Race is a fictional and invented form of identity. The term ‘race’ has never had a precise meaning in the history of its use. It was first used to describe societies and peoples among the Europeans (Clair and Denis, 2015). However, the term was given a biological meaning in the 17 th and 18 th centuries when the Europeans came across non-European civilizations. As colonialism and slavery expanded, the term was used to justify domination, exploitation, and violence against non-Europeans. For a long in the U.S., the term was used to refer to people with common visible physical traits such as eye formation, hair texture, facial features, and skin color. This categorized people as the African race, Asian race, European race, and so forth. Seemingly, the racial categories keep changing (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Questionnaire). This strengthens what research has confirmed. Race is not biological but a social construct (Clair and Denis, 2015). One undeniable piece of evidence supporting this is the fact that there is no genetic marker for race. Humans are 99% similar.
Racism is the promotion and belief that people with certain visible physical traits are superior to others. It categorizes people into superior and inferior groups. An individual remains unacceptable if they belong to an inferior group. Behavior and culture do not matter. Clai and Denis (2015) define racism as an individual or a group-level structure or process that is compromised to reproduce inequality. Racism is organized and persistent. There are various forms of racism, including individual, systemic or institutional, and many more. Systemic racism has eaten deep into American society and creates disparities in success indicators such as wealth, healthcare, education, politics, housing, employment, and the criminal justice system.
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References
Clair, M., & Denis, J. S. (2015). Racism, sociology of. International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences , 858 .
