The Origin Of Race And The Misconceptions Around It
Racial inequalities have plagued society’s culture and have shaped the history of the United States. The Meriam Webster dictionary defines race as a “category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). In other words, race is not innate, it is a nonbiological concept based on social interpretations, which has grouped individuals into categories based on visual differences. The ideology of race has been the root cause for suffering and death through wars and discrimination. The 2003 documentary, Race the Power of Illusion by Larry Adelman, provides a timeline of the origin of race and the misconceptions and theories surrounding it through explanations, examples, and expert opinions.
Many of us are aware of the historical events discussed in the video noting societal implications in regards to their ethical dilemmas addressing inequality. Today, there are many of us that believe that we live in a colorblind society; however, the institutionalism of race is impossible to overlook, stressing the importance of cultural awareness and competency. The founding fathers of the U. S put forth a notion based on liberty and equality declaring that "all men are created equal;" however, many of them were slaveholders themselves. This created a moral contradiction between equality and the right to own slaves. In order to justify their contradictions, slaves were discriminated against and claimed to be of a different species through the use of Eugenics. Slaves had no real autonomy as their right of self-governance and self- determination was removed.
The aftermath of slavery and the institualization of racism in the United States resulted in the embedment of the idea of innate inferiority and superiority, which caused injustice of nonwhite individuals. The documentary mentioned “Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, ” in Jefferson declared that blacks were utterly different. It astounding to learn about how the Nazi’s were inspired from the American eugenics studies on racial characteristics. These ideas presented exhibited that race has been used in our society to benefit some through false claims which degrade others in the process. While mentioning eugenics, the documentary approaches the common theory of genetic differences between different races. Our textbook states that race is based on physical characteristics such as skin tone, hair texture and facial features. The idea that race is genetically based drives the misconception that basic external differences are linked to complex internal variances; for example: athletic ability, musical talent and intelligence. This misconception has created various generalizations and inaccurate stereotypes that still exist today. One comment that was mentioned in the documentary was that African Americans are faster runners in comparison to white individuals. This common misconception stems from the biological separation that was created centuries ago and has been normalized through society. One of the goals of cultural competency is to address assumptions and false ideas about various racial groups.
Through cultural competency these embedded generalizations and stereotypes can be confronted and removed from societal norms. Society passes judgement on external differences and uses those to make conclusions on internal characteristics. The documentary follows a group of students participating in a mDNA workshop. This workshop was a way for the students to learn about the differences and similarities amongst each other. Before receiving their results, the students hypothesized that individuals of the same decent would be more genetically similar. After comparing and contrasting their data, it was astonishing to see that the student’s DNA showed that they could be equally related to each other regardless of race. Like many of the students, I too believed that one’s DNA would be similar to those of a same race. The categorization of race lead me to think about the U. S census race questions and how until recently there has been a greater variation within the racial and ethnic categories.
The categorization of 5 racial groups in our society, perpetuates us to believe that those of same racial category are closely related. The results of the workshop denoted this misconception that race separated into groups, as all of ancestry stems from Africa. As stated by in the video, “Race doesn't mean anything besides what meaning we give to it- Pounder”. The societal beliefs of race have caused centuries of inequality and discrimination. Upholding the principles of autonomy and justice are vital in the understanding and respecting the diverse nation that we live in.
Over the years, society has made strides to preserve many of these ethical beliefs; for example: desegregation of hospitals through the Civil Rights Act. The documentary provided an in depth look at the human construct of race and its foul consequence — racism. Race and the power it has held over our society continues to limit the success of many of its victims. Through education on cultural competency, we as a nation can continue to make improvements and address the misconceptions surrounding race by enlightening others of the importance of respect to all person regardless of their differences.
