La Raza Cosmica (The Cosmic Race)

In todays class discussion on being mixed-race and its larger popular-cultural meaning, I kept thinking in the back of my mind about La Raza Cosmica.  La Raza Cosmica which means the Cosmic Race is a theory created by Mexican philosopher Jose Vasconcelos in 1929 that essentially rejects all other modern race theories by claiming that the peoples of the Americas will one day merge to become this cosmic race that embodies all races essentially making what he calls the fifth race.  This theory was widely accepted amongst members of the latino, Hispanic, mestizo communities during the Chicano movement that took place during the 1960’s and 1970’s.

What Vasconcelos writes in his essay is that we (we being people that live in the Americas) have for many years accepted the notions of racial purity and have divided ourselves based upon our race creating a system where race is the determinant of social standing.  Yet in the America’s there is an incredibly diverse population of people that come from all over the world, but refuse to mix because of the views on racial purity.  His theory is that if people can somehow ignore race and mate freely without worrying about mixing races then eventually society will move passed this racial inequality and prosper.  It’s this ideal of a completely mixed utopian world where it doesn’t matter what color your skin is because we are all the same.  In the Americas he states that that process is already underway.  Latin America does suffer many of the same racial inequalities as in the United States but because of its history where there was a lot of mixing of native, European, and black blood for hundreds of years and because of that there exists a very large racially mixed population as opposed to here in the U.S. were we just classify them all as latinos or Hispanic.

In the United States mixing races is looked at as something that is unique and exotic even though it happens all the time, it is just that we place so much emphasis on race that a mixing of races is seen as this big deal.  As we discussed in class people believe that mixing of races is bad because think of the poor mixed babies who will suffer because they cannot identify with one group.  Vasconcelos would say that those children need not worry about identifying with just one group because now they are a part of two.  They understand the strife and hardships of both sides and can identify better with others socially and culturally.  If that child grows up and has mixed children of his or her own those kids will now be a part of something greater than just one or two race groups but would be a part of all of humanity because the blood of multiple races runs through their veins.

I am reminded of the discussion we watched between Bell Hooks and Melissa Harris Perry, and the story that they discussed about the mixed child who was picked on because he was mixed.  The way I see it children are impressionable and cruel.  That boy will forever know that he is not "pure" and does not fit in with all the other white or black kids and I think it would bring him little comfort to him if he knew about La Raza Cosmica.  The children that picked on him believe that they are purer than the mixed child and will go through their lives with that white privilege because society has taught them that their purity qualifies them for special treatment.  To me the urge to be accepted by a group, to identify with others that look like you in order to somehow better understand yourself, is sewn so deep in the heart of America that it would take a complete overhaul of society and the way people think if anything like La Raza Cosmica will ever come to fruition.

My question to you all is, can we ever move past race?  Knowing what we know about the balance of power in this country and the money that is invested in maintaining that balance, can their ever be a way for not just Americans but the world to look past what we see with our eyes.