The Question About Race

This week, while learning about race, I wouldn't say I've necessarily learned anything I didn't previously know. However, discussing race did help me to think about why race was actually formed. Although we have discussed it deeply in class, I still don't think I completely understand. In my opinion, perceptions of different races are almost entirely based off of influences around you and opinions you create for yourself. For example, people that grow up in the South and who have very racist parents are more likely to grow up disliking black people. Another example which I have heard many people around here say is that asians are bad drivers, but they believe this only because they have had a bad driving encounter with an asian person. When you think about it, it really is stupid. How could the color of someone's skin make their a bad driver or make them less intelligent? I think that if it were taught more in schools exactly how races were formed, like we learned with the map of the world from millions of years ago, people may be more likely to truly understand the idea of race. Race simply came about based off the person's closeness to the equator which made their skin lighter or darker. Now, I'm not saying I have no perceptions of certain races because I definitely do, but I wish I grew up in a society that didn't influence those perceptions, and I wish I was taught in school earlier how races came about so that I could realize how ridiculous it is that people actually think that the color of their skin make them a certain way.