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
