A lot of the content of this week has reminded me of my class I took at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on the anthropological concept of race. As a concept race, is something that seems so real but in reality is a figment of Western societies culture. Race is an invented concept and is far from a universal concept even within the United States. Part of this is because of the ways that Americans understanding of race (and thus definitions) has changed over time. Geography has also played a role in the concepts development. Race played a significant role in how and why it took Alaska and Hawaii years to gain statehood.
While absurd to the modern observer, the fact that Alaska and Hawaii had majority populations of nonwhite or so-called “colored”peoples barred both states from entry into the United States for years. I can’t help but wonder if this is also why no other territories have been converted into states despite the fact that the laws that allow us keep territories mandate that there be an end goal of converting such places into states. While officially race no longer impacts such decisions the reality is much more complicated. The same ideas that barred Alaska and Hawaii from entrance because of their “skewed”population ratios are no doubt the same ideas that bar the entrance of other territories to statehood. It’s disturbing to think that such antiquated issues still have such an influence on modern politics, but after the events of the past few years it sadly not surprising. More than anything else, the concept of race in the United States still serves its purpose of separating and dividing people within this nation. The results of this division is keeping us all from achieving our full potential as a nation. All of us lose because of this concept and yet it still remains.