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Racial Classification Was Created In Europe
Europeans Invented the Concept of Race
Up until the 17th century, racial classification was unheard of. As a matter of fact, Africans were viewed in a positive light for being excellent agriculturalists and physical laborers. It wasn’t until anti-slavery sentiment began to sweep across the Western world that slave profiteers and the ruling class had to take drastic measures to prove that Africans were inferior.
To justify the dehumanization of Africans to maintain the profitable business of slavery, a two-pronged approach was implemented with validation from both the church and science.
With the church’s blessings, African people, who were widely non Christians, were labeled as heathens in need of saving. The science community created racial classifications for Caucasians, Asians and Africans respectively, within a social hierarchy.
Carolus Linneaus, inventor of zoological taxonomy, was the first ‘expert’ to assign phenotypes with each race. White personality characteristics were listed as acute, adventurous and active. Conversely, Black personality traits were classified as “crafty, lazy and careless.”
So, unless someone comes up with evidence that racial classification used to oppress a large population of the world was a Black creation, calling Black people racist means absolutely nothing.
