Having the privilege to grow up around diverse communities that value education, I have recognized at a young age that a majority of our world has been born into a struggling society with made up social structures and assigned statuses that were created long ago by white men who were greedy and narcissistic. After reading both statements from the AAA and AAPA, it was interesting to learn from scientific proof about the ideology of “race” and how within the overall human species, “racial” groupings only differ from one another in about 6% of their genes. Ever since birth, humans have been influenced one way or another by beliefs that magnify differences between human populations. Physical variations in the human species have no meaning except the social ones that we put on them, which have then evolved into a mode of class-action and brought along the ideology of inequality to rationalize the treatment of enslaved people. It’s hard to read that the ideology of “race” provided rationalization that inequality was natural or “god-given”, that some populations believe their purpose is to receive mistreatment. Everyone can admit that we have all been victims and advocators of prejudgements that distort our ideas about human differences and group behavior. It is completely ignorant to imply that both biological variations and cultural behavior are genetically determined. People I have known have either been proud of their “race” and define themselves through it however they want, or others prefer not to be associated with the “racial” and cultural category society tells them they fall under according to their physical features.
A fact that stuck out to me while reading the AAPA was that it is meaningless from a biological point of view to attribute a general inferiority or superiority to particular “races” because human features have universal biological value for the survival of the species; they are not known to occur more frequently in one population than in any other. With this fact, I would explain the non-existence of biological race to someone who is unfamiliar with the topic by stating that superiority and inferiority have no relation to the biological makeup of any human population. These categories are strictly created by the narcissistic minds of society, and the associations we make between phenotypic traits and someone’s cultural behavior or social status are influenced by the same ignorant beliefs. Physical, cultural, and social environments that people are born into only influence the behavioral differences among individuals in society, not genetic inheritances. I have tried to describe this to people before in the appropriate setting, and it can be frustrating when you’re explaining this topic to someone who lacks empathy, but as long as you have them become aware of these facts and encourage them to become more open-minded and conscious of the flaws of society, you’re a step closer to helping them understand.
From this particular statement from the AAPA, I also enjoyed reading the simple fact that the more variety of populations we bring together through urbanization and intercontinental migrations, there is a potential to reduce the difference among all human populations. This act could eventually abolish racist views and the ideology of “race” altogether which could bring about great changes in our society; however, this statement only makes it sound simple, and according to direction our world is heading in present-day, it’ll be a long, long road until we reach this nearly impossible dream.
Hello Monique! I enjoyed reading your perspective on the statements given by the AAA and the AAPA and I agree with the points that you’ve made in this post. Our society assigns meaning to everything and there are many symbols, concepts and constructions that only have meaning in the context of society. I believe that all humans have a fundamental need to understand the world around them and one way we begin to understand things is by coming up with categories to place things, ideas, and people into. I agree with your point about narcissistic white men, these were most likely the people who had power in their respective societies and felt like their understanding of the world was supreme because of their “god-given” power.
Hey! I really like how you include that “Everyone can admit that we have all been victims and advocators of prejudgements that distort out ideas about human differences and group behavior.” I think about this all the time from hearing stories from my friends meeting new people at school or even seeing people judge people they don’t even know. Some people were taught to judge others or not approve of others based on how they look or act. But now we live in a world where more people are open to people being different. But sadly, there are still tons of people who don’t accept others fully or just want nothing to do with people who aren’t like that. Which is sad since we live in a very violent world. Your blog post was very helpful and informational. It made me look harder into what I think about people the very first time I met them.
