Within and In Between

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In the film, “Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 1”, Pilar Ossorio, a microbiologist, commented “There’s as much or more diversity and genetic difference within any racial group as there is between people of different racial groups.” The diversity she is referring to is the genetic differences that exist within a racial group and between different racial groups. We see this through an experiment that was conducted by a group of students in the film. Students of various races thought that they would be more similar to those of the same skin color to them, but later found out that there are more similarities between an individual of a darker skin color and one of a lighter skin color, or the opposite skin color from what they expected. What we see on the outside leads us to believing that those who are similar to us in the aspect of physical features does not necessarily mean that they are similar to us in genetic and biological makeup. Students of different racial identities extracted DNA samples and compared theirs to students who were physically similar to and different from them.

Ossorio’s comment affects the way I see society more than it affects the way I see myself. The comment does not affect me as much because I am not defined by my race. The way I see society is affected because I question how others see people of the same racial group and people of different racial groups even more now. People are often misled in defining and understanding race because they don’t see it as a social construction. Through racial purification, eugenics, and sports, we can understand how this could be. Adolf Hitler was the root of the purification of those who were not of the Aryan master race. People did not want to mix the superior race with the lower race. Jesse Owens proved this idea wrong because he established world records, began a rise in Negro athletics, and humiliated the master race. Due to Owens’ success, people began to think that the rise of Negro athletics was due to a reason in biology, meaning that there were differences in the biological makeup of African Americans and Caucasians. The differences in which racial groups dominated in which sports “raised the highly controversial issue of the influence of race in sports.” This was simply racism due to the fact that those who were more superior did not want to accept that those inferior to them were better than they were.

I identify as Asian American but my racial identity does not define my individual being. Yes, my racial identity makes up a large part of who I am but it is not who I am entirely. Thus the evidence provided does not really affect how I see and think of my own racial identity. I don’t believe that my race is the most important aspect of my life although it is something that I carry with me everywhere I go. But by looking at the evidence, I have a better understanding of what race is and how people see race and their racial identity.

The idea of race persists even though scientists are unable to find a genetic basis for social ideas of racial differences because race is a social construction that has not been broken. Society created race but has not broken it down. The first instances of race came to be in history when the Europeans who came in search of new lands took the land that belonged to people of color. When looking at the science behind trying to find biological and genetic reasons for racial differences, if any, most of the work and results were flawed. Scientists who did research on skull sizes of people of different races to determine intelligence failed to do so fairly due to their biases. They had a preconceived notion of reasons for why there were racial differences; they were hardly swayed by any findings because they already knew what they wanted to see in their results. The idea of race also persists because there are those who benefit from it and those who don’t. Before, Europeans and Whites gained laborers, goods, land, and power. Now, it’s similar as before and very much about having political and economic power. Looking at the way the world is split on a map, Europe is on top. Being on top shows that they are superior and by being in that position, they have easier access to obtaining what they want and need.