Is Race Right?
First, is race a valid categorizing method at all, or is it something we do because we’re too lazy to move beyond looking at a person physically? Other than choosing the right shampoo, does race make a difference or is it about culture, socio-economics and the like?
Is it right for MU to make a concerted effort toward black students? Could we correlate retention rates to something more than being black? Is it really race that makes the difference? Or is it environmental? Are we feeding a skewed view of reality when we discuss race?
Right now I am of the position that race is not useful as any indicator and should not be used for categorization or promotion.
January 21st, 2007 at 6:44 pm
[...] Thanks to a post by Ariah Fine, I found this great site, Understanding Race, that echoes many of the sentiments I have written about previously. Racial Categories, especially the big three or four, are seriously lacking. We certainly should be discussing culture more than race, if anything. I must say, in this realm JR’s concept of powerplay labeling does seem to be the historic truth. [...]