Hey Monique! I really enjoyed your blog post and found the way you structured and phrased your views very powerful and intriguing. It is sort of mind-boggling how humans (specifically those greedy and narcissistic white men) used that 6% difference in genes to justify hateful and brutal practices to subjugate groups of people around the world for hundreds of years. This was also especially clear in the “racial” science many Europeans tried to claim (during the colonial era, as well as Nazi Germany) when implementing these racist policies to justify superiority. I also agree it is ignorant to claim that genetics are the sole factor of difference, especially in relation to biological variations and cultural behavior. As we learned in recent lectures, our environment has huge impacts on both of these things and it is impossible to claim that genes are the sole reasons why we are the way we are. Our epigenome, via the movie, also seems to impact some of our differences and those are related to our environments (like the twins example). Lastly, a point I wanted to touch on is the fact that is valid for people to identify with a race or reject a category like that. Because of American and world history, there is clearly a spectrum of how proud people can be of that identity, but it is important that people have a choice whether they identify with a specific identity or not. With the whole question of what belongs on the census, these topics remain pertinent in our society.
Hey! I really enjoyed reading your post about your views on the AAA the AAPA. I agree when you said, “assigned statuses that were created long ago by white men who were greedy and narcissistic.” These men have caused great racism in society because they passed their views down to their children and it continued to pass down from generation to generation. However, society today is a lot better with racism but there are still a lot of racist people. We are all humans doesn’t matter about our physical traits no one’s color makes them more superior than someone else.
This was a very interesting and in depth response, Monique! Speak of the cause of the category of race made me think of what I had learned about the birth of capitalism and the extensive colonization of the the third world that followed on it’s tail! I was wondering if we could point to any people (of the slew of rich white men in history) in specific who created race, or at least lead to it’s creation. As you said, racism was fanned, and maybe produced in the colonial era. The motivation for this seems to have been to justify the exploitation of indigenous peoples in the third world countries. I believe, and my knowledge is shaky here, that exploitation first became morally fine with the birth of Protestantism. According to the book, The Protestant Work Ethic, by Veber, Protestantism came into being in part to eliminate the concept of usury from the church, which involved taking advantage of others misfortunes. Further, the Protestant church held that we each have a personal connection to god, that we can find salvation individually, therefore not relying on the community. This amounted to individualism. They then began to believe that fortune in life was given only to those who were close to God, meaning those who accumulated wealth were most likely to be saved. This ultimately motivated a self-centered interaction with the world. If we ask who supported Martin Luther in his production of Protestantism, then we may find those greedy people who ultimately gave the western world a reason to philosophize about race, and describe some humans as less than human – and rather a part of nature – and therefore worthy or control and ownership by “humanity.” I am uncertain as to when Capitalism came into being in relation to protestantism, though I am pretty sure that it too was a motivating force for the cheapening of things, including the value of life, in order to make a profit during the genesis of colonialism.
Hi Monique! I found your post very interesting. I also found the fact that there is only 6% difference between races very fascinating. It is sad truth that race has been used as tool to justify any atrocities and ill acts committed during the time of colonialism and world war II. I also believe that society plays a role in defining race. There are labels that are assigned to racial categories in order to emphasize the concept of race. For instance, skin color is a big label that is used to define a person in a racial category. I also believe we have to go a long way to diminish the old concept of race and racist ideologies. We haven’t even been able to update its meaning or give it a new dimension. We have been using the concepts defined by people in the older times.
Hi Monique! I find it so ridiculous that those who are born into certain un-biological “racial” groups are profiled and given less opportunities just because of this. There is nothing that truly separates one group of humans from another based off skin color, but people have broken down certain groups just because of the false understanding that one color is more “pure” than another. There is no way that this is true, but people are given less education and less of an opportunity in the world based on a false bias.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post and I completely agree with everything you brought up. I also noticed from a young age that many people were stereotyped into social classes based upon race. I was lucky enough to have amazing parents who are so open-minded to everything that they raised me that way as well. There should not be anything that separates one group of human beings from another based upon their skin color, ethnicity, or looks. It makes no sense as to why certain people stereotype someone when they do not even know the person or how they act. I do feel as if it will hopefully get better with our future generations though because each generation is beginning to be more open-minded and loving to each human being, and seeing them for their personalities rather than their physical appearance.