The emergence of Eugenics, biological construction of race, during the first massive wave of immigration seems to be no coincidence; it is a common idea that this idea was a way to justify treating people differently based on their “biological attributes”. During the massive immigration from southern and western europe, this idea of eugenics created a hierarchy distinguishing the old immigrants from the new. However, a point brought up by Goldshmidt is that even among the immigrants and other lower ranks such as African Americans, utilize these “biological constructions of race” to distinguish themselves and one another.

In the chapter, Goldshmidt refers to the idea that Jews can not take off their yarmulke just as blacks can not change their color of their skin. Yet Goldshmidt says that it is still possible to dress other things, such as professional attire versus dreads, and wearing a fedora over the yarmulke. I find this claim is interesting because in my cultural anthropology class last semester i learned that race is a “cultural” construct and the only real way to distinguish between races are through ways not easily accessible, such as genetics, not through physical appearances such as facial features, hair, and attire.

In this chapter we see that many of the first hand opinions illustrate that these “physical appearances” that demonstrate the cultural idea of race is not just for others to distinguish you but also a way for them to keep their own cultural identity; though it also creates a stereotypical idea of a race or ethnicity, it also creates a place for an individual to be distinctive in an urban, diverse world.

–Trish Anne Roque