Can You See Race?

Some real good questions raised in this post. As to the question of why is race such an issue, I really think it has to do with leftovers from history. For the longest time, people of other races were stereotyped as primitive, inferior, and had several negative connotations. And while I think we have moved on from that in recent decades, we still have racist ideas seep into our culture, and sometimes we don't even realize it. As we've discussed in class, there were pictures taken of the Katrina victims that were basically of people doing the same things, but the picture of the white people had a more positive caption than that of the African American people. This happens a lot in the media. People of different races are portrayed, intentionally or not, in a negative light and thus make people afraid of each other. Now as to gender, I think it is a very similar idea, but maybe carried out differently. There are many ideas in society about gender roles and what is "acceptable" for what men and women can do for employment, what they wear, ect. These ideas are typically reinforced by media, be it news, advertising, or anything else. If you have people that try to break out of those roles, they are labeled as "different" or "abnormal". It is truly a shame that we can't grow beyond the tired notions about race and gender, but if we have people that think independently, then I think things will change in the future.

I think this is a really good point you make about why some people are so focused on race, and gender.
To me race signifies a point in time where one was looked upon as not being human because of a different race or "color". african american people were essentially the center of this problem and it comes from the history of race throughout teh united states. If you look way back into the past african americans were sold as slaves and taken from their land to better the white people and even though the were obviously smart enough to do the work, the whites still treated them with disrespect. As for gender I think that gender pertains to be a problem because there are essentially guidelines for what gender is allowed to do what in society. for instance, boys must play with trucks, and girls must play with dolls. This is a standard gender role that has been brought about especially in the US.