Layla Quinones
SSA 101.1807
October 14, 2008
Professor Straughn-Williams
Homework assignment #2- Race
Discussion Questions:
1- How arbitrary are racial classifications according to Jared Diamond?
According to Jared Diamond, racial classification is an illogical and
misrepresentative form of taxonomy that our society uses to label people. He argues in
his article “Race Without Color” that labeling people according to their skin color is a
strictly social classification rather than a scientific one. He stresses that it is also very
important to realize that race plays a big factor in prejudice “…and is invoked to justify
political and socio-economic discrimination” (125). This therefore forms the opinion and
stereotype of the public towards a certain race and in turn, it can influence the lives of
those being discriminated in a very negative way. He challenges the idea of racial
classification by explaining the many types of other scientific classification that can exist
such as race by resistance, digestion, fingerprints and, genes. According to Diamond, if
racial classification was based on any other form of scientific representation that is
equally valid, it would be just as arbitrary, if not less arbitrary, than race by color. In
addition, in many cases, people of separate races would respectively be a part of one
whole race rather than many different ones. This idea also reflects the scientific fact that
all humans came from one common ancestor in prehistoric times and that we all can mate
with one another, therefore creating children of “mixed” races. He goes on to explain that
society generally classifies people by their physical appearance and that if our species
were not so in-tuned to the physical aspects of one-another, we would have chosen an
alternative to how we label people. Ultimately, Diamond stresses that although races
might appear to be different, there are many more similarities to people of other races
than there are differences. The fact that race by color is widely accepted to determine
how we live socially and economically makes this form of classification arbitrary and
questionable in a biological perspective.
2- How did Jews become white? Is it possible for black and Latinos to become white?
According to Karen Brodkin Sacks and her article “How Jews Became White
Folks”, before World War I Jewish people were viewed as a separate race that “took
over” many cities. They came to America and were discriminated against socially and
according to scientific tests of that time, were biologically and mentally inferior to the
Americans that were living in the country. However, over time Jewish people worked
hard, and despite racial discrimination in schools that prevented them from getting a
much sought after education, they came out of the social depression they were in and
became part of the general “white” population. They achieved this status through hard
work and by growing economically to create “Euro ethnic suburbs” and small businesses
that contributed to the economy. Sacks also touches on the point that “Anti-Semitism and
anti-European racism lost respectability” in the United States during World War II (87).
Due to the thriving economy after the war, the demand for more jobs increased therefore,
the country’s need for more workers also increased. This was followed by the
occupations of many lower class Jewish people which paved their way into the middle
working class. Jewish people made a positive name for themselves and invested in
respectable professions, such as doctors, which led them to earn college degrees and to
become middle class people who were viewed as active members in society.
I do not believe that Blacks and Latinos can become “white” in the sense that
their skin color is physically different from white people’s skin color. However, I do
believe that they can definitely achieve the status of any other white person by working
hard and entering the middle class by contributing to the economy. Furthermore, it would
take a majority of people from these races to become middle class workers in order for
the social stereotype that they are labeled by to disappear.
3- Should we promote affirmative action programs in education and employment?
We definitely should promote affirmative action programs in education and
employment because it is a great service to the community of minorities. Although there
are many loop holes in society that come from affirmative action programs that can deem
them unpleasing to majority races, they are also a key factor in the survival of minorities.
Without these programs to assist people in employment and education, homelessness and
poverty would prevail all over the Unites States. Although excluded in the past, minority
races are now included in and treated equally when it comes to education. I also believe
that through these programs, we are providing a safer education for students and
providing them with jobs so that they can care for their families and develop their futures.
Furthermore, due to affirmative action programs, many minorities were able to establish
themselves by obtaining college degrees and moving themselves into the middle working
class making it possible for them to buy houses and become a part of the white American
lifestyle.