Skin Deep

From the film, “Race: The Power of Illusion” several examples of how race

affects society on a daily basis were provided. When analyzing my own personal perception and how race is involved, I immediately thought of the looking glass. The looking glass self is the theory in which an individual’s self perception is based and depends on the perception of others. In other words, an individual sees themselves in the eyes of society. The Veil is a very similar theory to the looking glass in which people see one another by their race. While race cannot be biologically determined, it is a social construct used daily to categorize groups of people. It can be found that race depends on ones skin color, hair texture, and facial features such as nose and eye shape. With these external differences come a number of social meanings that society also uses to differentiate groups of people. As seen in the film, it was a “known” fact that African American bodies were more equipped for sports such as track and field as they had the build for fast running. As the students took the test to see which characteristics they all had, their initial idea was the people of same skin color would have more similarities. What they found was the most realistic and also eyeopening answer that could help shape the understanding of race in society. The film was able to prove how race has a consistent and powerful meaning in our society. In regards to how that is able to affect my own perception, it makes me constantly aware of how I look towards others. Although I am able to see that race, as social construct should not be a way to differentiate individuals, race will still play a significant role in society.

Referring back to the looking glass self, it may be found that societal views are passed based on how a person physically looks. For my own experience; as an African American, Chinese, and Filipino individual, I do not define myself as one thing or another. As explained in the film how one’s ethnicity cannot be categorized in one clean cut, I definitely am able to relate and agree with this notion. I embrace all of my background and do not try to conform to one racial group over another. However, as seen in the film and from my own personal experience, society will still try to categorize others. Over the years I have been able to recognize that just an everyday outing with my Asian American mother can reflect the permeance of race.

My mom is Filipino and Chinese with very fair skin, and my dad is African American with a very dark complexion. My brother and I came out as a mixture of the two with light brown skin. At a young age I was able to see the confusion and awe of people when looking at our family dynamic. Once I started high school and began spending more time with my parents individually was when I began to understand the confused look people gave. At a restaurant, my mother and I had just been seated with our menus and the waitress left us some time to decide. Concerned as to why an Asian woman would be laughing and chatting so closely to a teenage Black girl, our waitress decided to put two and two together. She then proceeded to ask how long my mom and I had known each other as if we were friends. After the initial 20 second laugh we had, we apologized and explained to her our relationship. Though at the time we laughed it off and didn’t think much of it, now I am able to see just how important it is to society to be able to categorize ourselves. Our waitress is a perfect example of how even though ones ethnicity is not one single category, society will still try to fit you into one.

The idea of race persists because our society has been built upon segregation and separation. 

The "differences" amongst us have been used for to create a dominant and subordinate sector of society. Who comes up on the top of these sectors has been determined on the basis of skin color and resources. To protect these benefits and privileges, race is used in "biological" terms to find a difference amongst individuals. Those finding and supporting race as a biological difference are those who ultimately benefit as in the end, they are always on top. As seen the in the second episode of the film, while studies were rigged to prove African Americans "scientifically" have smaller mental capacities, Europeans had more mental capacity and finer features. Basing these studies off personal prejudices and pre conceived notions, Europeans were able to create a place for themselves in the dominant sector of society. 

http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-race-exist/