Response to 1st Chapter of Racism, by Alana Lentin

As I read this selection, I came across a quote that resonated in my mind:

"A racial order has always structured humanity" (p 4). 

I feel like this statement is very true in many senses. In order to try to understand why this might be true, I envisioned myself hundreds of years ago as someone who had grown up never seeing anyone of another race. What would I think if I saw someone of another skin color than myself? Would I be scared? Confused? Intimidated? 

These feelings of disorientation that I would feel could create a metaphorical wall in my mind that would not allow me to accept anyone other than people of my own color. Now I begin to think about how this would react on a much larger, national scale. This would create a lot of hostility among all these different cultures. 

Now I wonder how people determine which race is the superior and inferior? In the 17th and 18th centuries, Europeans dominated the world because they were more "historically developed" (p 27). What makes a nation more historically developed than others? Is it an organized form of government, be it a monarchy, oligarchy, dictatorship or democracy? Or perhaps it means a system of writing and a good grasp of the language? Maybe a mature system of trade and commerce constitutes a developed society...

Another section of the reading that I found to be worth noting is the section discussing Social Darwinism and the effects of both positive and negative eugenics. As I was reading this section, I was wondering how you can create a society through positive eugenics without alienating and treading on someone else's God-given rights? How do you strengthen a race without eliminating the weak links? Is it even possible? Perhaps the solution to alleviating these race issues is doing away with positive and negative eugenics altogether. What kind of effect would this have over nationalism and national pride? Would we have to consider ourselves all the same? In my opinion, everyone should be proud of their race, regardless of their sketchy past. This doesn't mean that in being proud of your race that you look down upon others. I'm simply stating that you should be proud to be what you are, and remain sensitive to the issues that other races face.

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