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Moonduck · 09-07-2003, 09:51 AM

Race is a social construct.

My father is half 'caucasian', half 'mongoloid' in that his father was an American (blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin) and his mother was Japanese living in Japan when they met. My father is obviously not specifically a "white" man, though you have to know Asians well to read Japanese lines in his face (ie he has no epicanthic fold to his eyes). I am not particularly Asian looking at all, though my skin tone is darker than the average "white" person, and my facial structure does betray a hint of 'otherness' as I do have a slight epicanthic fold to my eyes. This is all background to my pithy anecdote.

My father is former US Army, 24 years. In the Army, race matters less than rank, even amongst the Army Brats like myself. It was far more important what rank my father held than what race he was. As such, I never paid much attention to the racial issue. Quite a few of my friends were from racially mixed marriages anyway, as those seemed more common in military families. At the tender age of 8 or 9 years old, we were asked what race I was for school registration purposes. The answer came slowly, so the counselor taking the information explained that, by state law, anyone with 1/8 of their ancestry being something other than "white" wasn't "white". Because my grandmother was Japanese, I was Asian.

I was shocked, to be honest. Race had never been an issue, yet now I had someone telling me that I wasn't "white". Regardless of the fact that I'd never thought of myself as "white", or anything else for that matter, I was rather stunned. Additionally, the manner in which the woman stated it was mildly insulting. In today's age, she would've been out of a job and the school system would've been rather harshly sued. Back then (late 70's), I sucked it up like the little man I was and moved on.

The point is, there was no intrisic race to my upbringing. There was no intrinsic "otherness" to my make-up, yet the state we lived in informed me that I had a race and that it was, at that time, "Other". Do I consider it scarring? Hell no. I consider comments made later in life to be more insulting. I rather jokingly call myself a minority and have had other minority types tell me that "asians aren't a real minority". Whatever. I don't gain any slight or advantage from my late-realized status of minority-ness. It's just another thing that society has 'taught' me.

On a scientific level, there is ever so much more empirical difference biologically between people of different blood types than different races. It's a social construct.

09-07-2003, 09:51 AM	#11 (permalink)
Moonduck Junkie Location: SE USA	Race is a social construct. My father is half 'caucasian', half 'mongoloid' in that his father was an American (blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin) and his mother was Japanese living in Japan when they met. My father is obviously not specifically a "white" man, though you have to know Asians well to read Japanese lines in his face (ie he has no epicanthic fold to his eyes). I am not particularly Asian looking at all, though my skin tone is darker than the average "white" person, and my facial structure does betray a hint of 'otherness' as I do have a slight epicanthic fold to my eyes. This is all background to my pithy anecdote. My father is former US Army, 24 years. In the Army, race matters less than rank, even amongst the Army Brats like myself. It was far more important what rank my father held than what race he was. As such, I never paid much attention to the racial issue. Quite a few of my friends were from racially mixed marriages anyway, as those seemed more common in military families. At the tender age of 8 or 9 years old, we were asked what race I was for school registration purposes. The answer came slowly, so the counselor taking the information explained that, by state law, anyone with 1/8 of their ancestry being something other than "white" wasn't "white". Because my grandmother was Japanese, I was Asian. I was shocked, to be honest. Race had never been an issue, yet now I had someone telling me that I wasn't "white". Regardless of the fact that I'd never thought of myself as "white", or anything else for that matter, I was rather stunned. Additionally, the manner in which the woman stated it was mildly insulting. In today's age, she would've been out of a job and the school system would've been rather harshly sued. Back then (late 70's), I sucked it up like the little man I was and moved on. The point is, there was no intrisic race to my upbringing. There was no intrinsic "otherness" to my make-up, yet the state we lived in informed me that I had a race and that it was, at that time, "Other". Do I consider it scarring? Hell no. I consider comments made later in life to be more insulting. I rather jokingly call myself a minority and have had other minority types tell me that "asians aren't a real minority". Whatever. I don't gain any slight or advantage from my late-realized status of minority-ness. It's just another thing that society has 'taught' me. On a scientific level, there is ever so much more empirical difference biologically between people of different blood types than different races. It's a social construct.