Race.

We were given an assignment to sort people by race. Here's the link: race sorting. Let's be honest, I completely and utterly failed this game. I think I may have gotten like four right... apparently I  can't sort put people into classifications by starring at them. oops?

Then I started thinking, who I am anyway to see what these people's races were. It shouldn't concern me in the slightest. They're just ordinary people, like me. Which got me thinking about the own "Race Game" I play. I'm biracial, and the beauty of being biracial is that I have an "exotic" look. "Exotic" meaning people have no idea what I am. So when new people start talking to me the question always arises...

"excuse me, what are you?"

"If you don't mind me asking, what's your race?"

"Are you [insert some race]?"

"Hola, [insert very fast spanish speaking]?

and the list goes on and one... For me, this question always brought a smile to my face because I knew it was time to play my own "race game." So I'd follow their question with my own question...

" No wait, guess! I love when people ask me this question!"

so then the game begins, they start shouting out every ethnicity possible. If I got a free trip to every place a person guessed I was from, I would've circled the world. twice.

So eventually, they'll guess one of my ethnicities, and I'll say, "Close. What's the other half?" then I'll have to tell them the other one.

The End?

Class and this game got me thinking... I've just let this random person put me into a racial category, and now I have been categorized, and now they can check off the box in the imaginary census in their minds as to what my race is. They have put limits on me by checking my box and confining me to a certain race.

What seemed like a fun game, is now kind of looking like a not so fun game...

They've subconsciously or consciously put limits on me as a result of knowing my race.

PBS then posted some facts on: Is Race for Real?

1. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remember social policies and advantage some groups at the expense of others. 

2. Most variation is within, not between "races." Of the small amount of total human genetic variation, 85% exists within any local population, by they Italians, Kurds, Koreans, or Cherokees. Two random Koreans are likely to be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian. 

3. Race and freedom were born together. When the US was founded, equality was a radical new idea. But our early economy was based largely on slavery. The concept of race helped explain why some people could not be denied the rights and freedoms that others took for granted. 

These facts stood out to me (out of the ten).

First, the colorblindness point. I'm not sure if I agree or disagree. If always been a proud supporter of seeing people as individuals as opposed to a race. The problem is, not many people have the same "progressive" ideology of not seeing color, just an individual. I believe this notion of "colorblindness" would work if everyone thought the same way; however, if there is only a few people thinking this way it won't work. Then I thought, what if everyone was blind?? Like actually blind. I have a feeling people would still find a way to classify people, by the pitch of their voices. I feel like categorizing people, and being in a category above a person is ingrained in human nature. 

I feel like this is an appropriate time to say what I believe would help promote peace and potentially end racism.

Making babies with someone a different race than you!

Meaning, what if everyone married someone that wasn't their same race, made babies. Multiracial babies. These multiracial babies would then make more multiracial babies with other multiracial babies. and so on.

Colors would be so immensely blended. 

How would this end promote world peace?

Many of todays conflicts are ethnic or religious based. If people of conflicting or different races made commitments to one another and produced children then the world could potentially be a better place.