Pre reading for week 2

To me, I would define race as where people originally originated from. For example, the Italians came from Italy, the Germans came from Germany, the Filipinos came from the Philippines, the Mexicans came from Mexico, etc. I also would define it as someone’s physical appearance such as nose, hair color, eyes, etc. Ethnicity on the other hand, I believe has to do with the same thing as race. They both deal with their nationality except maybe ethnicity deals with other things too such as their traditions, beliefs, culture, etc. Although I think both ethnicity and race have similarities, they also have differences that distinguish the two of them. Like I said before, I believe race has a lot to do with how someone looks while ethnicity deals with more of a person’s history and culture. Take for example, Filipinos. They are said to have a race of dark skin, black hair, sometimes morena, skinny, etc. Their ethnicity would probably be like their religion which is catholic and the language that they speak which is tagalog. I don’t exactly know what you mean by common racial classifications that we use here in the United States but if I had to guess I would say African Americans who were born or originated from Africa, the Mexicans who originated from Mexico, the Caucasians who originated from here in the United States, and the Pacific Islanders or Asians that originated from Asia. I think what makes a group a race is the similarities they share such as their background history, the food they eat, the religion they practice, what they do and don’t believe in, if they share any physical appearance, etc. There are a lot of things that make a group of people a race. But I think the most important one would be their language. If they share the same language, communication between each other would be much easier because they would be able to understand one another much better. Honestly, I would characterize my own ethnicity like every Filipino out there. Someone who practices Catholicism and goes to church every Sunday, someone who believes that if you jump on New year’s eve you will get taller, someone who takes off their shoes once you go into someone else’s house because its polite to, someone who knows how to speak and understand tagalog, etc. I chose these kinds of labels because that’s just how I was taught to be; Not just because I see other Filipino’s do those things too, but because that’s how my parents raised me to be. My race on the other hand I would describe it differently. Since most Filipino’s are dark skinned, morena, and dark haired, I am not. I am light skinned and have brown hair. Yes, a lot of people get my race or ethnicity wrong. Often I get mistaken as Chinese and I believe that is because I am not like all the other Filipino’s they see which is like I said in their eyes dark skinned. Although sometimes I get mistaken for a Chinese, some people do get my ethnicity right and I believe that is because my behavior is the same way as all the other Filipino’s. We eat the same food, we talk the same, we speak the same language, and we have the same beliefs and culture.

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