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the idea of race was never developed until the 19th century when some white scientists decided to study the differences in physical characteristics between different cultures (ie. phrenology, selective breeding, etc.) I'm sure most of you know of the studies done by a scientist ( I can't remember his name -I'll have to look it up, but if anyone knows, please let me know) that measured peoples skulls and concluded that white people were smarter because they had larger heads. When these studies came out, everyone began thinking in RACIAL terms. Before this, people acknowledged cultural differences. Recognizing cultural differences maintains the humanity of an individual, while racial differences reduces a human to color, hair texture, facial features (objectifying). Since then, racial stratification was adopted in the U.S. as in other countries, abandoning respect for cultural differences. Racial stratification gave way to ideas that some races were sub-human, while others were superior, etc., etc.
The word race must be deleted from our vocabulary. It does not represent who we are as individuals. Black, White, Asian, Latino, or whatever doesn't mean anything at an individual, human level.
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