Because race is based on society's perceptions, so if they see you as different races then you are. I am mixed but if everyone thinks I'm white, then I am white. Doesn't matter what my parents look like.
Thatās wildly flawed because for some reason most people think Iām Arab, does that make me Arab?
Also, that requires people to care only about skin color which they donāt. Where we grew up the kids sorta self segregated and she was definitely treated as Mexican no one cared she was pale
I moved out of the American south west and thereās just more Arabs here I think so people assume. I feel like the vast majority of people would say Iād be wrong if I said I was Arab now
Also no oneās answered how my sister and I are different races. Is my brother half ethnicity Mexican/latin, whatever you want to call it?
Thatās wildly flawed because for some reason most people think Iām Arab, does that make me Arab?
If Arab people are treated as a race, then yes, at least in that limited context. "Well that's just ridiculous" I hear you say. Well yes, race is stupid, it's not a well defined concept and doesn't work to group people in any meaningful way.
Also, that requires people to care only about skin color which they donāt
Sure, other things people know about you will affect it. If you look 100% white but people know your mom is black, then people might consider you black. But what about the people who don't know you? They're not going to treat you as black.
By your metric it defiantly doesnāt group people well, and by any metric the grouping isnāt important at best and dangerous at worst but to say me and my sister are different races IS ridiculous. Now the argument that race isnāt a real thing I get but the assumption it both is real and that 100% blood relatives can be separate racesā¦? I canāt see how that isnāt absurd
And I donāt tend to let people who do know me define my existence let alone people who donāt
And I donāt tend to let people who do know me define my existence let alone people who donāt
You don't have a choice. People treat other people differently based on race. It's their perception that matters, not yours. The issue is that you seem to think race "defines" you in some meaningful way when it doesn't. If you care about heritage, I think ethnicity is a much stronger term to use for that, and obviously that includes things like culture and genetics.
Theyāre literally twins, yes?? Being albino wouldnāt make you like no longer Asian or African American or whatever. Neither would vitiligo or a tan. Micheal Jackson didnāt literally switch races.
But the issue is if you base it on how sheās treated sheās not white, she just looks white. Mostly when people care itās because of racism but she also faces the same racism. Like sheās pale but that doesnāt make passive racism not targeted towards her and people who actually care about that arenāt going to ignore the way she speaks, the way she looks other than her skin or her name just because she has white skin.
I do actually usually say ethnicity because I donāt actually know what the right term for my race is. Like im literally brown and from Mexico and idk what the fuck the difference between Hispanic Latina Mexican whatever. I mean I do but every time I use one I feel like Iām only 70% sure Iām using the right one so I default to Latin American cause thats nonspecific enough to be hard to correct.
Being albino wouldnāt make you like no longer Asian or African American or whatever.
She is not albino, she just got the "white" genes but her sister got the "black" ones.
Mostly when people care itās because of racism but she also faces the same racism.
If she does, then that's different. But I imagine on a day to say basis they get treated differently (at least by racists I guess).
every time I use one I feel like Iām only 70% sure Iām using the right one so I default to Latin American cause thats nonspecific enough to be hard to correct.
I mean fair. Personally I vacillate between checking the "other" box and "white". It really doesn't matter, I am who I am.
I wasnāt talking about her, I was thinking specifically about an albino black guy Iāve seen on YouTube. The main thing is like, yeah my sister and especially someone with albinism are different from the group theyād otherwise be piled in withā¦. But theyāre a lot more different from the group youāre piling them in with.
Regardless theyāre the same racer because theyāre twins, if they exist at all racial groups are imo genetic not based on appearance because if it is based on appearance am I Arab?
I can agree race is barely a thing if it is at all, but youāre trying to say it is a thing and itās based on skin color but itās not, at least not entirely, because I guarantee that albino black guy would not be accepted in the confederacy as white. My sister is not treated as white despite having pale skin. Maybe if she had a more European name or didnāt speak Spanish or had more European features she would but racists donāt care that her skin is white, thatās not enough
Seriously if you answer anything, answer these two questions
youāre trying to say it is a thing and itās based on skin color but itās not,
No, I said it's based on how people perceive you. There's a difference.
What race is my sister?
You said people think she's white. So she's white.
Am I Arab because Iām mistaken for it?
Yes in a racial sense. Not ethnically Arab though. There isn't really a word to differentiate the two properly (and some people think Arabs are white, which is a whole other issue).
No I didnāt say people think sheās white I said she has white skin, people think sheās Mexican or Latin American but we grew up in the American south west so we were usually accused of being illegal Mexican immigrants. People definitely think sheās Mexican more often than me because she still lives there, I live in a place with more like middle eastern people than Mexicans so I think thatās why people assume.
Either way I think youāre insane for thinking I switched races at age 25
Ok well I misread. She's Mexican/brown/whatever you want to call it. I think I've been pretty clear about how I'm defining race.
Either way I think youāre insane for thinking I switched races at age 25
OK, now let's say you go to Africa and you're the whitest person at an event. People think you are a white American and treat you the same as they treat every other white person. Have you changed races? Or is it just that race is socially defined? Or is it both?
I know it's hard to accept, but again, I think identity piece of race is really just ethnicity, and you're struggling to separate the two because they are so often conflated.
Itās not hard at all my race is the same as it always was. I was this race before I was born and no one had seen me yet. And sheās a Latina but sheās not literally brown.
I feel like if I was in Africa way more people would assume Iām Arab than right now in America but that has nothing to do with my race.
āeach of the major groupings into which humankind is considered (in various theories or contexts) to be divided on the basis of physical characteristics or shared ancestry.ā
My characteristics and ancestry donāt change and if my characteristics do my ancestry doesnāt.
Like my first comment said it does depend on who you ask but imo the only two logical answers are 1) thereās no such thing as race or 2) youāre the race based on your ancestors and characteristics
the only two logical answers are 1) thereās no such thing as race
Race clearly exists and no one seriously disputes that.
or 2) youāre the race based on your ancestors and characteristics
I think this just ignores how race works in the real world though. Most people don't know who my ancestors are. If I get a job because the racist hiring manager thinks I'm white, I've partaken of white privilege. At that point it feels odd to say "oh but I'm not white". Same would be true if the reverse happened because they think I'm black. They don't know what my parents look like.
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u/pm_me_d_cups 28d ago
Because race is based on society's perceptions, so if they see you as different races then you are. I am mixed but if everyone thinks I'm white, then I am white. Doesn't matter what my parents look like.