heard that black people are lazy and want the government to pay for everything. I hear people say that Chinese people are smart and good workers. I also hear that white people will cheat you out of money and not think twice about it. I also hear they are the most racist. I am not saying that I agree with what I hear. To be honest I think it’s just plain out rude.

 

5. Do you think people today should be held accountable for past discrimination? Why or why not?

 

I do not believe that we should hold people accountable for something they did not do. Yes, I know that many people were in slaved because of white people. I also can tell you that many Indians were killed too and their land was taken from them. With that said, I still don’t think we should discriminate anyone at all for something that has been done in the past. I believe that if we do, then we will never move forward in our hopes of being a better country. The only thing we can do is move on and thank God that we have moved beyond in slaving people and all the wrong doings that you read in history books.

 

6. Forty years ago, the Civil Rights Act declared that forced racial segregation was illegal. In light of this, why do you think some neighborhoods, schools and workplaces are still segregated?

 

I believe that some people have trouble with the idea of mixing with other races. We also have to remember it has only been fifty years that all things have been equal for all people. I think that people are also not able or do not want to be in the same living areas of another race. I also believe that people are going to hang with people that are alike to them self’s. I believe that it will take more time till our country will get over this bump in the road.

 

7. Activity one – Is Race For Real? Describe what you learned by completing this activity?

 

I have learned that race is a social idea. I knew that people used the term race but were not sure where they got it from. It has just been the past hundred years that we have decided to categorize people by the way they look. I learned the first real documentation of race was from Thomas Jefferson. I also learned that ancient society did not look at people’s physical appearance to divide them. They used religion, the language a person spoke or you class.

 

8. Activity 2 - Sorting People. Describe your results when you tried to sort people based on their appearance?

 

Describe your results when you tried to sort people based on physical traits?Well the results showed that I had more wrong then right. I realized that it’s almost impossible to tell what race a person is by just there appearance. The activity displayed people in groups that I would never have quest would be. I think it was a little easier to sort people from looking at their physical traits. I also believe that me knowing many kind as of physical traits made it easier.

 

9. Activity 3 - The Race Timeline. Describe what you learned by exploring this timeline?

 

I found that many mixed marriages were not allowed. I also learned that the Greeks only divided people by their religion and the language they spoke. I also learned that Johann Blumenbach was the man that created the terminology for Caucasian. I also learned that Thomas Jefferson was very contradicting of his own thoughts and what he wrote. He wrote that all man are equal. Then he writes in his book that black men are inferred to white man.

 

10. Activity 4 - Human Diversity. How did you do on the quiz? Describe the results. Regarding the “exploring diversity” activity, describe what you learned.

 

I did not do very well on the quiz. The results were the opposite of what I would have thought. I got one or two right but the rest I had no clue what the answer would be. I learned that we are more a like then we think. That our DNA and stuff in that area tells us we are alike. I also learned that we cannot have a different kind of group, because we have not been isolated long enough for that to develop.

 

11. Activity 5 - Me, My Race, and I. Describe what you learned after viewing the four slideshows?

 

I learned that race was still a problem in 1998. In 1998 Latino’s and blacks were selected for body searches. I also learned that many people have trouble identifying what they are. They feel when they come to America that they are American and that is it. I also learned that people are still unequal in the idea of money wise.

 

12. Activity 6 - Where Race Lives. Explain what happened to Max and Byron? After completing all of these activities, do you believe the information on this web site is factual? Explain.

 

Well When thing got bad in the economy Max’s family was fine. He also grew up with a stable income and had something to fall on when he got older. The reason that is, his father helped him and also got better opportunities because he was white. On the other hand Byron’s family was okay until the economy hit. His father then struggled it seem to support his child. Well now Byron is still struggling and Maxis not. I do believe that all the information from all the activities is factual. After completing the activities it showed me the understanding of race. It also showed me the real meaning on what race is and how effects people. Looking at all the information and also comparing it to real life events that I have seen, I can say that I the information is true.

 

 

                                             Summary

After doing all the activities and learning more about the past I have got a better understanding on the world and the people that are in it. I enjoyed this lesion very much. I also think that the idea of race is just an idea. I would like to think that we will someday get over the idea that someone is a color. I had to think about number two a lot. To be honest I really don’t think there is a just a few races. I think there are more than just one race.

 

Research Question

How many races are there?

 

Reading the article on how many race are there in the world and anthropologists there are three or four basic race. The first group is Caucasian. The Caucasian is also known as white. Then there is the Mongolian. The Mongolian races are from indo- china and people from the east. The last one is the Negroid. The anthropologists say that the Negroid race is from African and Hottentots and other places. I also learned that you can subdivide these races into more than 30 subgroups. I learned that the four races is Australoid. I did find that there are more the 5,000 ethnic groups in the world.Cite : http://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/how-many-major-races-are-there-in-the-world/

 

 

 

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