The American folk concept of race assumes the factual existence of races. However, biological science does not furnish empirical support for this assumption. Public policy derived from nineteenth century slave‐owning patriarchy is the only foundation of the “one‐drop rule” for black and white racial inheritance. In principle, Americans who are both black and white have aright to identify themselves racially. In fact, recent demographic changes and multiracial academic scholarship support this right.
This article attempts to develop an accessible approach to race and racism in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The second section is about the concept of racism, and, by derivation, racists and racist behavior. Any acceptable definition of racism would seem to presuppose the existence of races and racial difference. Therefore, the third section, ‘Race’, is an examination of those concepts. The fourth section ‘Remedies’, is a discussion of practical correctives to racism in the light of the progress made in second and third sections.
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