Definition: Racism is the belief that different groups of humans possess different behavioral traits and therefore social histories that correspond to genetic differences that manifest themselves in physical appearance.
My perspective
What would you blame for your problems if race did not exist, imagine for a moment that you do not see the world as:
-Left vs Right
-Moorish sovereignty vs White supremacist,
-Islam vs Christianity,
-Roman Catholic vs Protestant
-Misandry vs Misogyny;
-Sino-centric vs Westphalian;
What happens when you then look around with eyes that are not tinted with hate and prejudice.
The answer to that question is you become an outsider, all of your opinions will not correspond with anything that your friends or family think or feel. Hate and prejudice are blatantly cultivated as a tool of division by the corporate media, our geo-political rivals, and competing political ideologies internally. That artificial hatred finds a fertile ground in the minds of the poor and the perpetually aggrieved.
Race does not exist
I was raised to believe that race did not exist. This idea is well developed and articulated in the following article. The basic idea is that race is simply a cultural construct. If you travel you will see slight variations from place to place and that is fine. Nothing to see here
A Biologists definition of race
Biologist, Botanists, Ichthyologists, mammologists, and ornithologist have spent the last few hundred years organizing every living thing in taxonomic order. What is their perspective, the following article investigates.
A list of races
Those who study the human genome have created a list of human genetic pools with distinctive characteristics and features. They do not use the term race, they use the term…… Here is that list.
Is that a universally held belief?
If race is a cultural construct is is reasonable to look at how other cultures view race. I was fortunate in that I traveled around the world 20 times on business. My travels took me not to tourist destinations but rather factory locations usually many miles from any tourist destination. From those travels to India, China, Cambodia, Thailand, New Zealand and throughout the United States and Canada I have noticed dramatically different views of race. I have summarized my experiences in the attached PDF
Visible Minorities
Despite the global lack of acceptance of the idea that race does not exist, there is still a belief that visible minorities deserve special attention and organizations that look at cultures in danger of being exterminated, organizations like cultural survival articulate a view that each culture has value and must be preserved. The following article looks at the world, comparing cultures, their views and outlines who is a minority and whose views are being wiped out.
If it is not cultural it is in the DNA
There is a difference between a fact and a truth, and between an evidence based decision and a narrative. To rephrase on one hand we have facts based upon evidence and on the other hand we have truths articulated by narratives. The discussion about race can best be solved with DNA. Analogues to DNA is the periodic table where small differences in valence electrons make a big difference in the properties of a material.
This first article looks at the difference between facts and truths.
This next article looks at the differences in the DNA of different peoples
This article looks at the periodic table and attempts to understand the difference between elements
This last article compares and contrasts the DNA differences with the periodic table differences.
To the person sitting in Darkness
“To the person sitting in darkness” was a satire written by Mark Twain, it was a retort to Kiplings poem “The white mans burden” Comparing and contrasting the two positions is outlined in the following PDF. These two polarized opinions are an example of people arguing about outcomes without any appreciation of the underlying causes to systemic problems. As a person trained to think race does not exist, that orientation is a choice you can make any analysis based upon race or gender is flawed and not of any use, you must look beyond.
One person who looked beyond the superficial analysis of race was Karl Polyani. I have reviewed his analysis of the root causes of Imperialism and War and have summarized it here
As well I have attached his work The great Transformation here.