|
Discussion: "Race" Doesn't Exist...
Member Since: 5/18/2011
Posts: 17,136
|
I mean I've always known this, but I was reading a really interesting excerpt from my African Humanities class and decided to share and discuss it with you all.
Quote:
TEN THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RACE
Our eyes tell us that people look different. No one has trouble distinguishing a Czech from a Chinese. But what do those differences mean? Are they biological? Has race always been with us? How does race affect people today?
There's less - and more - to race than meets the eye:
1. Race is a modern idea. Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide people according to physical distinctions, but according to religion, status, class, even language. The English language didn't even have the word 'race' until it turns up in 1508 in a poem by William Dunbar referring to a line of kings.
2. Race has no genetic basis. Not one characteristic, trait or even gene distinguishes all the members of one so-called race from all the members of another so-called race.
3. Human subspecies don't exist. Unlike many animals, modern humans simply haven't been around long enough or isolated enough to evolve into separate subspecies or races. Despite surface appearances, we are one of the most similar of all species.
4. Skin color really is only skin deep. Most traits are inherited independently from one another. The genes influencing skin color have nothing to do with the genes influencing hair form, eye shape, blood type, musical talent, athletic ability or forms of intelligence. Knowing someone's skin color doesn't necessarily tell you anything else about him or her.
5. Most variation is within, not between, "races." Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population, be they Italians, Kurds, Koreans or Cherokees. About 94% can be found within any continent. That means two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.
6. Slavery predates race. Throughout much of human history, societies have enslaved others, often as a result of conquest or war, even debt, but not because of physical characteristics or a belief in natural inferiority. Due to a unique set of historical circumstances, ours was the first slave system where all the slaves shared similar physical characteristics.
7. Race and freedom evolved together. The U.S. was founded on the radical new principle that "All men are created equal." But our early economy was based largely on slavery. How could this anomaly be rationalized? The new idea of race helped explain why some people could be denied the rights and freedoms that others took for granted.
8. Race justified social inequalities as natural. As the race idea evolved, white superiority became "common sense" in America. It justified not only slavery but also the extermination of Indians, exclusion of Asian immigrants, and the taking of Mexican lands by a nation that professed a belief in democracy. Racial practices were institutionalized within American government, laws, and society.
9. Race isn't biological, but racism is still real. Race is a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunities and resources. Our government and social institutions have created advantages that disproportionately channel wealth, power, and resources to white people. This affects everyone, whether we are aware of it or not.
10. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remedy social policies and institutional practices that advantage some groups at the expense of others.
|
Source
The last one is such an important point, in my opinion. You always hear people say "I don't care if you're white, brown, purple, yellow, or green" like that's combating racism when it fact it's not. It only makes you blind to the bigger problem. You not seeing color allows you to also not see the inequality and discrimination that is running rampant. Just because you're aware that a person looks differently than you doesn't mean that you are racist. The big difference is that you are able to judge that same person by their character and not by their physical appearance.
|
|
|
Banned
Member Since: 4/18/2012
Posts: 7,097
|
Educate ha.
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/29/2012
Posts: 22,883
|
Quote:
Race has no genetic basis.
|
!!!
|
|
|
Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 891
|
|
|
|
Member Since: 11/26/2010
Posts: 14,197
|
That last one is such a contradiction. So race doesn't exist, yet we shouldn't pretend like race is nonexistent? What?
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/3/2010
Posts: 71,871
|
Quote:
2. Race has no genetic basis. Not one characteristic, trait or even gene distinguishes all the members of one so-called race from all the members of another so-called race.
|
Is this one true KB? In your opinion, since I know you're a (molecular biologist?). My opinion on this is different
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/3/2010
Posts: 71,871
|
Quote:
Originally posted by bleuwaffle
That last one is such a contradiction. So race doesn't exist, yet we shouldn't pretend like race is nonexistent? What?
|
Race doesn't exist but we shouldn't pretend it doesn't affect people is basically what I got from it
|
|
|
ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
|
It does exist as a societally constructed thing though
It's like saying morality or something of the like doesn't exist. They DO, it's just societally constructed.
|
|
|
Member Since: 5/18/2011
Posts: 17,136
|
Quote:
Originally posted by bleuwaffle
That last one is such a contradiction. So race doesn't exist, yet we shouldn't pretend like race is nonexistent? What?
|
Uh no....
