Under the Surface

  The first thing that one tends to observe about others is the way they look, particularly what racial group they belong to. After making these observations our minds start searching for a starting block of understanding who this person is based on past experiences and stereotypes of who this person looks like they are. “Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 1” gives evidence that we are often more similar to others than we would initially expect. 

                Microbiologist Pilar Ossorio claims that we may in fact show the same or more genetic differences within a racial group than between people in different racial groups. Contrary to popular belief that people of other races have vast genetic differences, there have been no single genetic markers that define a trait, especially not one that belongs to a particular racial group. The whole concept of what traits we acquire go deeper than biology in that it is a complex system of the combination of genetic and environmental factors.

                So why does race still seem to affect us in our daily lives when in fact, we are actually more genetically similar to one another than most species? The answers lies with the idea of social constructs we create around the ever-changing opportunities we are presented with. A common misconception is that certain racial groups are better in school or athletics than one another based on biological differences that come with their race. This stems around the idea that external differences in appearance are also linked to internal differences. The use of the term “biology” becomes a cop-out for why one cannot compete with another in a certain task and becomes an excuse for social barriers and differences. This goes back to the idea behind the eugenics movement and racial purification because one race was thought to have better genetic qualities than the other. Biologically this has proven to make no sense but socially it stills stands as a common misconception. How we view race in America is by means of the one drop rule. If someone looks particularly like a certain race, society classifies them as such and with that association comes all the stereotypical baggage that accompanies it. However, with more knowledge on the subject, one can gather that there has not been enough time elapsed in isolation for any group of people to be that genetically different.

                For instance, I am a Japanese American or Asian American female that is by no means defined by the color of my skin. The statement that claims we may be more genetically different to those that look similar to us on the outside than those one may believe to have little in common with is an idea that I can definitely relate to. In my life I have generally not associated with other Asian people because I find more in common with people of other races. I don’t see or think of myself as different until I am walking with someone and come across a mirror or other reflective surface that shows our external differences that we forget when we are not reminded. 

The idea of race persists because history has allowed it to. We are not born into this world seeing race which is proven by the fact that children don't discriminate who they are going to play with and that before migration of different groups of people nobody saw significant differences between various groups of people. The only reason race exists is to attempt to justify inequality and give advantages to certain groups of people. The main point that I took away from the video is that the idea behind race is purely a social construct that we attach meanings to in order to allow the nature of inequality for all to persist. We are more alike one another as a whole than we think and we are all very different. Human beings are equally alike and equally different than one another, meaning that we are such individuals to have something in common with everyone and something different than everyone. Race and the color of one’s skin is merely one trait that one may potentially have in common with another.