What We Mean When We Say ‘Race Is a Social Construct’

By Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic

“Our notion of what constitutes ‘white’ and what constitutes ‘black’ is a product of social context. It is utterly impossible to look at the delineation of a ‘Southern race’ and not see the Civil War, the creation of an ‘Irish race’ and not think of Cromwell’s ethnic cleansing, the creation of a ‘Jewish race’ and not see anti-Semitism. There is no fixed sense of ‘whiteness’ or ‘blackness,’ not even today. It is quite common for whites to point out that Barack Obama isn’t really ‘black’ but ‘half-white.’ One wonders if they would say this if Barack Obama were a notorious drug-lord.”

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