Lesson Five

How would you define race? What does race mean to you?
+To me, race means visual differences and cultural idiosyncrasies, it doesn't mean that there are
common defects in select groups of people.
How many races do you think there are? What are they? How do you decide which race someone
belongs to?
+ Honestly, I really just categorize people based on what continent they come from, not really on their
looks because I firmly believe that there is only one race, and that is the human race. It's not a popular
view, but that's just what I believe. Since America is a melting pot, sometimes it's hard to tell someone's
"race". For instance, my dad is white, but my mom is Pacific Islander. I look white to most, but
sometimes I get asked what my ethnicity is because I have an olive complexion and dark hair.
Would you trade your skin color? How do you think your life would be different if you looked like
someone of a different race?
+ I'd love to have a little bit darker skin, like someone from India would, but I'm fairly content with
what I look like now. I can't imagine what life would be like looking like that in America, though, but I
suspect I'd get asked where I'm from more often than I get asked now.
What stereotypes have you heard or seen about different racial groups?
+ I've heard that white people are always racist (non true); all black people are criminals (not true); all
Asians are smart (not true); all Hispanics are drug dealers (not true).
Do you think people today should be held accountable for past discrimination? Why or why not?
+ Absolutely not because it wasn't their fault. Now, they can try to treat others with the same amount of
respect, but they cannot account for what their ancestors did because it is out of their control.
Forty years ago, the Civil Rights Act declared that forced racial segregation was illegal. In light of this,
why do you think some neighborhoods, schools and workplaces are still segregated?
+ As far as I am aware of, there isn't anymore racial segregation in the workplace or schools because of
Title IX ordinances and redoing the school districts. As for neighborhoods, they aren't necessarily
segregated purposefully, but I do know when some people look for a new house, who lives in the
neighborhood affects their decision greatly due to prejudices.
Describe what you learned by completing this activity?
+Sure, there are outside differences in humans that are used to help us cope with our environments, but
those differences are merely a result of adaption. According to the video, humans haven't had enough
time to evolve internally.
Describe your results when you tried to sort people based on their appearance.
+ I was actually very wrong on the American Indian and White sections. It was easy for me to identify
the Asians (I guess, partly because my mom is Asian) and the Hispanics. I was shocked to learn that
people's pictures were sorted in this way for the censuses up until the 1970 census.
Describe what you learned by exploring this timeline.
+As far back as before Christ was born, humans categorized other humans, but also sought equality by
intermarrying.