The Complexity of Race Nathaly Salomon

Nathaly Salomon                                                                                                September 21, 2016

The Complexity of Race

In the film “Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 1,” microbiologist Pilar Ossorio commented, “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups. By this statement Ossorio implies that people of different races are more alike than we may know. From a scientific concept race is not biological. In the film Mitochondrial DNA testing was used to prove this concept. Black, White, Asian, and Latino students had MTDNA tested, which is derived from our mother’s genes and characterized using a specific sequence.

 The results proved how little genetic variation exists between races. Scientifically genes cannot determine one’s race. From taxonomy and skull measurement to intelligence testing scientist have used numerous variables to explore differences in races, yet known have been found. Science has yet to prove that race is indeed biological.

In Race and Racism: A Critical Approach, Boza defines race as a group of people who share physical and cultural traits as well as a common ancestry. There is no biological component. From a sociological concept race is socially constructed used to divide, separate and suppress groups of people, favoring white skin tones over brown skin tones. Race was constructed in efforts to maintain power and economical gain. Before race separation there was religious separation. When religion became an insufficient justification for the exploitation and mistreatment of African slaves, ideology that Africans were savages, negligent, and governed by caprice was introduced in 1735, by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. Linnaeus proposed that humans could be divided into four groups: Americanus, Asisticus, Africanus, and Europaenus. Today theses categories are more complex but still used.

Evidence from historical US census data on Racebox.org states that 19% of blacks were classified as whites?

 If the Black and White race are so concretely different how was this possible? In the 1946 Mendez vs. Westminster, Valencia mentions how some Mexicans were identified as white because of their lighter skin tone, which granted them access to improved education.

Race is very complex which in many ways makes it hard for me to identify myself. I have a 100% Irish great grandmother, 50% Irish grandmother. My mom is Bahamian and my dad is Haitian. I identify myself as Black, however growing up my African American friends reminded me I was not “regular black”. To this day I still don’t understand that statement. I am an American because I was born here, but I have an ethnicity that is as complex as this concept of race. What saddens me is the power that race holds in society. Ossorio title of his film, “The Power of an Illusion” speaks for itself. The power of an idea that has been used to suppress and control groups of people is appalling. With evidence that enormously discredits this idea, why do we continue to classify human's by their skin color?

References

Golash-Boza, Tanya Maria. (2015). Race & racisms : a critical approach. New York :Oxford University Press,

Valencia, R. R. (2008). Chicano students and the courts: The Mexican American legal struggle for educational equality. New York: New York University Press.

https://www.census.gov/history/www/genealogy/decennial_census_records/census_records_2.html

http://voxeu.org/article/race-choice