race -the power of an illusion (part 1)

I was recently reminded of this great three-part series shown on PBS a few years ago called "Race - The Power of an Illusion."  I had only seen the third episode of this series and decided to search YouTube for the first two episodes.  In this blog entry and the next two I will post links to these three episodes and write about my thoughts on them.  This series totally blew my mind!  I encourage you to watch the episodes when you have the time (each is about 1hr) and share your thoughts on it.

The first episode is called "The Differences Between Us."  You can find it on YouTube divided into six 10 minute segments.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcWxHUtIpEY&feature=related
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G-OR47BV6c&NR=1
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rbWgyAiZik&NR=1
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc_bsbeTjwg&NR=1
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsIpDh1RSvo&NR=1
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5YGNZMpuag&NR=1

The main theme of this episode is that race is not biological, it is a social and historical concept based on perception and ideology.  While most people have an easy time separating people into racial groups based on appearance (i.e. black vs white), there is no biological basis.  It may seem apparent that skin color, eye shape, and hair texture can be used, but there is no one characteristic or gene that can be used to distinguish all of the people in one race from all the people in another race.  There hasn't been enough time for humans to evolve into separate subspecies.

This first episode follows a multi-racial and multi-ethnic group of high school students as they do some genetic testing on their DNA.  The students think that they will have more genetic similarities with other students in their own race.  The results surprised them.  They were just as likely to be similar with people from other races as their own.  One of the white teenagers had genetic similarities with samples taken from a large database of people in the Balkans (where his great, great grandmother was from),  Iceland, and sub-Saharan Africa.  So while it may appear from outward appearance that people of different races are very different, those differences are only skin deep.  Beneath the surface, we humans are all very similar.  In fact, even diseases which are traditionally linked to race really are not.  Take for example sickle cell disease.  It is mostly associated as an African or African American disease.  However, whether or not one has sickle cell disease is not based on one's race, but on their ancestors.  The mutation that causes sickle cell disease makes one more resistant to malaria.  This mutation is found in people whose ancestors come from malaria prone regions like central and western Africa, the Mediterranean, and India, which include people of different races.

Another important point they made was that science is not only informed by data, but by society.  In the early 1900s, science supported that there were indeed biological differences behind race.  Blacks were considered to be an inferior race because of the high incidence of sickness and death in this group.  However, these scientists ignored the society they were living in.  They didn't take into account that blacks were much more likely to be poor and live in unsanitary conditions.  Interestingly, today the stereotype is that blacks possess natural athletic superiority.  Such stereotypes are not based on biology.

The next two episodes take a closer look at how this non-biological, social construct of race was developed and has changed with time and how this powerful idea has real consequences on people's lives.