Originally Posted by
Miriel
MILF, I am going to knock you over the head for trying to compare left handed devils with race.
Race doesn't matter because we say it matters, it matters because our history has been formed due to the belief that race biologically exists. The idea of genetic differences between human beings led to the justification of slavery. Yes, it was stupid for people to believe that back then, but because of that misinformed belief, everything from that point onward in our society (American society at least) has been touched by race, racial prejudice, etc. Slavery led to Civil War. Civil War led to Jim Crow discrimination which eventually led to the Civil rights movement. Civil rights movement led to the abolishment of discriminatory race related immigration policies, those policies directly influence anti-Mexican immigrant feelings today, and so on and so forth.
It matters because our history has been shaped by it. Because society has been constructed around it.
So just going, "hey guys, did you know race doesn't matter?" really does nothing. It does nothing to explain why those in poverty are disproportionately black people, it doesn't explain "white flight" in suburban neighborhoods, it doesn't explain why 2nd generation Asian Americans consistently do better than their white counterparts in school.
Race as a social construct matters. Race as biology does not.