A thought experiment was proposed by a member of the class: “What if race didn’t exist? Would there still be some form of hierarchy and/or discriminating factor among individuals?” After contemplating for a bit I began to ask myself why is this question even being asked and especially in this particular class. It is at that moment I realized that while thought experiments or certain hypotheticals are incredibly intriguing, they do not offer practical answers to realistic issues (such as race, which cannot be removed). Additionally, the fact that someone was even implying the idea of eliminating race was especially problematic. It is not always recognized that “past instances of racism still shape current social conditions…current instances of racism can be mediated by such deep-seated  psychological attitudes and well established institutional arrangements that they can easily avoid detection” (Taylor, 126). Additionally, racial constructionism “insists that we can effectively work on shaping our lives and ourselves only if we accurately gauge the conditions under which we do this work” (Taylor, 129). This is precisely why race-thinking is crucial. It should not be our goal to merely “eliminate” or tolerate each other’s races but one has to learn to be accepting and willing to be consciously engaged in metacognition without fearing the presence or belittling of another who possesses a different exterior. It is also worth pointing out that every injustice is intertwined and that it is not simply the black race that has suffered the harsh consequences of a white supremacist, capitalist, heterosexual, and patriarchal system. It is briefly mentioned that Latinos are now dominate paid domestic work, like African Americans once did (Taylor, 144). It is no coincidence that Latinos are the new exploited group in the United States (taking the place of African Americans). And taking into consideration the interlocking nature of race and exploitation, it is also not a coincidence that minorities (i.e. non-whites) have been and still are among the most exploited groups in the world. It is incredibly easy to go about life being unconscious of your thinking and actions, keep from going through your comfortable and respectable life as slave to your head, day in and day out. However, in order to even attempt to combat any oppressive system, the individualistic internal change needs to first precede any external action. Therefore, double consciousness, especially for whites, entails an omnipresent acknowledgement of the historical legacy of white identity constructions in the persistent structures of inequality and exploitation, as well as the comprehension of the fact that looking at one self through the eyes of others and continually being paralleled to the negativities of subordinations is not an easy burden to be carried by a soul.