Race is a construct based on the outdated notion that the color
of a person’s skin is biologically tied to their intellectual and
physical capabilities. Journalist Silja J.A. Talvi, writing for
LiP Magazine asks, ‘Isn’t it time to give up on the
four-letter word?’
Talvi explores the history of race, noting that 18th and 19th
century North American and European intellectuals tried to prove
that each person could be categorized as belonging to one racial
group. And though the idea of a single racial identity has been
debunked, as is evident in the 2000 Census, it remains entrenched
in our culture.
Journalists have done little to clarify the issue, routinely using
race and its stereotypic connotations to describe people in the
news, Talvi writes. She quotes a typical New York Times
article that referred to Charles A. James as a black, not a black
person. The point was not to physically describe James, she writes,
‘The point was to deliver to the reader an identification of the
subject’s race–an announcement of the racial subdivision to which
Mr. James has been assigned from the time of his birth.’
It’s time that we become more conscious about how we use language
to describe people, Talvi argues, and stop using race as the
defining characteristic.
–Sara V.
Buckwitz
Go there:
Related:
•
Let’s Rid Ourselves of Those Silly Race
Boxes, by Ward Connerly, The Abolitionist
Quarterly
