I know this question sounds incredibly ignorant but i have been trying to understand for some time. My main reason for asking is because if we have dna testing that can show someone’s ancestry is this much % Italian and this much % Korean, how is that a social construct if it’s in our dna?
Please understand I’m not saying race isn’t a social construct, I am just trying to understand how it is a social construct.
In: Biology
We know that race is a social construct because it’s constantly changing. Depending on who you talk to, and what year it is, various groups have been white or non-white, for example. Irish people were considered non-white for years. In Britain, Irish people were considered “brown” people because they were so dirty. It didn’t even matter that they were more or less the same skin color as British people. The British saw them as a “degenerate, savage” people who couldn’t be considered white. The same was true in America for quite a while. And it’s notable that part of the way that the Irish “gained” whiteness was by engaging in strong anti-black discrimination. The Irish were then accepted as white because they were allies in continuing the slavery of Africans.
Similarly, Jewish people have sometimes been considered white. Other times, they’re not.
Why are Mexicans non-white, yet Spaniards who they’re descended from ARE white?
Sometimes Eastern Europeans are white. Other times they’re not. It’s kind of baffling.
Lots of people say, it’s about geographical difference, yet why is the whole of Africa black when Africa is a HUGE continent, and yet Europe can sustain these fine, fine delineations?
The more you look at race, the more you get the feeling that it’s just all made up to suit whomever wants to oppress somebody.
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