I thought that I knew a lot about race, justice, and freedom in America. Racism, segregation, bigotry, prejudice these were all of the catch phrases that essentially in my circle of people that I associate with on a daily basis were and are the proverbial white elephant in the room. Everyone knows that they are there but the opinions on to what degree they exist are quite drastically varying. This notion is quite alarming to me, because I have wrongly assumed that because most of the people with whom I grew up with and associate with at this time all resemble me and come from similar backgrounds, but their reactions to these terms and how they are perceived in the media are vastly different from my experience. As I noted in class, I have two beautiful daughters who are bi-racial. If you ask me, they are Kayla and Kaitlyn. But, to make my point clear, if you ask society, they are considered “Black.” Why is that? Is that how they would define themselves? Does it really matter? Unfortunately, in the United States of America it always has and always will. Because of ideologies such as white privilege and racial formation these thought processes continue to exist within our alleged modern society. Racial formation is made possible through science, academics, public policy, culture, law and institutionalization. White privilege itself piggy-backs on the ideas of racial formation. Because of these tenets, it is much more prudent in my opinion that if one were to analyze these ideas it would be far more beneficial to study the groups that are in the dominant position as opposed to the subjugated group, because the dominant group is the group that is responsible for defining and structuring these roles in the first place On our first meeting back in January you brought up the term racial formation and explained how it differed from racism and race. It was not an idea that was easily grasped by the class, so with the help of a diagram you broke it down for us. After reading the Omi and Winant piece and with the help of your diagram it is an idea that I was able to have a better understanding of. With your help and that of Omi and Winant, I understand it means that through the law and the interpretation of the law racial formation is a social and flexible means dependent on history which is used to look at race as a socially constructed identity, where the content and importance of racial categories are determined by social, economic and political forces. Doesn’t necessarily sound like an idea that could be enforced by the subjugated group of people to me. To take it a step further, just this definition in its entirety shows how the dominant group defines my two daughters or any other minority for that matter. Where did all of this begin? The defining of race is a modern concept that shaped itself during