There Is Only One Race - the Human Race
Ostensibly on the U.S. Left or among liberals, people
respect science. Even centrists respect
science to some extent. So-called 'controversial
discoveries' like the sun at the center of the solar system, evolution and global warming are true, based on observation and scientific method. So why is it that the U.S. government, the corporate
and liberal media, the bought and sold academics, the capitalist political parties and
politicians, some 'public intellectuals,' - the whole broad swath of
ideological capitalist purveyors - believe that there are different 'races?' Or at least talk like they do?
Scientifically, there is only one race - the human
race. This is the dominant perspective
among biologists and anthropologists, and has been for many years. Only extreme right-wing (fascist) scientists believe in a theory of
'different human races,' each which has a significant biological basis. Yet we get constant chatter about the 'races'
- plural - from nearly everyone. Even
so-called identity 'leftists.' I can
only conclude that this idea is yet another symptom of racism, held over from
the criminal past of the U.S.
and world colonialism - a past which is still present.
 |
| British Scientist Ashley Montagu |
In 1942 British anthropologist Ashley Montagu claimed that 'there are no
races, there are only clines.' He
referred to the fact that skin color and other small physical differences were originally
related to climate and geography. In
1950 the U.N.s' UNESCO said that the idea of different 'races' was a myth. This was a summary of the findings of an
international panel of anthropologists, geneticists, sociologists, and
psychologists at that time. In the 1960s, Montagu later challenged the race concept when used by those who claimed that IQ tests showed differences among 'races.' The American
Anthropological Association and the American Association of Physical
Anthropologists later passed resolutions to the effect that this is only one race. Even Rosa Parks pointed out that there was one race, saying this in the 1960s.
No one listened to her then either. The DNA of human beings is 99.9%
identical. There are greater genetic
variations among different human populations than between human populations. Human evolution cannot be tracked like
'branches' of a tree. It is one root.
In 2014, Harvard professor Robert Sussman published
the book, "The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific
Idea," which had to take this issue to task, 75 years after
Ashley Montagu. The U.S. government
to this day asks citizens in the Census or Applications for Citizenship to mark what 'race' they belong
to. They've had 'problems' because
Latinos were marking 'white.' So they
added some ethnic categories. They have
also had to allow people to mark more than one 'race' or ethnicity, as mixed
ethnicities are common. I use the term
'ethnicity' as the best description at this point, but different nationalities might be even more appropriate.
"Race" is a social concept used by colonialism and capitalism to separate people, not unite them. That is it's racist meaning. Terms like 'interracial' or 'multi-racial' or 'bi-racial' or 'races' are follies. The
lazy use of these terms only feeds into the discourse about 'the Other.' Even saying 'women of color' without using
'women without color' or 'colorless women' implies that 'white' people actually
don't have a bit of brown, as if all 'white' people were albinos. But at least
it is a bit more specific and narrow, as it only relates to skin color.
What do we do? Well, stop using
terms or phrases that imply there are different races. And call people on it.
Books by Ashley Montagu: "Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race" (1942) and
"Statement on Race" and
"The Concept of Race." (1964)
Red Frog
December 9,
2017
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