On premise, race, pertaining to where we or our ancestors come from, is a biological thing. However, the way we, as Americans, describe and define race is a totally different thing. The way we see race has to do with the way we see people and the way the color of their skin matches up to what race we associate that with. There are so many different parts of “race’ that we don’t look at or notice on a daily basis and the simple fact that Americans kind of made up what they want race to be just points to the fact that race, in general, is just a cultural construct. Americans have this ugly history of picking and choosing what we want to be socially acceptable or right in our country. Brazilians, for example, define race quite literally by the color of your skin. Though you all may be Brazilian in a certain country, you will be separated and your “type” will have a name depending on what you look like. In America, people think that because you have a certain race in you, you identify with that race, as well as whatever else you have in you. In Brazil, if you look like a certain type, that’s what you are. That’s how race is defined. And the mere fact that race can be constructed in any way you want in different countries makes it sort of undoubtedly a made up thing.
The way the concept of race is used against people in America is so unfair, if not for anything else, for the fact that it’s not real! We use a constructed thing in this country to oppress human being based on what they look like. Racial profiling is a huge issue; People of color get beat down and killed by cops; People of color get followed around in stores because of what they look like. A saddening amount of people actually get denied jobs because of what race they are perceived as. And race, as it is in America, continues to cause so many problems and injustices because it is engrained so deeply in peoples’ heads that it is something that matters. There are absolutely social realities for people oppressed by racism in America. The biggest issue that people who are oppressed face is that people get killed every day simply because of what they look like and what type of person is associated with a certain “race”. I am not racially oppressed and I don’t know what it’s like, but imagine being looked at differently and knowing it is because of the color of your skin or the way you look. Imagine walking on the street, seeing someone look at you and the cross to the other side, and knowing that is one hundred percent because of the color of your skin, and then it’s kind of hard to say that racism isn’t “a thing” or that the concept of racism doesn’t affect and become a social reality for people every day.
