The Race Spectrum...

Yesterday, we did an activity where we had to categorize different balls. Even though I think I have done this activity before, it was still very difficult. I chose to categorize by size, but it was hard to differentiate between small and medium or medium and large. It was difficult to draw the line somewhere. By categorizing the balls, we stereotyped them, like we also do for races. I clumped together all of the large balls, even if they had other differences like color, shape or use. This activity made me realize that all the people in the world don't fit into strict categories of races. It is more of a spectrum. For example, there can be someone who is half "white" and half "black", so they don't fit into the "white" category, or the "black" one. We also learned that race isn't biological, it's social. Race isn't something you are born into, it's something that society uses to categorize or group human beings. These groupings allow society to put certain characteristics with certain races, causing stereotypes, when the characteristic doesn't fit the mold of the race. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to break down these social constructions of race, but in the future, I will try to stereotype less by race.