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"Race and Biology" Short Essay...

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Race and Biology Southern New Hampshire University

Although we have been conditioned to believe so, it is in fact not true that race is biological. Race, like so many other things, is a social concept created by people for their own means. According to the American Anthropological Association, the idea of race is a relatively modern concept that stems from the days of colonization, when European settlers were apt to separate the populations they controlled into separate social groups in order to give themselves more power (American Anthropological Association, 1998). Race classifications helped promote the "ideology of inequality devised to rationalize European attitudes and treatment of the conquered and enslaved peoples" (American Anthropological Association, 1998). The difference in the physical appearances of these conquered people became "symbols of their status differences" (American Anthropological Association, 1998). Different cultural and behavioral characteristics were also created and assigned to each race, making sure that Europeans received the best traits (American Anthropological Association, 1998). This historical and prominent creation of race has led to the overwhelming "arbitrary and fictitious beliefs about the different peoples [being] institutionalized and deeply embedded in American thought" (American Anthropological Association, 1998). Over time, race has become a "worldview, a body of prejudgments that distorts our ideas about human differences and group behavior" (American Anthropological Association, 1998). However, in the end, none of these assumptions and long held prejudices in regard to race are inherently true. The poisonous thoughts about race held in society's subconscious must be remedied in order to overturn the centuries of lies built on the concept of race. People need to be educated and told that race does not have any scientific validity and is based more on myth than hard facts. Today, when scientists examine human genetics, they find:

most physical variation, about 94%, lies within so-called racial groups. Conventional geographic "racial" groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes. This means that there is greater variation within "racial" groups than between them. In neighboring populations there is much overlapping of genes and their phenotypic (physical) expressions. Throughout history whenever different groups have come into contact, they have interbred. The continued sharing of genetic materials has maintained all of humankind as a single species. (American Anthropological Association, 1998). So, in actually, despite "race", humankind is more alike than we are different. We are all one species, descended from the same ancient ancestors. Likewise, it needs to become common knowledge that the characteristics attributed to different races are not actually because of racial differences. Physical traits are independent and not linked, so one trait, like skin color, does not determine other traits (American Anthropological Association, 1998). When looking at skin color, which is one of the most common physical traits said to determine a person's "race", the color "varies largely from light in the temperate areas in the north to dark in the tropical areas in the south; its intensity is not related to nose shape or hair texture" (American Anthropological Association, 1998). Just because someone has light skin or dark skin, this does not determine either that person's other physical traits and abilities or other biological factors. Today, scientists see that we develop our "temperaments, dispositions, and personalities, regardless of genetic propensities" (American Anthropological Association, 1998). Race is not a factor in our biology or who we are as a person. In the end, race is a human concept historically created in order to justify European colonization and slavery. There is no scientific evidence to say that biological differences are

linked to race. Humans have the horrible tendency to label and categorize each other, and race is just another example of this. The concept of race was "invented to assign some groups to perpetual low status, while others were permitted access to privilege, power, and wealth" (American Anthropological Association, 1998). However, we must all get on board with the American Anthropological Association, who concludes "present-day inequalities between socalled 'racial' groups are not consequences of their biological inheritance but products of historical and contemporary social, economic, educational, and political circumstances" (American Anthropological Association, 1998). Genetics proves that race is not backed up by science, but is instead disproved by it.

References American Anthropological Association. (1998). AAA Statement on Race. http://www.americananthro.org/ConnectWithAAA/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=2583....