Race As Socially Constructed Not Biological

 

 

 

In the film “Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 1”, microbiologist Pilar Osorio stated, There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups. Pilar Osorio’s statement is proven because throughout many years scientists have studied race and discovered that people within racial groups have more differences than those who are part of another racial group. Human beings have a long history of searching for race differences and because of it they have made people in a way believe that we have to have races to distinguish each other and be part of a certain group that has the same similarities as we do. The scientist Linnaeus created four different types of races that inhabited the earth. The races were: Americanus, Asiatics, Africanous, and the superior race according to him the Europaenus. Many people believe that race is biological constructed because they believe that is constructed based on genetics and that it has a long history since our ancestors and it hasn’t changed at all since then.

Race was invented to categorize similar concepts between groups. Race is also negative and very harmful but the film stated that we can unmake it since we have created it. Race has been a problem for the longest time, evolving overtime and when segregation took place whites were on top of everyone else because of their skin color. African Americans have always been the minority and many people think they are inferior because of they are different in skin color. Hoffman conducted that African Americans were in danger of extinction because it was parted in their blood. In the 1930s Negro athletes were judged and criticized a lot because they were great at every sport they played. Many people believed that they were really good at the sports they practiced because of their genes and their body type. Scientists discovered that genetic ancestry does not have anything to do with athlete capacity and that there is no physical features for Negros that makes them special, instead everything has to do with our environment, and how we have evolved over time. In the film a study was conducted among students to identify if there were differences among their racial groups. There were students from different backgrounds, among them were White, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. Prior to the study students with the same racial groups thought that they were going to have the most similarities than the other racial groups. The students were tested based on their DNA and the results showed evidence that there is a huge difference among people of the same racial groups than the ones of other groups, proving Osorio's statement. Also a geneticist stated that 85% of genetic differences were among local populations and it demonstrated how race is socially constructed.

            I have always considered myself Hispanic to be more specific Mexican. I usually think of myself as a regular sometimes weird girl that gets along with pretty much everybody that talks to me. Sometimes people think that I am from the Middle East and talk to me in their language, many of them get offended because they think that am ignoring them or that I don’t want to embrace their culture. They get very surprised when I tell them that I am Mexican and not from their countries, yet I have learned to live with that because I myself also misjudge people when I think that they are Mexicans and they are not. The evidence provided in the film does not affect the way I think of myself because I believe that everyone is equal and that everyone should be treated with respect no matter their cultural and racial background.

            Race still persist even though scientists are unable find a genetic basis for social ideas of racial differences because it has made everything easier for the people in power. The people in power in the U.S are usually white males who make laws that benefits them and the people the are like them. Having races also has helped out the government, for example in the census so they know who belongs were according to their ethnicity. Having different races will always be part of our lives because the ones that benefit from being part of the superior race have an easier life and they don't want anything to change. Of course lets not forget that the superior race are the people in power who control everyone else.