Race

Race is defined as: 1: a breeding stock of animals
2 a: a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock b: a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics
3 a: an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species; also : a taxonomic category (as a subspecies) representing such a group b: breed c: a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits

My encounter on Second Life has been pretty much mediocre. The experience I got from Second life was basically, I could choose my hue and tone. I didn't have to be completely black or brown or white. But it's kind of obvious by now that I am African American. I chose to keep my race, because I can identify more as a black person than I could with any other. Seeing that most of my life I've experienced the classification of being black. Usually like most you get your first taste of it in elementary by someone that isn't black calling you nigger or nigga. Funny that it doesn't sting as hard when coming from a black person. But then there's that gray area of making fun of how dark someone is. The blacker you are the more hated and feared. There tends to still be an attraction, but that has to do with elitism steaming from Slavery. The lighter skinned are favored by Master, while the dark skinned was the pack mule, work horse; yet physically fit and practically naked, the big black and strong forbidden fruit to Master's wife.

Ok, I hope you are still following me... The black person has always been an object of mystery and amusement; for some sick entertainment, whether its sexual or athletic or music. The problem is most people have gotten used to the images of the black athlete, due to strides in racial equality, but have yet to see the homoerotic fascinations with American football, basketball, and in some cases baseball. You may ask where am I going with this... the way athletes are marketed as Elite Chattle. Work em hard, work em long, if they do something that a low class person would do and get caught then they are fined and made to look like a fool to all American as the nigga.

My question is: How does someone truly identify race with avatars online? Do you simply choose or create your own?