Race schemas- Kate Rapp

To further our class discussion that we had today I wanted to write this weeks blog post on the complex topic of race. I especially like the sentences in our reading when Lopez describes how people see race in not a biological form, but rather a physical/social form. "Rather, the notion that humankind can be divided along White, Black, and Yellow lines reveals the social rather than the scientific origin of race... Nevertheless, the history of science has long been the history of failed efforts to justify these social beliefs" (Grewal & Kaplan 52). Now because we have established that race is seen in a social way, it brings me to believe that that's why people make a schema. What I mean by schema is that people characterize other people into what they believe as to be the general overview of who that person is. Say you see a older male driving a truck down the road and that man passes you in a very aggressive way- you would say that person acted that way because he owns a truck- therefore he believes he owns the whole road, so that's why he pasted you. Only with a schema comes with a reason to justify how another that person may act. So you see a teenage boy coming into a drug store your already in, that boy is of Latino descent who has tattoos all over his body. What's your reaction being a white male? Probably that the kid will shoot up the drug store for drugs because he's a gang member. This is the sad truth that a human automatically does when observing another human- making characteristics and assumptions of why that person acted the way they did. The example that we were talking about in class was about that Colorado shootings while viewing Batman. Right after that event took place there was a meme that was floating around Facebook talking about how because he was a white male- he shot those people because of a mental illness, and saying how if he was anything else that these were he following reasons on why he shot those people (above photo). There is also a really interesting video on the website where I found the picture about a Muslim asking why he wasn't labeled as a terrorist which i highly encourage you to watch! :) blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13005/batman-shooter-mentally-ill-not-a-terrorist/