Race-- What is It?

Here's another discussion post from my Anthro class. I hope to startle my (very) young classmates with it. My info came mainly from last semester's class "Perspectives in Diversity," taught by Dr. J.Q. Adams at Governors State University in University Park IL. It might startle you, too. I can't wait to see the responses, in class and out.

Race does not exist. The term is a “social construct,” a concept invented to serve a social purpose.
 

Biologically, all human beings, Homo sapiens, are the same. Variations in skin color and other superficial attributes are present, but the bone structure and all internal organs are the same. If you need a blood transfusion, your blood type has to match but the donor could be Caucasian, Asian, Native American or Black. If you need an organ transplant, tissue type must match but the heart or liver will work from a Swede, an Eskimo or a Masai tribesman. A surgeon can’t tell the “race” of a patient on the table by what the insides look like.

I’m going to say it again. Race does not exist. The term is a “social construct.”

The National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/lan/en/index.htm  has determined, using “cutting-edge genetic and computational technologies to analyze historical patterns in DNA from participants around the world to better understand our human genetic roots”¹, that all humans living on Earth today originally came from Africa. Variations are all the result of adaptation to different habitats and reproductive habits.²

See what they’ve found here: https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/lan/en/atlas.html

One more time because this is so revolutionary:
Race does not exist. The term is a “social construct.”

If “Race” is a “social construct,” then why did man invent it? My speculation is that it arose from the need for ancient societies to survive. In order for a group to survive with a finite amount of resources, a distinction had to be made between “us”--entitled to the protection and nurturing of the group--and “them.”--not only not entitled to the protection and nurturing of the group, but possibly dangerous to “us.” This tendency to classify people between “us” and “them” continues to the present day for similar perceived reasons. Race is not the only way that “them” is defined. Socioeconomic status, culture, language and even age enter into the equation. Is this distinction still necessary today? I don’t think so.

I fervently hope and pray that I live long enough to see a world of “individuals” arise, where each person is evaluated according to themselves, not their color, culture or status.

¹ https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/lan/en/index.htm

²Owen, Jana “Lecture Notes” Week 6, ANT-101-W02-1SP sorry, Blogger readers, I'm not going to quote the extensive material on how human variations arise from Professor Owen's lecture. :-)