Judicial Erasure of Mixed-Race Discrimination - Essay Example

Among the developed nations, the United s has the greatest diversity in terms of different racial-ethnic, and cultural groups thanks to the many years of migration by people from all corners of the world in pursuit of opportunity. This diversity is so great that demographers project that a country with no majority race by the year 2050 (Smelser, et al). As a result of this diversity, the issue of racial profiling and categorizing has been discussed and debated over the year with many groups against the legal recognition of racial categories as is the case today.

Primarily, race is considered a biological concept because one's race is determined by the genetic make-up of their parents and ancestors. Nevertheless, in a practical sense race is not just a matter of genetics but a social-political construct, which has been used retrospectively and to some extent to separate people into groups by rulers for consolidation of power. In this essay, it will be undertaken to argue why race categorization should be abolished in America, by demonstrating the problems it causes and the advantages that would accrue to different groups especially minority or mixed parentage.

One of the main reasons race needs to be “de-categorized” is because it is used by individuals and groups to; separate, subordinate discriminate against people based on race hiding behind the law. Besides, many of the classifications that still exist today stem from decades before when the laws were purposefully discriminative against some races. For instance, when one groups Hispanics together, social myths and stereotypes that relate to them, most of these negative will be collectively applied to them making them easier targets for discrimination (Spickard).

Considering the fact that African Americans take up more than their proportional share of the spaces in prison, this has been used to make the argument that African Americans have a greater propensity for criminal activity and as a result, many people covertly believe they are inherently more violent than other races. However, should one objectively consider the history of blacks in America, they would realize that the reason African Americas committed so many violent crimes in the past was that they were denied opportunities for education and fair employment even by the law.

This label has remained with them over the years and greatly contributed to instances of discrimination against them. Racial categorizing creates identity issues, especially for people of mixed parentage since it makes it appear as if they must select and identify with one particular race. For people of mixed parentage such as part white and part African American, the issue of racial categorization retrospectively posed a problem of their not being able to choose their race. Because of the one-drop rule, having any black ancestors made one automatically black even if their physical or genetic characteristics attested otherwise (Spickard).

Removal or racial categorization is thus beneficial to individuals of mixed parentage since they can get to choose their race. Race categorization makes it painful at times for both parents and children especially when the child is of mixed race and does not resemble the parent in any way. An example of this is, Tiger Woods, who has been discriminated against in the past because of his color by people who saw him as nothing but black pinning all the stereotypes and negative presuppositions about blacks on him (Racial categorization 8).

People of mixed parentage can also decide to belong to no particular race since the issue of race categorization ultimately culminates in color, and some of them may not wish to be judged thus. For instance, an individual may be born to a half-white mother and black father and possess the physical characteristics of their Caucasian ancestors such as blue eyes, and sandy hair. By virtue of his/her parentage, the individual might be more black than white, yet from his appearance society will most likely tag him/her white.

Without race categorization, Multicultural individuals would be thus allowed an opportunity to either reject the racial tags or embraces all parts of their mixed background. In the 1990 sensors, for instance, people were asked to mark one box for the race; over five hundred thousand defied this and picked more than one racial group as their own (Leong 694). Furthermore, multiracial children forced to embrace one race often end up suffering from an inauthentic expression of self (Nittle).