I was raised in Oakland and live in the Beverly Hills neighborhood of Vallejo. When I'm not in Vallejo, I'm in Oakland. I've also spent quite a bit of time in the South Side of Chicago, Pittsburg, Ca & South Africa. I can go to any one of those places and be good. People know me there, I have family there, etc... I represent what I know. & those are places that I'm familiar with and have grown up in. That's the reason why I don't say that I'm from a place like Napa. I'm not from there, so I don't know anything about it. I'm not gunna bullshit and pretend that I'm from there if I have no idea what it's like growing up there. Besides, I'm not "throwin' up turfs" 'cuz everyone else does it & I wanna look hard. I'm just proud of where I'm from, so I don't hide the fact that I am who I am because I've come up in cities such as Oakland and Vallejo, among others. Is that a good enough explanation for you? Next time, If you wanna criticize me, be sure you have a reason to... Now, Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself.
Anyway
What most Americans think of as race is a cultural construct, not supported by biology. The idea of race, however is complicated... A good quote is "It (race) doesn't exist biologically, but it does exist socially," said Alan Goodman, incoming president of the American Anthropological Association. What this means is the bedrock claim promoted by racists — that people can be divided into biologically exclusive 'families' based on superficial aspects, such as skin color or whether they have epicanthic folds — is false. For example, a person who shares your height, particularly if you are tall or short, has more in common with you biologically than other people who share your skin color or eye shape.
All people are more than 99.9 percent genetically identical has proved that race has almost no biological validity.
But, how did the terms most Americans think of as defining race come into being? The term Caucasian originally referred to people who lived in the Caucacus Mountain area near the Black Sea. Oriental meant the direction, East, where the people who would be called Orientals, dwelt. Africans were merely anyone, from Egyptian to Zulu, who resided on the extremely diverse continent. Only with slavery, colonialism and imperialism, did the terms take on the value judgments now associated with them. A hierarchy needed to be established to try to justify the domination and exploitation of some peoples by others.
"Race is a real cultural, political and economic concept in society, but it is not a biological concept, and that unfortunately is what many people wrongfully consider to be the essence of race in humans -- genetic differences," -Alan R. Templeton, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts and Sciences at Washington University
I would go deeper into the subject matter, but that would probably fall upon more opened ears in the Gathering of Minds forum.[/QUOTE
I will PM my response
