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Whoopi Goldberg got herself a media whooping (yes, yes, attempt at pun) this week for the disrespect she showed to Holocaust survivors by claiming the Nazi genocide against Jewish people was "not about race." She has been apologizing ever since, and now ABC has suspended her for two weeks from her shtick on The View.
The Goldberg fiasco got me to wondering: what does science have to say about races within the human species? More to the point, what do geneticists have to say about races after more than half a century of studying human DNA? Well, as it turns out they have some very interesting things to say.
Geneticists say there really are no human races. None. After examining DNA from people across the Earth, geneticists say all humans are, at minimum, 99.9% genetically identical. Somewhat shockingly, they have found more genetic variation between types of Chimpanzees than between types of humans. In a seminal paper on the subject, the American Association of Physical Anthropologists writes, "Race is not a useful framework for discussing or investigating human biological variation and continuing to use it stalls science more than advances it."
So does that mean there is no such thing as racism? Of course not. Racism is very real. But it is hugely important to understand that race for humans has no scientific basis. Race is only real as a cultural construct, a social invention. Its only basis in reality is what we choose to make of it.
Or not make of it. Since the idea of human races has no scientific basis, we may literally reject race-based thinking and the racism that goes with it. By rejecting the very idea of human races, we may eradicate that damaging social construct from our lived reality.
I don't know about you, but personally I find that rather empowering.
The Goldberg fiasco got me to wondering: what does science have to say about races within the human species? More to the point, what do geneticists have to say about races after more than half a century of studying human DNA? Well, as it turns out they have some very interesting things to say.
Geneticists say there really are no human races. None. After examining DNA from people across the Earth, geneticists say all humans are, at minimum, 99.9% genetically identical. Somewhat shockingly, they have found more genetic variation between types of Chimpanzees than between types of humans. In a seminal paper on the subject, the American Association of Physical Anthropologists writes, "Race is not a useful framework for discussing or investigating human biological variation and continuing to use it stalls science more than advances it."
So does that mean there is no such thing as racism? Of course not. Racism is very real. But it is hugely important to understand that race for humans has no scientific basis. Race is only real as a cultural construct, a social invention. Its only basis in reality is what we choose to make of it.
Or not make of it. Since the idea of human races has no scientific basis, we may literally reject race-based thinking and the racism that goes with it. By rejecting the very idea of human races, we may eradicate that damaging social construct from our lived reality.
I don't know about you, but personally I find that rather empowering.
