What is Race, Essay Example

Introduction

For our Week 11 Course Assignment, the activity on PBS.org entitled “What is Race?” was completed. The activity consisted of ten bubbles. Clicking each bubble gave a new an fascinating fact about race, its creation, its influence, and its conceptualization.

Bubble One: Race is a Modern Idea

When reviewing the contents of the first quick facts bubble, I was surprised to learn that race was not a factor in ancient civilizations. People in the ancient world were divided by the languages they spoke, the statuses they inherited, the class to which they belonged and the religion they practiced (PBS.org, 2010). Physical attributes, such as skin color, were never taken into account as coteries formed and grouped together.

Bubble Two: Race Has No Genetic Component

The second fact given by the “What Is Race?” exercise involved the absence of a genetic predisposition toward one race or another. There is no single gene that can account for the ‘race gene’, or the traits by which cultures are subdivided, generally by skin color.

Bubble Three: Slavery Predates Race

The third fact bubble stated that slavery was never based on a supremacy belief of whites over any other person with darker skin. Physical traits were never used as a determinant of inferiority or slavery.

Bubble Four: Race and Freedom Were Born Together

The fourth fact given in the PBS.org educational activity was that equality was a radical notion in the colonial and pre-colonial days for the United Sates. Race was used as a justification for some people being denied the fundamental rights granted by the Constitution.

Bubble Five: Race Justified Social Inequalities as Natural

The concept of ‘race’ was at its inception during the nation’s fledgling status. Eventually it evolved into a planned extermination of all Native Americans and the conquest of lands belonging to Mexico. This involved formalized legislation and policies issued by the government that reinforced racist practices.

Bubble Six: Human Subspecies Don’t Exist

Evolution has not yet created a subspecies amongst humans. Unlike many animal groups,  humans have not existed in isolation for a long enough time requisite of subdividing the human species.

Bubble Seven: Skin Color is Only Skin Deep

The information provided in the seventh bubble of the “What is Race?” activity explans the independent assortment law of genetics. This basically states that genes related to skin color and production of melanin are entirely independent of genes related to intelligence, blood type, or athletic ability.

Bubble Eight: Most Variation is Within, Not Between “Races”

The small amount of human genomic variations occur with 85% of the divergences existing within a particular ‘race’. This means that two males of Italian descent are more likely to be different than an Italian male and an African male.

Bubble Nine: Race is Not Biological, But Racism is Still Real

Race serves as a powerful social division. Many advantages are given to a particular group of a particular race. Whether this unfairness comes in the form of racial quotas in affirmative action or greater likelihood of whites being hired than any other race, the disparities are a source of terrible injustice in this country.

Bubble Ten: Colorblindness Will Not End Racism

Equality will not be gained by ignoring the existence of separate races. Rather, identification of biased policies toward one group over another must be identified and dismantled.

References

“What is Race?” (2010). Retrieved on November 7, 2010 from PBS.org: http://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm