The End of Race

The End of a Race

Race is defined as major divisions of humankind based on having distinct physical characteristics or sharing the same culture, history, and language. After reading "The End of Race: Hawaii and mixing of people" by Steven Olsen. I realized Society created race, ultimately we are all the same, and biologically genetically there is very little difference between races. No one is really "pure" of one race we are all mixed. However the possibility of end of race is unthinkable, as most of the people from the same race tend to gravitate towards each other due to multiple reasons such as similarities, familiarity, barriers and stereotypes, whereas there is a possibility of a new race.

People that are from the same race tend to lean towards each other, because they have the so many similarities, and they tend to be more comfortable with the familiarity by having a partner of the same race. A similarity would be tradition, it is still very apparent in many races this is a huge part of the understanding people and what they are like when seeking compatibility. Another similarity would be morals beliefs and values, as these three things make up majority of one's personality, people from the same racial background tend to be brought up with similar values, beliefs and morals.

The world trends still are not on the same page, there are so many barriers that keep races apart such as language, education, religion, culture and even wealth. In terms of culture, take the Indian culture for example- the majority of the culture have not brought into the idea of "love" that society has created, they marry for convenience, trade and to enhances the chances to preserve and continue the ancestral lineage (Uberoi, 1993). Also, our society is so diverse; it isn't too common to have an all white or all black town. An example used by Olson in reference to Hawaii is: "Integrated neighborhoods, integrated schools, high rates of intermarriage - the islands sound as if they should be a racial paradise" (Olson 255). Even though this quote is used to talk about prejudice, reading this makes me realize how diverse our society is. We are surrounded by people of many ethnicities, backgrounds, color, beliefs and values.

Whereas language creates a barrier due affecting peoples ability to communicate and interact with one another according to a studies done by the World watch Institute and Summer Institute of Linguistics only about 66% of the world is bilingual. (Linguistics, 2001) Another major barrier would be religion, Kristen Houghton says, "Having the same religious and spiritual beliefs are part of criteria many people use when seeking a marriage partner. They feel strongly that the person they are going to marry should have the same traditions and customs, and intensity of belief as they themselves do. For them, it is an integral part of marriage" (Houghton).

Additionally stereotypes tend to play a role toward either pushing people towards intermarriages and pushing them to refrain from intermarrying. For instance in the Indian culture, a man is consider dominant over his wife, his wife is supposed to live to serve him, cook, clean, care for him and meet all his need. It is considered the wife's duty, she is not allowed to work or be independent of her husband (Uberoi, 1993). Thus this could push an independent Indian woman toward intermarrying, however if the woman comes from a strong cultured background and strongly believes that this is a wives duty just to care for her husband and nothing else this would encourage her to marry within her race.

People may argue that intermarriages are becoming more popular and this could lend to people intermixing to the extent that a race would disappear, however this not feasible, take the Polynesians for example, they began mixing in 1778 and today in 2012 they are still around today (Olson, 257). This is proof that even after a long period of time with intermarriages becoming increasing popular it has not been able to end a race.

In "The End of Race: Hawaii and the Mixing of Peoples," Olsen talks about how people in Hawaii have "mixed ancestry." Olsen goes continues this by saying "What it means to be mixed is not at all obvious genetically, but for official purposes it means that a persons ancestors fall into more than one of the four racial categories identified on the U.S. census forms: black, white, Native American, and Asian or Pacific Islander" (Olson 251). This is how Olson defines mixed genders and interracial people, and how they are categorized by the government and society.

Although there is no possibility of the end of race, it is quite possible for a new race to developed, because of intermarrying. This has been the tread over the past few years where