Words are fun. But of course, I’m a
writer, so obviously, I believe that. There are some words that I don’t much
care for, however, and I don’t mean words like moist. That actually doesn’t
bother me. My problem is with words that fail to convey what they intend to.
You see, the universe supposedly exists, but all anyone will ever know are the
interactions between themselves and the physical world. Every person is
slightly different, and so are their interactions. So, the universe as you know
it is different from the universe as I know it, and the only way we can bridge
the gap between yours and mine is through interpersonal interactions. For
humans, this is primarily accomplished through spoken or written language. As
you can imagine then, clear wording is kind of a big deal. But it comes at a
cost. I have talked a lot about oversimplifying data. Now let’s look at some
cases of overspecificity.
Our first word is race (the ancestry
one, not the competition of speed one). Race is a concept that has been used to
justify and condemn actions for centuries, but the more humans have started
moving around the planet, the more race has become confused with ethnicity to
the point that no one can seem to agree upon a definition. Typically, race is
recognized as a biological distinction, whereas ethnicity is recognized as a
cultural distinction. That is to say that race would distinguish a person whose
ancestry was in Asia from a person whose ancestry was in Europe. Ethnicity, on
the other hand, would distinguish a person who speaks the language and observes
the culture associated with Japan, from the person who follows French customs
and speaks French, even if that person ultimately has Asian lineage.
There is ongoing debate about which racial
distinctions merit use. It is commonly accepted that the genus to which humans
belong came about in Africa. The point in the evolutionary tree at which humans
migrated out of Africa and into other regions of the world however, is not
exactly clear. The phenotypical differences between humans are in a large part
due to microevolutions that occurred since this time. That is, the color of
one’s skin has to do with adaptations to daily sun exposure in the region in
which that person’s ancestry is derived. Classifying these differences often
becomes arbitrary, however. How different, really, is a German from Frenchman?
So, while there may be little discrepancy between classifying someone as
hailing from Africa, Asia, or Europe, as well as perhaps some additional groups
(such as native Americans, Australians, etc.), it begs the question of what is
racially distinct. The whole thing becomes even more complicated once you start
accounting for individuals of mixed race. How many labels do we really need?
You might be a melodic metalcore band with reggae influences, but I’m still
just going to call you rock.
The other problem with race is its
confusion with ethnicity. A common misnomer is to refer to both individuals of immediate
and distant African ancestry as African American. African American as an
ethnicity indicates either an African who immigrated to America or their progeny.
An American who is no longer associated with the culture of their ancestral
country is not ethnically African American, but simply American, identifying
with the culture of the United States, and having an African racial makeup. An
analogous claim would be referring to me, having predominantly German heritage,
as a European American.
One could argue that American culture is
comparable to European culture, but this would only further complicate the
issue by grouping all assimilated Americans into the ethnicity of European,
regardless of race. There have also been attempts to segregate the American
culture into different groups, one of which being represented largely by Americans
of African descent. The claim is based on differences in speech patterns and
cultural attitudes among other factors. Such a distinction could possibly be
made, but again, would only include individuals who identified with that
culture, independent of their race. This would also imply further distinctions,
such as that between New Englanders, Southerners, and Appalachians, among
others. One could also argue that different socioeconomic classes make up
different ethnic groups, as well as even rural, urban, or suburban residents.
This is another case of hoagies and submarines. At some point, we all have to
just be sandwiches.
What’s the resolution to all of this
then? I have advocated for not oversimplifying for the sake of data, and here I
am condemning labels. The point is that most of the labels are unnecessary and
even counterproductive. Use factual, concrete labels where applicable. Your
grandparents are either from Africa or they’re not. For ethnicity, however, don’t
bother to label it at all. Let me tell you what my cultural values and customs
are. I might hail from Germany, but I speak English as my first language. I
might be American but I don’t celebrate Christmas.
Let’s briefly discuss another
similar concept. Sex and gender. Sex and gender are basically analogous to race
and ethnicity. Sex is what you are biologically, and gender is what you identify
with. And like race and ethnicity, the terminology has been flooded with
unnecessary labeling. The resolution is the same. Leave the concrete labels.
What chromosomes and organs do you have? For all else, let it be on an
individual basis. To whom are you predominantly attracted, what kind of clothes
do you prefer to wear, how do you walk and talk? Labeling these items
collectively only furthers stereotypes. A man can wear dresses and be sexually
attracted to women, those items are not mutually exclusive, and that
combination certainly does not require a unique term all its own.
To reiterate words are great, but
labels are not. So, please stop with trying to categorize everything and let us
use our own words to tell you about ourselves. I will check the box for male,
but I don’t even know what Caucasian means. Am I white? Paler than most, but I didn’t
see a box for MC1R mutations. Because you don’t actually care if I burn in the
sun, you want to know if I was “privileged.” Well then put a box for, “have
been discriminated against,” and I’ll check “no.” Trying to counter racism is inherently
racist. It reinforces the differences between people instead of attempting to
bridge them. Let’s stop with the racism and sexism and other ‘isms and start
with the communication, because that is why we have words.
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