How important is the issue of 'race'?
Why do we differentiate each other as a 'race'? Although the title of my blog states I am 'black' and a woman it still gives me pause for thought. Does it matter what my so-called racial background is? I would like to think not, but for the majority of people it does. It matters because humans prefer to take the easiest route and use the reptilian part of our brain, rather than focus on the individual, the person behind the persona.
It is now given as fact that homo sapiens arose out of the region of the world now known as Africa. Moving up the landmass, travelling in a bid to explore and find pastures new. As they moved from hot to cooler climes they needed less protection from the sun and hence the skin shed the eumelanin.
All my skin colour tells you about me is my ancestors lived closer to the sun, needed more protection from the sun which in a 'white' person would result in more frequent melanomas. Period. That's it. Superficially speaking, that is. It doesn't tell you much.
I previously worked in an environment (99% white) where a colleague asked me a rhetorical question:
'Isn't it awful for black women? Black men, all they want to do is have babies and don't work, isn't it?'
How do you think I responded to that?
I will explore this subject a bit further as this blog expands but your thoughts on this are welcomed.
Although I do not follow or believe in any religion the words of Haile Selassie are poignant:
"That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally
and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class
and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more
significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally
guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace
and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting
illusion, to be pursued but never attained."
