[reposting] Where does race come from and where is it taking us?

In order to really understand the idea of “race” as a literary construct would require that we understand first the historical context of its conception and the different usages that it has obtained throughout history. Henry Louis Gates Jr. attempts to break down the differences of the term and the various usages of the idea as well. He says that "western writers in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and English have tried to mystify these rhetorical figures of race, to make them natural, absolute, essential. In doing so, they have inscribed these differences as fixed and finite categories which they merely report or draw upon for authority" (Gates 6). He goes on to explain a bit about how the creation and usage and perpetuation of this idea of "race" only really serve to alienate people from one another. This huge dichotomy is especially drawn between people of less fortune as seen in historical and contemporary examples. Gates explains that "takes little reflection, however, to recognize that these pseudoscientific categories are themselves figures. Who has seen a black or red person, a white, yellow, or brown? These terms are arbitrary constructs, not reports of reality” (Gates 6).

There are different usages of "race" have changed over the years but its also much more past the simple usage of just words. Usually, people have the tendency to use the word "race" when viewing different sorts of social media or when simply living in general because in contemporary society, it has become almost inherent to refer to situations simply based on this word. Sue Hum says that "no one actually approaches images with an innocent eye. Designers perceptual habits, such as the racialized gaze, influence their choice making processes, including choosing, sequencing, and combining resources. Art historian Ernst Gombrich tells us that visual stimuli, by themselves, acquire meaning only within a particular utterances, a set of shared assumptions. That shared perception gains dominance as culturally inflected visual practices and is specific to a historical period and ideology" (Hum 193). This idea of "racialized gazes" is a really interesting one because it puts into question my understanding and perception of everything that i look at. Is perception reality? Is what I see really what is there? All of these abstract thoughts aren't present for ignorant people but I try to be as open minded and globally thinking as I can be and so to think that my minds eye has preconceived notions of how to interpret instances and scenarios and people astonishes me. Hum says that "we need to consider the ways in which our perceptual habits have an active, systematic and ideological impact" (Hum 193). 

By having these pre conceived notions and not even attempting to do anything about them, especially, is perpetuating this idea of the "other" or "Not like us" narrative that most contemporary individuals have. Even if this tendency is inadvertent, its present and this is creating or rather, continuing, the power struggle and structures between societies. Cooper says that in keeping our minds eye blind to alternate realities, "they forget that underneath the black mans form and behavior there is a great bed rock of humanity, the key to which is the same that unlocks every tribe and kindred of the nations of earth" (Cooper 382). This is devastatingly sad and needs to END!