Does Race Matter?

The Million Dollar Question

We are not born with racism already a part of thoughts. We are not born with hate already in our hearts. We are not born to believe that people are different than us. Racism is an attitude toward people of different skin colors that was taught to us sometime in our lives. To think that we would teach each other to hate one another because our skin looks different is a foreign concept to me. I am lucky that my family has taught me nothing but equality. It has shaped my view on different cultures and different people throughout my life. When I meet someone that is racist and they express their feelings, it is nothing but utter disgust. How can someone feel that way towards someone that they don’t even know. I’d like to think that racism in our community today is completely abolished, but sadly I know that isn’t true. We should already be moving pass the race conflict. It is going to take active people in the world to change it. We have had monumental people in our history that gave us the huge steps, now we must run full speed ahead to finish the race set out for us. 

 

I got to participate in the “Race Kiosk” at Avila University. It is an interactive touch screen with what would seem like impossible features. You sit in the chair and it takes a photo of your face. Once it has a good enough picture, you can then change your race to any of the 5 races: white, black, indian, middle eastern, or hispanic. It is amazing what it can do to your face to make you look just like someone else from a different cultural background.

 

 This kiosk taught me a lot about race and how each person feels when they sit in that chair. We all know that racism exists. We all know that people are different than us. But what this experiment taught me was that no matter who sits in that chair, they have their own set of values and beliefs that are different in some way to mine. We all sit in that chair and yet not one of us is the same. We can’t even all be grouped together because not one is completely alike. My brother, Joel Sterling, is a Hispanic and had a comment about this subject. He said “I grew up in Perú and the darker you were, the less respect people had for you.” This shows that it’s not even the black and white racism that we focus most on, it happens with all races and even inside a certain race.

So then there’s the question of “does race matter?” I believe that race matters because of selfishness. We tend to only think about ourselves, which gives us an ego that is inhumane. We like to think that we are better than we actually are. We forget that we all have our own thoughts and values that make us different, not just color. Really we all are different shades of skin color anyways. Not all are one color. Which then the power of being the best comes into play. We love power and we strive for it. The power over someone gives us this invincibility that we all crave. I believe that racism was started because of power hungry, selfish individuals that needed to be the best. Racism, in my opinion, is completely avoidable and should have never been an issue from the start.

                                          http://youtu.be/BJ2xOILD38E