Wojtek Sokolowski:
> Exactly. The concept of race is but an ex-post facto rationalization of
> existing inequalities that fits the individualistic ideology. This
> rationalization explains observed patterns of behavior by imputing
> individual characterisitics claimed to be responsible for that behavior,
> such as IQ scores. Pairing those imputed imaginary characteristics with
> superficial observable ones (such as skin color) produces the concept of
> race.
What about Black (African-American) concepts of race? Race is, no doubt, a social construction rather than a physical, biological fact, but as it was worked out in North America, it seems to have created a recognizable community the members of which do not care to think of themselves as just like everybody else. Many of them are quite interested in their "racial" or ancestral lines and the history and culture of the community which grows out of this ancestry, as well as the history and culture of the places whence it came. This is somewhat different from ethnicity in the usual sense, which ought to refer to i.e. the Dogon, Mandingo, Asanti, Ibo, etc., "tribes".
What I'm trying to get at here is that these people now no longer see their "race" as a defect, but an adornment, an asset, a valued context, just like the Jews or the Chinese. They think Black exists and is beautiful.