The exhibition titled “Are We So Different” is related to the difference among the races and it is held in the San Diego Museum of Man. It is related to the fact that people are equal no matter of their race and that all of the differences are a cultural construct. People do not differ no matter of their race because their human traits are the same regardless of their race.
The exhibition tries to find out if the skin color or hair texture as well as the eye shape have anything to do with the creating differences between people. It questions the fact that race is real because it is a cultural issue. This exhibition discusses racism as a cultural phenomenon which takes place when people feel helpless and have no other way to demonstrate power. “Most of what we think about race is based on myth, folklore, or assumptions unsupported by genetics or biology. No one is free of misunderstandings about race, but it doesn’t have to be that way“ (San Diego Museum of Man). People are just blinded by cultural stereotypes and by what they see in the media. They are indoctrinated which is why they end up being deprived of their common sense.
This exhibition is permanent because it has many advantages and every student as well as every human being has to see this exhibition in order to begin to feel that race is just a concept which does not matter in reqality. The public awareness need to be raised to that the community spirit can be built on the grounds of equality. People of all races influence one another in the positive way and this has to be cherished and the differences have to be overcome. It takes time, but the opinions are prone to change because people have to assume the position of another human being in order to understand how they feel.
The human knowledge qabout race is limited and it is related to the history of the U.S. because it is a multicultural and multiracial country which is a melting pot of diversity. There is a connection between the race and the history which means that the concept of race is artificially made. The races mix and this can be compared to works of art in which the colors are mixed so that the best possible arrangement of colors can be achieved. Race is a creation of humans who cared about the order in the world in the wrong way which fosters discrimination. The leading men of the society invented this idea and the masses accepted it. This concept shaped the economy of the U.S. including the institutions and the laws.
Europeans were the first who brought the question of race because of the fact that they wanted to inhabit America upon the arrival of Christopher Columbus. These people conquered indigenous people and made colonies while depriving them of their rights at the same time. These people were in Asia, Africa and America and were different than Europeans. This is how the story about the race began. Instead of focusing on the similarities, white people focused on the differences and established white supremacy.
Scientists confirmed that there were differences between races in order to justify things like slavery. The fist slaves from Africa were brought at the beginning of the 17th century and this happened by force. People were evaluated according to their religion and wealth and the color of their skin was not important. After some time has passed, looks began to matter and the trade of slaves was blossoming which made many people rich. People who owned land began to fire European workers and take slaves to work for them forcefully. The slaves were from Africa and they were deprived of their freedom. The structure of the society was now based on the color of one’s skin and people who were respected the most were those from England. The worst reputation had African and Indian people because they were considered to be of less worth. Thomas Jefferson had slaves, but he also brought the Declaration of Independence which said that people were born equal and this was in contradiction with the reality.
There could be no true democracy in such conditions in which Africans and Indians were regarded as people who were less human than white people. The issue of race was still important until the 20th century. The main theory was that people who were not white were inferior to white people and this was only a social construct and the scientists were forced to make this claim.
What happened first is that the native Americans were put into reservations which was a savage thing to do. Modern science claims that all people are equal and that they have equal biological and intellectual capabilities as well as the same ancestor. The differences exist, but the fact that the ancestor is the same is very important and the differences were mostly shaped because of the people living in different geographical areas with different climate. All if these factors influenced the development of different physiognomy.
There are many interracial marriages today which is influencing the changes in the demographics and this is a positive change because there will be less discrimination in the future because of the fact that people will begin to look alike soon. These people who belong to different races are also having the same background when it comes to religion, wealth or education. There is a new way of thinking related to race, but in spite of all this people still have prejudice. The fact that people have different educational and physical abilities is not related to the race although people are prone to think that it is. Race can also be beneficial because it has shaped the way people perceive one another. This story is complicated and it is important to educate people about the fact that human beings were created equal and that it is important to concentrate on the similarities rather than on differences. There should be educational workshops everywhere including the classroom and the workplace so that people could become aware of the fact that race is just a concept and not a reality.
There are many races in the world, but what is interesting is the fact that there are more and more people of mixed races and their existence matters because they are the people who will bring the positive change in the future. It is inherent in human nature to be biased, but having interracial marriages and people who belong to more than one race in important for the future which is approaching. People have become more flexible towards the race due to the fact that there has been extensive education about it and they are no longer ignorant. There will always be people with prejudice, but most people think of race as the superficial issue because there are no biological or psychological differences among races.
Works Cited
"Race: Are We So Different?." San Diego Museum of Man. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2016. <http://www.museumofman.org/exhibits/race-are-we-so-different/>.