They're saying race doesn't exist, but it's okay to be aware of differences in color of skin. Being color blind and saying "I don't care, we're all human" isn't the cure to racism because institutionalized racism will still exist and it allows one to overlook the social injustices that particular minorities may endure.
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 27,248
|
Quote:
Originally posted by RatedG²
Is this one true KB? In your opinion, since I know you're a (molecular biologist?). My opinion on this is different
|
We are genetically identical, just that different races have different phenotypes. I think that's what it means.
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/3/2010
Posts: 71,871
|
Quote:
Originally posted by holyground
We are genetically identical, just that different races have different phenotypes. I think that's what it means.
|
But you see, phenotypes are based on expressed genetics. And if races do have different phenotypes (a rhetorical statement) you'd think the genetics are different too.
Unless the're the same but different expressions are turned on/off based on different races
|
|
|
Member Since: 5/18/2011
Posts: 17,136
|
Quote:
Originally posted by RatedG²
Is this one true KB? In your opinion, since I know you're a (molecular biologist?). My opinion on this is different
|
Well I mean if you look at one particular subspecies of an animal they don't necessarily have to be the same color, but they share virtually the same genetic make up. It has more to do with populations than anything.
|
|
|
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 11,383
|
interesting
perched nonetheless
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 3,336
|
My Anthropology professor just went over this topic in my class as well, I found it really interesting!!
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/3/2010
Posts: 71,871
|
Quote:
Originally posted by KB.
Well I mean if you look at one particular subspecies of an animal they don't necessarily have to be the same color, but they share virtually the same genetic make up. It has more to do with populations than anything.
|
Oh I see what you mean. Yes that makes sense . I forgot phenotypes are also based on the environment so it's obvious with the environmental differences some genes are turned on while others are not, making the different "races" yet we all share the same genes.
|
|
|
ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
|
Quote:
Originally posted by holyground
We are genetically identical, just that different races have different phenotypes. I think that's what it means.
|
But we're not genetically identical
We'd all be identical septbillions if that were the case
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/29/2012
Posts: 22,883
|
Quote:
In fact, genetically, we are among the most similar of all species. Only one out of every thousand nucleotides that make up our genetic code is different, one individual from another. These look-alike penguins have twice the amount of genetic difference, one from the other, than humans. And these fruit flies? Ten times more difference. Any two fruit flies may be as different genetically from each other, as a human is from a chimpanzee. So the central question for us is: of the small amount of variation between us, what if any, is mapped along what we think of as racial lines?
|
From RACE - THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION
Crazy.
|
|
|
Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 27,248
|
Quote:
Originally posted by RatedG²
But you see, phenotypes are based on expressed genetics. And if races do have different phenotypes (a rhetorical statement) you'd think the genetics are different too.
Unless the're the same but different expressions are turned on/off based on different races
|
There is always variation in a species. I'm not too sure what they're arguing about by saying that there's no "genetic basis". I guess it means that we're all the same species and subspecies. Cos if you wanna map out the genome of every human, there are tons of differences.
|
|
|
Member Since: 5/18/2011
Posts: 17,136
|
Quote:
Originally posted by RatedG²
Oh I see what you mean. Yes that makes sense . I forgot phenotypes are also based on the environment so it's obvious with the environmental differences some genes are turned on while others are not, making the different "races" yet we all share the same genes.
|
Exactly. A big difference in race can be the amount of UV exposure in your area. European and African people will obviously have different shades of skin and phenotypes for the simple fact that they stay in different areas of the world.
|
|
|
Member Since: 11/17/2011
Posts: 52,363
|
i was just reading about race in the antebellum America and its history
|
|
|
|
|