Race

So yesterday in sociology, we were talking about race and I had this mind boggling epiphany. I've been taught throughout my whole life to be tolerant and accepting of all people. Black, white, Asian, Irish, Hispanic whatever. And I am accepting of all people. I try not to stereotype based on race or other factors and try to keep an open mind to different people and situations. So naturally, when I learned we were going to be talking about race, I tried to apply this concept of acceptance. 

I noted that race is definitely a factor of identification, not quite a stereotype, but a category none the less. One of the first things we notice about a person upon meeting them is their race, which we categorize through skin color, hair type, and facial features. Humans like to categorize things, it makes it easier for life in general I guess. But then we read this article that made me question what race actually is. Genetically, it's impossible to tell someone's race, and on the other hand, how do we categorize people with mixed ethnicities? If someone's mom is white and dad is black, than does that make the child white or black? Does it depend on how dark their skin is, or is us how they behave? Where are the guidelines? Of you really think about it, race doesn't make much sense. It's a social construction of reality where people categorize people based in stereotypes, just to make it make sense on their brain. I think a lot of the concepts of race have to do with societies need to categorize. People are more comfortable knowing all, and keeping people in categories just to feel in control when they meet new people.