After reading the AAPA statment on race, I believe they made some good points. Point one talked about how we are all classified as homo-sapiens and we are all from a common descent. This really stood out to me because I think people should be just classified as people. Race should never be a way to classify someone because that doesn’t make you. I think the point this article was trying to make was the idea that we all have genetic differences and you can see those differences among populations across the world. We are all different shapes and sizes due to our diets. Even with all these differences we are still the same and there should only be one race. Race shouldn’t be determined by physical traits and this is how historical researchers viewed race.

The AAA statement on race talked more about the historical view of race. For example, in the 19th century slavery was justified due to race. Society linked superior traits with European-Americans and inferior traits to African Americans and Indians. According to the AAA statement on race, “differences among the “racial” categories were projected to their greatest extreme when the argument was posed that Africans, Indians, and Europeans were separate species, with Africans the least human and closer taxonomically to apes.”

Still today, there are people who view others different because of the color of their skin. I think a lot of people still look at blacks as inferior even Mexicans because we are a darker skin tone and darker skin tones were associated with inferior traits. I think with everything that’s going in the world today racism has gotten worse or people are just more open about it.

Growing up I was taught to treat everyone the same no matter their color or race. It sad that people are like that because that’s what they were taught and that’s all they know.