Re:The Man Behind Critical Race Theory
by jfengel on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @03:45PM
(#28530035)
Yes, race is not a biological concept. But it is a social construction. People are treated differently based on the color of their skin. That different treatment is a problem for society, and does not vanish just because we tell people that race is not biological reality.
Dealing with that problem isn't easy, for a long of reasons. There's a long history of racism that has left a lot of people distrustful. And there's a shorter history under which "racism got fixed in the 1960s and therefore any remaining problems must be your own fault". Together, that makes it almost impossible to talk cogently about racism.
Race-the-concept doesn't get discussed because racism is the issue. There is talk about what criteria racists use to decide who belongs to what race, and that's useful, but mostly in an academic way because it doesn't seem clear how to make use of it.
Dealing with that problem isn't easy, for a long of reasons. There's a long history of racism that has left a lot of people distrustful. And there's a shorter history under which "racism got fixed in the 1960s and therefore any remaining problems must be your own fault". Together, that makes it almost impossible to talk cogently about racism.
Race-the-concept doesn't get discussed because racism is the issue. There is talk about what criteria racists use to decide who belongs to what race, and that's useful, but mostly in an academic way because it doesn't seem clear how to make use of it.