Race is a Social Concept, Not a Scientific One

“silent diversity” by DryHundredFear via Flickr.

DISINFO

via Live Science:

Beyond the Ferguson, Mo., media reports on the “racial divide,” the facts require some correction: Despite notions to the contrary, there is only one human race. Our single race is independent of geographic origin, ethnicity, culture, color of skin or shape of eyes — we all share a single phenotype, the same or similar observable anatomical features and behavior.

Science highlights these similarities in our embryonic development, physiology (our organ-based systems), biochemistry (our metabolites and reactions), and more recently, genomics (our genetic makeup). As a molecular biologist, this last one is indeed the most important to me — data show that the DNA of any two human beings is 99.9 percent identical, and we all share the same set of genes, scientifically validating the existence of a single biological human race and one origin for all human beings. In short, we are all brothers and sisters. [What is the Difference between Race and Ethnicity? ]

Biologically speaking, one clear example is that most diseases afflict all of us — diseases like cancers and cardiovascular and neurological disorders, as well as viral, microbial and parasitic infections. Obviously, there are differences in how individual humans respond to various diseases or infections; some never suffer from cancer and may be immune to assorted infections. This may be due to factors such as diet, exercise, overall health or environmental conditions. However, the fact that a human population, irrespective of geography or ethnicity is susceptible to the same diseases, coupled with the existence of multiple pandemics , is a clear indication of how identical we are.

Genetically speaking, studies have shown that there is much greater genetic variation within a given human population (e.g., Africans, Caucasians, or Asians) than between populations (Africans vs. Caucasions), indicating that human variation cannot be subdivided into discrete races.

It is history, not science,that reveals how the concept of different human “races” arose, how the term has become widely misused, and how it continues to pervade our planet. In fact, the word race has come to symbolize the division of humanity into segments, divisions that often lead to conflicts. Over centuries, people have used the word to divide us into black, white, yellow, red, and other distinctions in order to fulfill selfish goals and objectives. Whether those goals were to subjugate various groups of humans, deem them inferior or simply discriminate against them, the reality is that billions of people have been directly affected as a result of the misuse of the word race.

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