Race: A Complex Concept

Josue Cardoso

September 20, 2016

In the film “Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 1,” microbiologist Pilar Ossorio stated, “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups.” The matter of the fact is that Pilar Ossorio's statement was supported through an experiment conducted throughout the film. A group of culturally diverse adolescents performed an experiment in order to determine who were most genetically similar; typically, they hypothesized that those of similar skin pigments would be more genetically similar. The end result proved quite the contrary, students who were of completely opposite skin pigments showed more genetic similarity rather than those with similar skin pigments.  In Omi and Winant's literary piece, Racial Formation, which took us back to the cranial capacity studies conducted by Dr. Samuel Morton; race was never scientifically proven to be biological. There are no significant differences between a black and white man, other than the pigment of their skin. They're both males with two eyes, two ears, two legs, two arms, making them the same, or does it?

In today's day and age, I personally find it to be astounding as to how people actually believed they were genetically superior as opposed to other non-whites. Thanks to the classificatory scheme created by Linnaeus in Systema Natunte, scholars in the eighteenth and nineteenth century would dedicate their lives to classifying and ranking the variations of humans. Great and renowned scholars such as Thomas Jefferson, and Voltaire were few of many that deemed race to be a biological concept. In actuality, race proves to be such a complex sociological concept, primarily because it's a never ending cycle. Nobody is brought into the world of a specific race; our environments, and everyday encounters make us who we are. Unfortunately, race up until this very day has always been determined through how close to being white you are; all those who've been on the non-white side throughout the course of history have all shared similar acts of exploitation and oppression. Early signs of racial awareness were traced back to the rise of Europe, the hostility amongst Muslims, Christians, and Jews was simply a demonstration as to what racial formation would one day be. However, through the Europeans discovery of the New World, and its native inhabitants, the foundation to a racialized social structure began to appear. In due time, the introduction of slavery and colonialism paved the way to placing whites atop of the social hierarchy, which we can evidently see hasn't changed.

All of my life, I've been taught to hold my head high and take pride in being Mexican-American. I was always around Mexican-American culture, and consequently adapted Mexican customs, but after assessing the concept of race into more depth, it's brought about questions that I've yet to know the answer to. Based on Pilar Ossorio's statement, how do I classify myself from here on out if I can be just as genetically similar to a complete stranger as opposed to a relative? The idea of having Mexican blood did always sound a bit foolish to me, but because of my curiosity as to how it varied from other blood; in which case it doesn't. Race to me is ultimately determined through the environment you're brought up in, not the skin color you're born with. You could be white, but raised in a Latino community, ultimately you'll adapt to your surroundings.

References

1. Why people with multicultural experience are more creative. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2016, from http://www.evisaimmigration.com/why-people-with-multicultural-experience-are-more-creative-a-person-who-has-immersed-themselves-in-another-culture-has-the-openness-and-cognitive-flexibility-to-make-your-organization-more-creative/

2. Herbes-Sommers, C. (Director). (2016, June 27). Race: The Power of an Illusion - Episode 1: The Difference Between Us [Video file]. Retrieved September 10, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7_YHur3G9g

3. Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1994, March 22). Racial Formation: Understanding Race and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960's to the 1990's, 53-76.
4. Silva, E. B. (2004, August 20). From Bi-Racial To Tri-Racial. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27(6), 931-950.