Response to Freund, Colored Property

Lisa Huff

HIS 270

Dr. David Kieran

February 6th, 2018

In Colored Property by Freund, he refers to race as a “biological fiction”. This statement is explained by the sheer lack of biological evidence to sustain that there are physiological differences between the groups we describe as “races”. He continues on to point out that although race is not something biologically significant, it is still relevant in the social implications that we’ve come to carry with it. Scientists and geneticists alike couldn’t manage to repeal the general manner of thinking about race even after “racial science” was discredited. I am almost certain that Haney-Lopez would agree with the points raised by Freund. In his article, The Social Construction of Race, he points out the flexibility of the perception of race and the influences of social influence on “race”. He talks about how the qualifications for “race” seemed to change depending on the minority. The black/white dichotomy was shown to have many plot-holes when Asian peoples and Latinx peoples were considered. This situation directly correlated to the reading titled “Racialization”. The criteria for “white” or privileged always seemed to change when a minority fit the previously accepted rules for white. With these “other-ed” races (Black, Latinx, Asian), stigmas were attached and thus all people that fit the description were immediately “racialized”. This carries over into issues of medicine and healthcare when you take a moment to examine who holds the power and/or is the majority in these professions. With occupations, and with occupations come people to work those jobs and within those people come all the preconceived notions socialized within them. If these false ideas about “racial science” hold, it is surely a death sentence to countless people of color. The readings, as many other readings, just caused me to genuinely wonder how people who are aware of the very racially charged history of this country can refuse to draw the connections to how personal prejudices/notions negatively affect people of color? Is it deliberate ignorance? Is it a desire to not acknowledge the sins of the past under the guise that we can all move forward into some equal and equitable utopia?