In the PBS documentary “Race: The Power of an Illusion,” after testing their DNA, students found that they had more in common with others who they perceived as most different to them. This demonstrated how even though we assume our DNA would be most similar to others within our racial group, the opposite is shown. Summarizing this, Pilar Ossorio stated “there is as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups.”
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Unfortunately, many arguments for the validity of racial differences point to phenotype rather than genotype. “The Genomic Revolution and Beliefs about Essential Racial Differences: A Backdoor to Eugenics?”addresses the possible return of eugenics through the subliminal messages in medical reports. In the article, there was concern that “reports on different racial distribution of genes related to diseases” would become overgeneralized to be known as racial differences; the conclusion was that the “Backdoor Vignette” (Phelan, Link, Feldman 2013, 183) could have an impact on people’s views of racial differences in those with both explicit and implicit racial bias.
Another article, Race as a Medical Truth, states that many medical publications "use racial categories...as if their relevance were obvious" (Richomme, 2006, 131). Attributing certain risk factors to races is problematic because often times it is done without explanation, and it also reinforces the idea that race goes as deep as biological differences. Some medical research claim they're testing different population groups, as explained in Genes, Race, and Research Ethics, yet the negative effect that race is biologically distinct (Hunt & Meygesi 495) is inaccurate over-generalizations.
While there might not be enough science to confirm there are racial differences granted by genes, it is disconcerting that many would use any discovery leaning towards the former to cement and validate their own prejudice.
The overall conclusion of Tanya Golash-Boza and Alondra Nelson's respective works is that the only scientists searching for inherent differences were white, historically, and their findings supported their bias of Africans. In Race and Racisms, Samuel George Morton dismissed any evidence that did not prove his prior assumptions, such as the sizes of skulls and brains of different races to further speculate the intellectual inferiority of other races. "...in the Caucasian group, Morton eliminated the Hindus, who had the smallest skulls, from his sample" (Golash-Boza, 2016, 24).
My own racial identity is Latin American, ethnically Mexican and Puerto Rican. The cultures vary, but I've been raised without much influence from either, so I consider myself detached from either. Depending on who I am speaking to, I define myself as either Mexican or Puerto Rican, and only add the second ethnicity if asked further. Reading the statement by Ossorio and the evidence supporting this statement, I find that the only true differences between my Mexican side and my Puerto Rican side come from culture and ethnicity, as they are different places still within the Latinx category. Other differences, such as treatment and stereotypes come from this idea of racial differences; for example, Mexicans are closely associated with illegal immigration.
For further reading:
Works Cited
- Phelan, J., Link, B., & Feldman, N. (2013). The Genomic Revolution and Beliefs about Essential Racial Differences: A Backdoor to Eugenics? American Sociological Review, 78(2), 167-191. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23469170
- Richomme, O. (2006). RACE AS A MEDICAL TRUTH: A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH. International Review of Modern Sociology, 32(1), 129-141. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41421228
- Hunt, L., & Megyesi, M. (2008). Genes, Race and Research Ethics: Who's Minding the Store? Journal of Medical Ethics, 34(6), 495-500. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27720117
- Golash-Boza, Tanya M. (2016). Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach, Brief Edition. Oxford University Press. Page 24.
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