Found on the 'Net

Article: “What it means to be white”

2 Comments

Link: “The History of White People”: What it means to be white – Nonfiction – Salon.com.

I just wanted to share an article I stumbled upon at Salon.com.  I’ve heard Tim Wise speak on the subject as well as a dear friend who is a College professor expound on these topics.  It’s a good non-sensational read.  Check it out and feel free to share your thoughts here.

I’m familiar with the history of a group of scientists coining ‘race’ and making ‘whiteness’ the next thing under God in their hierarchy of creation.  I wasn’t familiar with the origin of ‘Caucasian’ and how this so frequently has been about aesthetic beauty.

Related Posts with Thumbnails

  • I suppose it’s really all about one person’s opinion over another’s. No matter how you break it down, people are people and inside, we all are the same. The color of our skin is really just a means to show bias and discrimination against people.

    When this sort of discussion comes up, I like to reflect on a play by William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice” in which the following is taken: “We have the same hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same summer and winter as everyone else. If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not seek revenge?”

    Although that addressed the discrimination of Jews by Christians, it could apply to any oppressed group. There really is not any difference between us, other than cosmetic.

  • I suppose it’s really all about one person’s opinion over another’s. No matter how you break it down, people are people and inside, we all are the same. The color of our skin is really just a means to show bias and discrimination against people.

    When this sort of discussion comes up, I like to reflect on a play by William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice” in which the following is taken: “We have the same hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same summer and winter as everyone else. If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not seek revenge?”

    Although that addressed the discrimination of Jews by Christians, it could apply to any oppressed group. There really is not any difference between us, other than cosmetic.