This idea has been rattling around in my brain for a few weeks now. It's long and boring so just skip it. I just need to get it out of my head. Just what is a Mexican? Is Mexican a race or a nationality? Racist hate groups like La Raza and non-thinking liberals (oops, I'm being redundant) claim that Mexican is a race. Therefore, any attempt to enforce our immigration laws is "discrimination" or "racism." Our government defines Mexican as a nationality, and has every right to hold ALL foreigners to our immigration laws. So, what is race? Race is a modern idea. Ancient cultures did not divide people according to skin color and other physical differences, but by religion, status and language. Race has no genetic foundation. Not a single gene differentiates members of one race from members of another race. There are no genetic characteristics possessed by all Blacks but not by non-Blacks; similarly, there is no gene or cluster of genes common to all Whites but not to non-Whites. This does not mean that individuals are genetically identical. But most genetic differences occur within a population, not between them. In other words, two Blacks can be as genetically different as a Black and a German. If an African and a Briton meet and have children, do their children become members of a third race? Hardly. Skin color is only skin deep. The genes for skin color are entirely independent of genes for eye color, hair, height, physical abilities, etc. So, since race cannot be defined biologically, it must be defined socially. I define race as a grouping of a huge number of people bound together historically and by socially significant elements of their ancestry. So if an African slave were brought to England in the 13th century, his descendents would be just as British as the royal family, who are German and didn't even speak English until WWI. And, of course, in a country as diverse as this one, all you have to do to become an American is fill out the proper paperwork and be granted citizenship. And if you become an American, does your race change? Ridiculous! The label, "African-American" is totally bogus if applied to someone who was not born or reared in Africa. That's why I don't like to use it. How did Mexicans come to exist? Well, the same way all Latin Americans came to exist. Foreign invaders slaughtered indiginous peoples, took their land and interbred with the local tribes, eventually becoming the majority and giving them a common "racial" denominator. For some reason, Latin Americans don't seem to resent this. They take pride in their "race." But what differentiates a Mexican from a Chilean, from a Brazilian? Nothing genetic. Only the borders, different histories and cultural differences. The point of this long essay is the next time you see illegal aliens or non-thinking liberals (there I go again) claiming that our immigration laws are racist, recognize the fact that these people are stupid and their claims are totally bogus. Liberals use racism as a magic wand. All they have to do is wave it and the seas part in front of them. Thinking people (conservatives) should not be so gullible.
2 comments:
I think we have evolved to the point where we should eliminate race altogether. It would put race hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton out of business and it would remove the excuse that a lot of people use for bad behavior.
Dr. Martin Luther King's idea was to eliminate division between the races, and if the Liberals had adopted his ideas rather than those of Jackson's there would be no distinction between races other than within the most stubborn of racists, and if we treated those racists as they deserve to be treated (as a lunatic fringe element only), instead of trumpeting their idiocy across the airwaves as if they mattered,they would whither and die out, as rightly, they should.
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