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Coats 'What We Mean When We Say Race Is A Social Construct'

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In the article “What We Mean When We Say ‘Race Is a Social Construct’,’’ Ta-Nehisi Coates asserts that the idea of race is not based on someone’s intelligence. People will always have a different opinion on intelligence. It is wrong to make the assumption that “blacks” are not as intelligent as “whites”. Coats says “There is no fixed sense of ‘whiteness’ or ‘blackness’.” He also explains how race is a social construct. “We don’t go around testing the ‘Irish race’ for intelligence or the ‘Southern race’ for ‘hotheadedness’,’’ were the wise words from Coats. Towards the end of the article, Coats explains the different categories of race. Are the Ainue of Japan a race? Should darker Southern Asians be separated from the lighter? Are the Japanese

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