The concept of “race” is something that has existed for hundreds of years; America being one of the biggest advocates for it. Even back when the first Americans were colonizing the country, Native Americans or “Indians” were looked down upon, abused, and forced out of their homes just because they were thought to be lesser than the white European invaders due to their skin color and way of living. Moving forward in American History, slavery was legal from even before the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776) to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The slaves were only treated in such a horrific manor due to being black. Moving forward, even in current America there is still racial profiling purely based on the color of someones skin. I read an article today about a former US olympian and his wife being profiled at a Nike store, the employee claimed they had stolen a product while they had the receipt for it in their hands. Although there is racism and racial profiling all over the world, it has been a consistant problem here; but it is definitly on its way to no longer being a problem. 

The big problem with claiming “race” is that it’s based off of very obvious and visible differences (ie, skin color, facial features and body shape) from one person to the next. It is thought that each race can be traced back to a certain geographical location, hence diving us as a species. AAPA states that “Humanity cannot be classified into discrete geographic categories with absolute boundaries. Furthermore, the complexities of human history make it difficult to determine the position of certain groups in classifications.”  Environment and nutrition play a huge role in the appearance of a given “race”, but genetically there has been such little deviation between groups that would prohibit mating between members of different populations. So even though there is a physical difference, there can be no “biological race” as there is such little variation between groups. Genetic variation can be even more diverse within a population or race rather than between two separate ones.  To reiterate this, AAA says, “ 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.” 

Skin color is by far the most common way of separating people by race, but every time different populations come in close contact with one another, there is breeding between them which shares and spreads different traits. Skin color is based on location due to UV radiation to produce vitamin D and protect against the sun, but skin color has no relation to any other physical attributes. For example nose shape and hair texture are usually lumped in with skin color but there is no relationship between those traits. I was raised in a house that was very very accepting of anyone and everyone, so the concept of racism is very hard for me to wrap my head around. I can see the obvious physical differences between different populations but that has always meant nothing with respect to them as a person. I enjoyed the readings talking about “biological race” and how there really is no possibility that it exists. I’m someone who likes to know the facts and the science behind everything and for this to be something heavily studied is so important to me. There is genetic proof against someone who doesn’t agree with the concept.