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"Black" was a label applied to persons of many different cultures in the context of colonialism and slavery. In some places, such as the USA, Black became a cul
by jmkb 6y ago
"Black" was a label applied to persons of many different cultures in the context of colonialism and slavery. In some places, such as the USA, Black became a cultural identity because it was a legal one; these people and their offspring were governed by a separate set of laws and only legally allowed to raise families with each other.
"Asian" is too broad a term to be much use outside of geography.
"Latin" is a little more coherent, based on both geography and language. It's still pretty broad though; there are common threads but I don't know anyone who identifies simply as Latin.
"White" as a cultural identity is a relatively new invention. Personally I don't see much in the way of a shared culture here. It's problematic for many because in the USA it's been very prominently used by persons and groups who've been opposed to increasing civil rights for non-whites. It's distasteful to others because it represents a flattening of culture -- in my experience, white Americans will generally more readily identify with a particular subset of European heritage and/or with their own state or region. But this may be changing.
- leephillips 6y agoI’m not even sure there is a single “white” culture within the US. I mainly see the idea promoted by people who want to absorb some credit for the accomplishments of others. See some of the other comments here, about computers being invented by “my people”.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoSkin color is s an arbitrary physiological trait. There's no bald people culture. Or innie bellybutton culture.
- whydoibother 6y agoIt's not arbitrary when black folk were specifically enslaved and segregated due to the color of their skin, and therefore developed a culture around that shared experience. If we enslaved people based on their baldness for a few centuries and then kept discriminating against them for another century, I am sure they would have their own culture born from that shared experience.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoSee the hole in your argument is that not all Black people experienced slavery. Southern Black people were the only ones in America that did. Then if you expand that definition globally...the number of total black people experiencing slavery from white people during that time, was actually the very small. It's like saying all White People share a culture because the Irish had a hard time during British or American repression. Your using one definition to support your argument but then saying that definition also doesn't apply to other groups.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoI think using skin color as a cultural identity, instead of an actual culture, is a relatively new invention.