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I agree. It's natural to look out for blood ties and be tribal (have the same belief systems and look similar). And so manyw times in large family gatherings, there is much joy when a young child looks like another family member from a previous generation. So if one wants to continue the family lineage, then it's important to pass along the last name along with the cultural traditions and the looks.
One of my friends has red hair and I think that it's really wonderful that her sons have her hair. But that wouldn't have happened had she married an Asian or black man. The is something really appealing to grandparents and parents about the children growing up to look like the rest of the the family.
If I had chosen to have children, I'd have preferred then to look 100% Asian, not mixed.
There's often a difference between what's "natural" and what's "good" or "right".
Much of the book is still relevant. Among the many good points he makes is that the world, up until that time, had never really known a bi-racial (or multi-racial) society. Many people were advocating emancipation of the slaves. One of the reasons that was never seriously considered by Congress was that no would could comprehend a society where the races were mixed.
Have you ever looked at a map of the Roman empire?
Humans naturally are tribal....ask any anthropologist who is not under the PC-gun, they will tell you this is true. Tribalism is another word for racism.......grouping, dividing and identifying by race, and all the other things that come along with this inborn-trait.
Sorry to break it to you but this is simply not true. If you have ever read anything about ancient history you would know that notions of race didn't exist in the ancient world. It was common for people of the same tribe and culture to side with foreign enemies against the neighboring city who shares the same culture, ethnicity and religion as them. Greeks intermarried willingly with Egyptians, the Romans adopted Eastern Gods and employed Black African Generals, etc, etc. Your notions of racial tribalism is a modern American construct.
If people have an inborn trait to group together by race then why did so many Central American tribes side with the Spanish against the Aztecs, when they were the same race?
I think tribal, in the literal sense, is a matter of trust and function rather than ‘race’. In its smallest form as a band, it is a functional unit of people who have defined roles in supporting the group’s ability to survive (sustenance and protection) and reproduce. That is why people of different tribes and races can be inserted and sometimes even accepted into positions of respect and power if the trust is there.
It boils down to “Can I trust this person, or these people, to have my back when the chips are down?†Will they hold the same values, and behave in a similar manner. The correlation to race and similar outward appearance as trust cues are the natural result of a certain degree of in-breeding due to geographic barriers that are not as prevalent in today’s globalized world.
Not to say many (most?) people don’t hold tribal views based on race, but that it may not be as common today, and probably less so in the future. And some groups (race) May hold stronger ‘tribal’ views than others.
As a minority I think, for a while at least, the US was one of the more progressive countries in regards to racial integration, meaning it was trending towards less of a racially divisive society than other Western countries. Not sure how it’s doing now, as it seems the country (and most of the Western world) appears to be turning more tribal along racial lines - for all groups. At least, if one was to go by our media and politics.
Btw, one of my racially mixed kids looks eerily similar to one of their Asian grandparents, even with clearly mixed features such as hair color. Other resembles no one on either side. We’re guessing that one was switched at birth.
Have you ever looked at a map of the Roman empire?
I am not sure of your point here. The issue is not whether a nation or empire can contain regions which are diverse ethnically from each other. The U.S. is one of the rare cases where different ethnicities often work side by side, and the same time and place.
Thank you for that description. It mirrors my own, but I don't think I ever explained that well...and so concisely.
Well, I know you well enough to understand that is your view. When I think about the USA and how it is doing in terms of being an integrated society, I look to history. With the laws that have existed in the past preventing an integrated society, I'm not exactly encouraged. Jim Crow laws, sundown towns, laws against interracial marriages in the past, etc. It took force to have integration. While there have been efforts towards a truly integrated society, there are times when it doesn't always work.
At least in these times, we don't have anymore Jim Crow laws, we don't have laws against interracial marriages. Sundown towns have been declared unconstitutional. At the same time, we still have some racial tensions going on in the USA. There are parts of Los Angeles I wouldn't be able to go as a Black man, given the Black and Brown racial tensions going on in some parts of L.A. Legally, I can go there and live there, and no laws would stop me. However, I risk getting attacked by gang members who are very anti-Black. There are places White people would have a difficult time living in. I'm saying that laws have changed for the better, but we still have a ways to go.
Well, I know you well enough to understand that is your view. When I think about the USA and how it is doing in terms of being an integrated society, I look to history. With the laws that have existed in the past preventing an integrated society, I'm not exactly encouraged. Jim Crow laws, sundown towns, laws against interracial marriages in the past, etc. It took force to have integration. While there have been efforts towards a truly integrated society, there are times when it doesn't always work.
At least in these times, we don't have anymore Jim Crow laws, we don't have laws against interracial marriages. Sundown towns have been declared unconstitutional. At the same time, we still have some racial tensions going on in the USA. There are parts of Los Angeles I wouldn't be able to go as a Black man, given the Black and Brown racial tensions going on in some parts of L.A. Legally, I can go there and live there, and no laws would stop me. However, I risk getting attacked by gang members who are very anti-Black. There are places White people would have a difficult time living in. I'm saying that laws have changed for the better, but we still have a ways to go.
Yes, all that is certainly true.
I lived in the D.C. area for most of my adult life, and there were certain areas of NE D.C. where it was certainly ill-advised for white people to go into. I used to hate going into D.C. at night when I lived in Maryland, simply because the main routes in went through places I definitely didn't want to have a car breakdown in. But generally, I moved around D.C. and the burbs without any real concerns. When I'd go downtown with some of my friends, they were always nervous if in an area where Blacks outnumbered whites. But in reality, we never had a problem and I just enjoyed the cultural differences and found most people to be polite or even friendly.
Well, I know you well enough to understand that is your view. When I think about the USA and how it is doing in terms of being an integrated society, I look to history. With the laws that have existed in the past preventing an integrated society, I'm not exactly encouraged. Jim Crow laws, sundown towns, laws against interracial marriages in the past, etc. It took force to have integration. While there have been efforts towards a truly integrated society, there are times when it doesn't always work.
At least in these times, we don't have anymore Jim Crow laws, we don't have laws against interracial marriages. Sundown towns have been declared unconstitutional. At the same time, we still have some racial tensions going on in the USA. There are parts of Los Angeles I wouldn't be able to go as a Black man, given the Black and Brown racial tensions going on in some parts of L.A. Legally, I can go there and live there, and no laws would stop me. However, I risk getting attacked by gang members who are very anti-Black. There are places White people would have a difficult time living in. I'm saying that laws have changed for the better, but we still have a ways to go.
What are "sundown towns"? I've never heard of them but I suspect they're some nasty bit of history.
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