Can we choose our race?

Yakuda

Yakuda

Verified User
If people can choose a gender can they choose their race? I'm thinking about that lady that said she was black and was even president of some state chapter of the naacp if my memory serves me correctly. When they found out she was white they went ballistic. But why can't you choose your race? Obama was the first black president. Really? Wasnt his mother white? How much of you needs to be black in order to call yourself black? 50% it seems. Is it possible to have a "more" black president? Is race a continuum then unlike gender? Would applying the term black to Obama be merely a social construct?
 
Yakuda said:
If people can choose a gender can they choose their race? I'm thinking about that lady that said she was black and was even president of some state chapter of the naacp if my memory serves me correctly. When they found out she was white they went ballistic. But why can't you choose your race? Obama was the first black president. Really? Wasnt his mother white? How much of you needs to be black in order to call yourself black? 50% it seems. Is it possible to have a "more" black president? Is race a continuum then unlike gender? Would applying the term black to Obama be merely a social construct?
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Sir, you may be overthinking things!
 
Geeko Sportivo said:
Sir, you may be overthinking things!
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How so? If sex and gender can be chosen why not race? It's a choice to call someone, black who is half black and half white. That seems like race is more on a continuum than sex or gender. To call obama, who is half back and half white, black seems like a social construct. You don't have to overthink it see it
 
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Yakuda said:
If people can choose a gender can they choose their race? I'm thinking about that lady that said she was black and was even president of some state chapter of the naacp if my memory serves me correctly. When they found out she was white they went ballistic. But why can't you choose your race? Obama was the first black president. Really? Wasnt his mother white? How much of you needs to be black in order to call yourself black? 50% it seems. Is it possible to have a "more" black president? Is race a continuum then unlike gender? Would applying the term black to Obama be merely a social construct?
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Sure, why not?

My ancestors moved from Wales and Scotland to Mexico, the then state of Tejas as Mexican citizens. They then held a revolution and formed the Republic of Texas. Does that mean I'm Hispanic...? After all, my ancestors were Mexican for a period of time...
 
T. A. Gardner said:
Sure, why not?

My ancestors moved from Wales and Scotland to Mexico, the then state of Tejas as Mexican citizens. They then held a revolution and formed the Republic of Texas. Does that mean I'm Hispanic...? After all, my ancestors were Mexican for a period of time...
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I dont see what not. Race is much more malleable than either sex or gender.
 
Yakuda said:
How so? If sex and gender can be chosen why not race? It's a choice to call someone, black who is half black and half white. That seems like race is more on a continuum than sex or gender. To call obama, who is half back and half white, black seems like a social construct. You don't have to overthink it see it
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AND Barry da Fairy isn't even half-black.

Barack Senior was half-Arab. Meaning Barry is in fact only 1/4 black.

democrats are still going by their "one drop" rule.
 
Yakuda said:
If people can choose a gender can they choose their race? I'm thinking about that lady that said she was black and was even president of some state chapter of the naacp if my memory serves me correctly. When they found out she was white they went ballistic. But why can't you choose your race? Obama was the first black president. Really? Wasnt his mother white? How much of you needs to be black in order to call yourself black? 50% it seems. Is it possible to have a "more" black president? Is race a continuum then unlike gender? Would applying the term black to Obama be merely a social construct?
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No, because there's no such thing as "race" proved almost 20 years ago by geneticists. The main difference between groups of human beings is culture.

While we can't choose the culture we are born into, we can choose the culture in which we live.

Example #1: Colin Kaepernick

Example #2: Barack Obama.
 
Yakuda said:
If people can choose a gender can they choose their race? I'm thinking about that lady that said she was black and was even president of some state chapter of the naacp if my memory serves me correctly. When they found out she was white they went ballistic. But why can't you choose your race? Obama was the first black president. Really? Wasnt his mother white? How much of you needs to be black in order to call yourself black? 50% it seems. Is it possible to have a "more" black president? Is race a continuum then unlike gender? Would applying the term black to Obama be merely a social construct?
Click to expand...

Race and gender are both a continuum. Historically, they have been considered more biological, but that is no longer etched in stone.

Race, as a social construct, is more blurred than it ever has been. At one time, Jews, Slavs, even Italians were considered “non-whites”. Today, we still try to differentiate between race and ethnicity, but even that becomes a murky distinction.
 
domer76 said:
Race and gender are both a continuum. Historically, they have been considered more biological, but that is no longer etched in stone.

Race, as a social construct, is more blurred than it ever has been. At one time, Jews, Slavs, even Italians were considered “non-whites”. Today, we still try to differentiate between race and ethnicity, but even that becomes a murky distinction.
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incorrect. There are 2 genders. Period.
 
domer76 said:
A real bitch of a distance. Short enough to be a sprint, but long enough to be a helluva sprint.
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I had to run distances when I trained for boxing, but I wouldn't want to be timed on them.
Nothing good would come of my being timed in dashes, either.

A half mile, though, was right in my wheelhouse.
 
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Yakuda said:
Clearly race is a social construct
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Agreed.

Right now racism is institutionalized in our government with laws that divide Americans into "races". If they changed the listings "culture" such as European culture, African culture, Native American culture, etc, it'd be more accurate and non-racist.
 
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