Is Race Important?

For a while, not much has really set me off. Hence the reason my soapbox had been a bit bland lately. Sunday, I read an article that pushed me over the edge and I decided to drag out the old soapbox.

The Courier Journal, the main newspaper in Louisville, KY, posted an article about Kentucky students declining to reveal their race on college forms. To me, this could be indicative of three things.

This could meant that students are having a hard time deciding what race they are. After all, more and more young people are of mixed race. It must be hard to decide if you are of one or the other of your parents' races. Or perhaps you think that race is not dependent on skin color. After all, I am technically Native American (got the card to prove it), I look white, and I grew up in a predominately black neighborhood. So, what race am I? What race do I consider myself? For a long time, I always checked that Native American box, even though I did not grow up in a Native American 'culture'. For a while, I checked the Caucasian box. For a while, I checked the 'other' box. Now, I just don't check any of them.

Students could also be afraid of the consequences of racial profiling. This could go for both minority students and for white students. I imagine, though, that more students who are white would not check that box for this particular reason. After all, colleges are looking to fill quotas. Students may be afraid that if they check the box as white, they will not be accepted.

The final reason I think might come into play is that many young people just don't care about race. They don't think skin color plays a part in who they are. They think it just doesn't matter.

I actually think the trend is probably a combination of the three. There are some students whose race does not fit in a clearly defined area. There are some who don't want others know their race. And, there are those who think it just doesn't matter.

What made me mad is that the overall tone of the article is saying this is not a good thing. I thought we wanted our children to stop defining people by race. It is starting to happen. That is a good thing! Race needs to become a non-issue in this country. Right now, we have a lot of people who grew up in a time when there were not equal rights for blacks. However, our young people are growing up without that immediate consciousness.That is a good thing. We want people to focus on the person inside, not their skin color. That will only happen through the evolution of coming generations. Those generations will understand that there is no reason to care about the color of a person's skin. The only thing to care about is a person's character.

Unfortunately, people are falling into the trap of 'I went through this struggle and they need to know it, too' mentality. It's similar to the idea that because I went through something, my children must also go through it. It's really a 'it's-not-fair' attitude. After all, how can the young people really appreciate all the older generation went through unless they go through it, too? They can't just be appreciative that they don't have to go through it. Oh no, they have to go through it, too. Perhaps, some day, the people that want to continue dragging us back into debates already won will understand the maxim "If I learn from my mistakes, good. But, it is even better to learn from other people's mistakes." We're learning and we don't want you to drag us through the same mire that you were dragged through. Can we please allow there to be peace among the races? In the meantime, we have to put up with idiocy that thinks this is not a good thing.