Month: February 2018 (Page 3 of 3)

From the first reading of “The Classification of Races” to the essays on “Science and Eugenics”, I have been alarmed by the sorts of ways race has been talked about and how intellectual people have fabricated a myth about “race” that is still very much relevant to today’s categorization of peoples and the discrimination that exists.  I think sometimes we forget how far racism can be traced back to and even if we live in a progressive society, people still think that the ideas, systems and beliefs of the European race should prevail over the inferior races to keep the European model of civilization alive and everlasting. However, Dubois and Senghor challenge this system and call for the conservation and embracement of the black people’s ideals and culture, which can coexist with the European values in the same space. Senghor calls the embracing of the Negro-African civilized values a humanist movement, and makes the point that Negritude welcomes all values of the world to then become alive on its own and part of a civilization that embraces all mankind (138). This is important to look at as it shows how people of different values and backgrounds can still embrace their identities, while embracing other values that are humanist and righteous.

It is to my knowledge, that there are clear, undisputable variations in the appearances and genetic makeups of men across that world. The Negro man looks different in many ways than the white man, and those in the Far East have features that resemble no man from the western world.

I believe that we only may look at the moral character of man, in determining who shall prosper and transmit their characteristics upon future generations. The assertion that the white man is the most important and the most essential race of humankind is false under this guideline.

Many view the explorations, conquests, and spread of power and influence by the white man as commendable. I argue that those actions only expose all of the moral wrongness that the white man has committed against other races. The spread of European influence and territory came with murder, exploitation and slavery. This created an unfair hierarchy of man, a hierarchy created by moral wrongdoings by immoral men.

The basic division of earth is the moral and the immoral. There is one human species, but there are undeniably different races that have different colors, abilities and live in numerous geographic locations around the world. This however is not where the division lies. There are no races that are inherently better, nor superior. The only division lies within moral character, and history has certainly proven, that this places the white man very far behind other races of man.

Link: http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/11/meghan-markles-parents-dad-thomas-markle-mum-doria-ragland-7221712/?ito=cbshare

This article discusses Price Harry’s fiancé, Meghan Markle’s family background, highlighting how race influences the “Royal Engagement” despite great strides being made with the addition of a mixed-race woman joining the monarchy, a huge milestone breaking hundreds of years of British tradition. Many rumors have begun about Meghan’s non-traditional upbringing with divorced parents, the lack of a father role, and her mother being a woman of color, and half-siblings with a 17-year age gap. This particular article elaborates on how Meghan’s family, addressing rumors alluding to dysfunction. It mentions her parents divorced when she was 6, alluding to a lack of a father relationship, and claims that half-sister has called her a “social climber”. During an engagement, there should be positive media regarding it, like in William and Kate’s situation. However, with Meghan’s untraditional upbringing, the spotlight has shifted from the engagement to also diving into her background, where race and socioeconomics are highlighted. She’s negatively viewed because these contrast with the royal family’s pristine, established bloodline. Despite these negative depictions, she holds her ground, shining as a strong, female woman in this setting. Her character allows her to overcome this negative media and show that the world is embracing diversity. As she joins the royal family, she will be the first non-British, mixed race woman. This is milestone breaking against the establishment of hundreds of years of tradition and proves that times have changed and England, along with the public, have accepted it despite the media’s attempts.

One of our previous readings by the 18th century French writer François-Marie Voltaire makes a shocking allusion to Greek mythology. In a quote from the text he describes the mythological creature called a satyr, a half-man half-goat character. He states, “I do not see why their (satyrs) existence should be impossible: monsters brought forth from women are still stifled in Calabria.” In Greek mythology, satyrs were characterized as ugly, drunken, lustful nuisances. Voltaire uses the symbol of the satyr to compare mixed race human offspring with the configuration of the man-goat satyr, and also to attribute bad characteristics to mixed race individuals. He calls mixed children a “bastard race” and makes another animal comparison of a mule created when a horse and donkey procreate. It was shocking to read a “scientific” writing and see references to mythology. In the modern age, scientists would never search for evidence of their research in mythological texts because we know today that mythology was formed on oral tradition and the need of ancient societies to make sense of natural occurrences they could not explain with their limited knowledge of the world around them.