racism+start

Eric's work goes here....

During our in class discussions about race and its origins, I thought about when racism began. What did it have to do with society? Maybe it increased during the process of going from hunter gathering to cities. If it didn’t start in the transition from hunter gathering to farming, when did it? Did it start during the formation of different societies?

There are examples of racism in religion. The Indian god Indra had a hatred for blacks. They are called Anasahs, noseless people,and it is said Indra “slew the flat nosed barabarians”. In the Jewish religion it was said that Jews were only supposed to have relationships with other Jews. This however is more moral criteria than racism, because religion is not race, but a belief system consisting of moral expectations and directions on how to act. There are some variations of the Noah's ark story that explain the skin differences in people. It basically says that one of the sons, Ham, did bad acts and was cursed with black skin and his descendants would cover Africa. This is racist because it is considered a punishment for him to be black.

Racism is one of the salient features of the world. It is because it has existed and played an big part in human history. This though would follow the idea that race exists. This perspective ignores the findings that show that race is not definable by skin color. The origins of race is something with a lot of interest invested in it by a lot of people. These origins of race would help explain the origins of racism.

Racism could be described as hatred for another race, but why this hatred exists is the question. Because they are different than yourself why does that give you the right to hate or discriminate? It is not a natural instinct ([]), originally blacks were never looked at as inferior to anyone else, but that is what happened in for a long time. There is an [|article] in the journal of the national medical association written by Charles A. Pinderhu ghes about the origins of racism and discrimination. His work documented that European males, when encountering blacks, associate them with threatening characteristics. In his article, he mentions the contents of a book that shows how in the 1800's America was considered a white country, terms like American Negro were used for a black person in America, while a white person was just an American.

Racism has developed because of differences between peoples. These differences could be from skin color, culture, or stereotypes. Stereotypes drive people to dislike others prematurely and wrongly. Examples seen today are asains are only smart, blacks are only athletic or uneducated, Jews(is religion a race?) are cheap, and so on. These images of groups of people are a detriment to them because a lot of times it is cause for a rush to judgment, or predetermined and racist views. Racism singles out people, whether it be praise for your own or insults for another. When you talk about you and the rest of your race to another, 'we' it makes the other person feel like a 'them'.

Ever since racism has been an issue, people with power have used their influence to voice their opinions. From a town leader, to a religious figure, to a modern day celebrity, people with power let others know what they think, and because they are in the position that they are in, people pay more attention and listen more. 

I would like to look into what is race, because that really is the basis that everything branches off of. A definition of race would radically change views and opinions, or at least it should. AnnBibSchwartz