The roots of race
...a thought (and comment) a friend posted on FB a comment about race and its attendant mindset. this friend believes that there is a 'race paradigm' that we a trained to participate in. he equates our ability to simply 'drop' this training to our behaviour in, say, an emergency room where one doesn't care who helps to save them – your trained race views don’t come into play then, he posits. I don't completely disagree, yet I also have another angle on this. here is my reply: ...An emergency requires no thought; are better handled when thinking is least involved. An economy or government or power relations, however...those require careful deliberation and sound judgment. Who carries out a thoughtless task matters not. Who carries out the slower, deliberated agendas of one's life is of paramount importance. Race (as a political invention) is the handmaiden of economic power. It is intertwined in culture and economics and government and society. This was done deliberately, over time. Yet, race (from the Latin meaning "root") is so much more than skin color...It is the cultural identity of a person that very much matters when you are dealing with them. Their "root" is grounded in their cultural identity and beliefs, and this will dictate their value judgments and ultimately their actions. Who you choose to associate with, partner with, build with does, indeed, matter...Whatever their color, don't forget their "root."
