Why does race play such an important role in society?

Question

its so pointless and stupid. why should one be criticized or looked down upon because of their skin color or race?

Answer 1

race, coinsides with social classs, therefore certain races are forseen in certain social classes,by the way they look, dress what so ever, ignorance and fear plays a big factor in it too

Answer 2

it does not

it is only an issue if someone like you or Obama makes it one

Answer 3

Because the media and liberals keep dragging it out instead of ignoring skin color.

Answer 4

Because you got Obama,Opray,Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and others pushing the racist card around.--making sure that it is out there in the public eye.

Answer 5

It's being different, not only race, but if you are different then the majority of a population, you are a minority and  - different -.

Race, religion, believes in gun culture or military supremacy (remember you are with me or against me - Bush in 2002, preparing to invade Iraq). If you don't succumb to peer pressure in school, you are an outsider. Humans have a fear of something different. We still have the brain of a Neantherthal.

Answer 6

I like your attitude--and it deserves an answer.  BTW--I am a historian/sociologist).

Very briefly--During the period before the Civil War, blacks were slaves--and that had to be "justified" somehow.  White slaveowners created an ieology that labeled blacks as inferior.  After the Civil War, Whites (both former slaveowners and poor whites--did everything they could to maintain the prior social order.  But it wasn't actually about "race."  If you take a look at tehe books I've listed, you'lll see that "race" is a social category--a label that some people use to discredit or stigmatize some groups--for economic reasons.  Immigrants in the mid-19th century (Irish, Poles, Italians, etc.) wee defined as "other --and nonwhite--races as a means of excluding them from good jobs--thereby reserving the jobs for other groups.

The same is true of the whole race business with regard to whites/blacks.  For example, you can pick up almost any history of urban growth in a early 20th century American city in the North and find that blacks and whites lived more or less in harmony--until economic hard times arrived.  Then problems croppped up.  Tis was no accident.  Employers routinely would try to "break" unions by hiring blacks  to replace striking workers.  The (white) workers then began to see blacks as threats as threats to their jobs.  And there are always a few people around eager to capitalize on such fears by uing them to spread an ideology of racial hatred.  A worker who is afraid o flosing his job and home is easy prey for a demagogue who gives him an excuse to label competing workers as "immoral, incompetent, or lazy." and jsutify excluding them.

Tht, VERY briefly---is the basic mechanism that drives racism.  Most immigrant groups, since the aren't obviously different once they assimilate into American society, quickly lose the "racial group" label/stigma.  That process still goes on today--look at how many people consider Hispanics to be "non-white"  Agin, its driven by economics and promoted by unethical employers who then take advantage of the stigmatized group to pay low wages, etc.--just as they are doing to Hispanics.  Nor is the so-called "illegal" status at all new.  It sroutine for bigoted groups and greedy employers to create some legal fiction to place immigrant workers in a legally helpless position.

Blacks have been subjected to this on an ongoing basis, instead of losing the stigma for one simple reason: skin color.  An Irish immigrant--or at least the children--could and would lose the customs, acccent, and other markers that enabled bigots to identify and exclude them.  African Americans are identified by their skin color--and so remained (and to a degree still are) targets for racists.

The bottom line:  A combination of people who are basically inept and use racism as an excuse for their own failures combine with unethical employers to create an ideology of "race" and a social category to put their intended victims in.  When economic downturns present the opportunity, they use this ideology to frighten workers who are economically vulneralbe into buying into their ideology, thereby spreading the bigotry and transmitting the disearse to the next generation.

Sad as it is, and disgusting as it is, there is good news.  Racism in America is dying. It no longer has the following--or the power--it once had.  It's not dying fast enough to suit me--or any decent person--but it is dying. The candidacy of Barack Obama and his presidency (assuming he wins as is likely) is going to do a lot to eradicate the remnants of racism in America. But don't expect this process to be pleasent--such things never are.  The racists--as tey cometorealize that this is a major step in eradicating them and eerything they are--are going to become more vicious and come out into the open.  That is going to work against them--because many decent Americans have convinced themselves racism was already all but gone. When they see iit isn't, it will be a wake-up call that will re-energize efforts to stamp out this infection.

Answer 7

extreme culture clash that comes with it. different values, traditions, communication problems, so many subtle and not so subtle difference of right and wrong, work ethic, family traitions etc etc. culture clash and latent rage supressed and ready to blow.

one old black lady told me recently that, "its what they are teaching them in the schools!" bottom line she thinks they are teach false pride and resentment to the extreme. she doesn't think that they should be doing that. she has a bunch of grand children and nephews that she has watched grow up for a long time. maybe so.

Answer 8

People are scared of things that are different. Skin color is a stupid reason to base anything on but people divide themselves in so many ways. Race, religion, s*x, monetary status,etc. I'm white and have had friends from all walks of life. When I was young I dated a black girl, an asian and a hispanic at one time or another and they were just ordinary people. We need to forget our differences no matter what they are. If we don't we will not survive as a nation or as a world. By the way for those of you that think racism is only in the U.S., read the newspaper. It's world-wide. In fact it's worse in many parts of the world.

Answer 9

Because the liberals keep bringing up the past and won't let the pot settle. The liberals love the words racism and racist. It's a card the liberals can use to shame someone into submission. But Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Michelle Obama and the rest of the Libs can say what they want because its free speech....unless your a white conservative, then it's a thought crime or racism. Every time you hear the word race look at the party or person behind it. They have an agenda. The libs love to play the game of Reverse Psychology while they stick it to you. Look at Obama...he is always playing the poor me race card. And someone is always attacking poor wittle me. In reality the only one bringing up race is the Democrats. so, s***w you libs....stop judging people by the color of their skin.

Answer 10

Because people are stupid, if the "cool guy" thinks he/she is better than someone that is of a different race or skin color, than all his peers will think the same thing. All it takes is one person,

Answer 11

Because the United States carries a tons of racist baggage from the past.

Answer 12

THIS COUNTRY WAS  BUILT ON RACISM AND BETRAY ..HATRED AND JEALOUSLY..WELL THAT'S PRETTY MUCH ALL COUNTRIES BUT THAT'S JUST PEOPLE IN GENERAL

FEAR IS THE BREED OF RACISM..

YA AN SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST EVIL

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