post 9 race

The last couple days in class we have been on the topic of race. This topic has been one of the most interesting to me because there are so many misconceptions about race. The most interesting facts we talked about in class was that race doesn't exist its just socially constructed to identify certain ethnicities. An example was if a black women were to take a plane to brazil and got off would she still be black? The answer was no because in brazil they have different social constructions of race, so race doesnt exist. This concept blew my mind and totally changed the way I viewed the word "race". We also watched a documentary in class that really stood out to me called White like Me. It opened my mind to realize racism is no when near to being gone. After Obama being elected president a lot of people and even me thought looks like racism has died down. I do believe things have gotten better but no where near to being gone. In the video Tim Wise explains that America says everybody has the same opportunities when its not exactly like that. People living in a lower class neighborhood really don't, where you live has a huge impact. A lot of white people say they are going to be colorblind, when actually people should be color mindful. You don't want to totally dismiss where a person is from and their ethnicity but you want to be mindful of it not be blind to it. I feel like a small portion of my friends are not mindful to different "races" of people. I have a couple african american friends and people say racial slurs to them all the time, as jokes and in the moment it is no big deal. It gets me thinking now are they just going along with it cause they don't care or cause they just dont wanna say anything. I also another thought that was brought up in class was why isnt santa clause or jesus any other race like african american why are they always considered to be white. I think its little things like that, that will help us eliminate racism. People need to be more mindful of individuals.