On Racism and Sexism (also patd)

Tomorrow I'm going to see Panic! at the Disco live.

As in I'm going to see Brenden Urie in person.

Not as a two dimensional projection of a 4 dimensional object, oh no, I mean the 4 dimensional object itself.

And guess what?

I'm going to a piece of shit and wear a My Chemical Romance t-shirt.

Now onto more pressing matters at hand:

Racism and sexism.

A thing of the past, yeah? Works only one way? Anybody who practices these things are old and were born in a different time, so it's okay, yeah?

Wrong. All of these are wrong.

For as long as stereotypes exist about any race, including white races, there is racism. Take, for example, the stereotype that all black people like hip hop, fried chicken, watermelon, and kool aid.

Yeah, plenty of them do. But then, so do people of other races, but do we stereotype them as liking these things too?

No.

We say they 'act black.'

Now, let me explain to you a thing about race: All races have the same amount of melanocytes, or the cells that give skin its colour. Melanocytes produce melanin, obviously, but there are two times of melanin: Eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin is a brownish-black colour whereas pheomelanin is a yellowish-orange colour. People with darker skin produce more eumelanin and people with lighter skin produce more pheomelanin.

Those who live nearer the equator tend to have darker skin so as to better protect themselves from UV radiation. Skin colour is literally just an adaptation to better survive, much like all other animals do.

Now, please tell me - how does an adaptation that happened millions of years ago affect what a certain person will wear, do, say, or enjoy?

What's that you say? It doesn't?

Well, society sure seems to think so.

And what's that called?

Racism.

White people can be racist, black people can be racist, Asians can be racist, Hispanics can be racist, Native Americans can be racist, anybody can be racist.

The same goes for sexism.

A man hates a woman and/our treats her like she's inferior because she's a woman? Sexist.

A woman hates a man and/our treats him like he's inferior because he's a man? Sexist.

Neither of these are systems of oppression. They're prejudices against other sexes/races and the belief that your sex/race is superior.

And guess what?

That's wrong.

And yes, we are all the same in the end.

But then again, no.

You see, we're all different, and that's okay. Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior.

I just wish the rest of society could catch up with this thinking and realist that hate only breeds hate, that you need to find room inside your metaphorical heart for everybody in the world.

With a few exceptions, of course, but those are obvious.
-Narwhal Sandkurt