To me the most surprising portion of either statement on race comes from the American Anthropological Association (AAA) when they say, “Evidence from the analysis of genetics (e.g., DNA) indicates that 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.” It’s not surprising that within racial groupings there is more genetic diversity than between racial groupings because you’re comparing individual variability to group variability. The surprising thing is the huge difference between the two numbers, and more specifically how low the variability between racial groupings is. When most people picture racial groups, they come up with distinct phenotypically different groups based mostly on skin color with some other characteristics; hair, facial structure, eye shape and color, and others factoring in. There is obviously a gradient but thinking about phenotype expression 6% is surprisingly low. This makes me wonder what racial groupings were used, what the criteria for including people into these groups are, and if they used the entire human genome for comparison or some of the most common traits used to separate people into racial groups. Explaining how biological race doesn’t really exist to someone who believes it does is difficult because it requires a decent amount of background knowledge in a few fields, can be a very politically charged discussion, and requires a fairly open mind because of how race is taught and divides us in America. The first thing I would do is explain how you can’t divide people in distinct biological categories, and that the criteria of division is always going to be arbitrary depending on who or when you’re talking. The statistic mentioned above is a great starting point in showing how there aren’t distinct biological groups in humans, especially if you are able to add context in how those numbers were determined. Next I would explain how the variability within racial groups is not a new phenomenon due to modernized travel and increased globalization. This can be done by talking about how human groups, willingly or unwillingly, have interbred throughout history when they come in contact. It would also be worth mentioning how that great of division in variability could not be accomplished in the small number of generations since modernization and would require thousands of years of interbreeding between groups. After explaining the biological aspect of race, I think it is important to explain the origins of the modern idea of race and how it is implemented in society. This is where an open mind and separation from one’s political beliefs is important. First, I would explain how modern race was introduced when colonization and western slave trade began as a way to divide people into classes and excuse the numerous atrocities committed during this period. Next I would point out how some of the most famous proponents of race had other very questionable ideas about the same subject. A good example is Carl Linnaeus who introduced genus and species for plants and animals, but when dividing humans only came up with fives groups one of which was monstrous which included ogres. Finally I would ask the person to consider how they divide people into races and decide are they really dividing people into distinct biological categories or are they using a few phenotypes, dividing people by ethnicity, dividing people geographically, by religion, by culture, or some other component that isn’t really biologically based.