The Distance Between Us

"There's as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups." -Pilar Ossorio

The claim made in the film, Race: The Power of an Illusion, Volume 1, disconnects the ideas most of us have grown up with about race. It provides scientific evidence to disprove race. There is ten times the genetic difference between two fruit flies as there is between two humans, or a human and an ape for that matter. After numerous studies of body parts and organs, scientists have come to the understanding that there are no genetic markers to define "race." Race is a socially constructed idea that has been attributed to biology. Unfortunately social differences became "biological" differences, and minorities have suffered the consequences of a social and physical difference from the Anglo-American race. The biggest physical marker humans use to ascribe race to another human being is skin color. Interestingly enough, differences in skin color occur due to the balancing act between protection from UV rays and exposure to Vitamin D. Geographically, humans with ancestors closer to the equator have very dark skin because their bodies have adapted by producing more melanin to protect from the harsh UV rays, while humans with ancestors closer to the North and South poles appear lighter because their bodies have adapted to the decrease in melanin in order to absorb adequate Vitamin D. If one were to walk from the South Pole to the North Pole, they would find every variation of skin color. Nature found the perfect balance for melanin production in human beings based on their location on Earth which explains the vast difference in skin tones that highly effects the opportunities and opinions of the entire human population.

I have ancestors from Wales and Germany, causing my skin color, or racial identification, to be white. Growing up in San Jose, a city with a well rounded population of races, I was always aware of my race as white, but it was never important to me. I've never used race to identify who I am as a human being. I use other aspects of my life to identify myself. Being taught about differences in skin color and being taught to ignore the differences in skin color have benefited my outlook on race and the social constructs it creates. Before taking an anthropology class here at UC Merced, I may or may not have believed the stereotypical ideas of race being a genetic difference between humans. Maybe I did believe that "black people can jump higher" or that "Asians are better at math," but never did I let these ideas cause a difference of opinion for anyone a part of said race.

After learning about the scientific evidence that completely disproves race as a biological difference in human beings, my idea of race and the way the world works shifted. To think that the entire world system (money, jobs, living arrangements, opportunities, wealth, and over all quality of life) has been set up around a completely FALSE idea that biological differences cause one race to be superior or inferior to another is absolutely mind blowing. How silly is it that humans can make so many decisions and social institutions based on a difference of appearance, a difference of skin color. Personally, I believe that any human of any race has an easier time denying their race, and living using other means to identify themselves, if they are well off and have opportunities in the system. While those that are literally stuck at the bottom due to the terrible separation and discrimination have a harder time seeing themselves as more than their race. When you're at the bottom of the wealth pile due to the inability of your ancestors to have made any kind of progress in a country that discriminated or even exiled your race as a whole, it is difficult to rise above and seek out opportunity that isn't readily available like it may be for a more privileged individual of any race. Money runs this world and it is clear that the Anglo-American race, A.K.A. the inventors of monetary wealth and the inventors of the need to use every bit of land for a profit, has been in control since the start of colonization and mass migration of the human race. Now that this world is one large melting pot, meaning you can't go to a place and know that the people living there are natives, it is more difficult to leave out ENTIRE racial populations. There are opportunities for a small percentage of minorities due to their families abilities (or luck) to make a larger living than the average person of the same race. We are lucky to live in America, where there is much more opportunity than in Africa or South America. I would say it is easier for someone to be any kind of minority here in America than it is to be a minority in the original home of their ancestors simply due to the wealth and resources our country has. With the entire monetary system set around one race (white) being superior to all other races, discrimination and loss of opportunity is inevitable. While I am accepting of the advantages I have in this world due to my skin color, I have never, nor will never, be one to use my race to identify who I am as a human being because I am aware that life is more than that, and that it is not what you present on the outside, but what you have inside your mind and heart that identifies human beings everywhere. Our generation has the tools to stop the negative effects of racism, and create a more equal planet based on the entire human population's needs.

The idea of race persists despite scientific evidence because America has been conditioned for over two-hundred years to believe in the idea of race, and the idea that whites are superior to all races. The second film we watched in class discussed  the white man's feelings, ideas, and works on race, but never addressed how those ideas made the other races FEEL. Being conditioned to ideas that say you are less than others, being treated as less than others really takes a toll on the individual and the culture. Not to mention the numerous economical set backs. Race will persist until we are condition by the truth. Race will persist until there is as much written work available to the general public about the idea of "no race" as there was the idea of race. Seeing as it took over hundreds of years for the idea of race to root itself in our society, it will probably take many more hundreds of years to get people to understand that there is no race but the human race.