Science suggests that climate and sun exposure differences are responsible for the evolution of differently pigmented humans. The extra exposure to UV A and UV B radiation in regions closer to the equator allowed for people with darker pigmented skin in those areas whereas humans located further up north evolved to have lighter skin pigmentation due to being exposed to only to UV A radiation and not UV B, which is important for catalyzing vitamin D production. This very simple evolutionary mechanism that allowed for the evolution of human beings that were better adapted to their environment would later divide and define people into races, with one being considered superior to the other in some point in history.

Today race is defined as a social construct that defines a group of people based on similar and distinct physical characteristics; however this was not always the case. At some point in time race was defined by a person’s nationality or a shared language and culture. In fact in many places it is still seen as this— personally I have always categorized people based on nationality such as Italian, German, South African, Egyptian, etc. I was never taught to lump people together as white or black; this concept was introduced to me in the United States. In fact the reading “Racial Formation” also suggests that  “the emergence of a modern conception of race does not occur until the rise of Europe and the arrival of Europeans in the Americas” (Omi, 61). The practice of slavery during the early years of America would lead to institutionalised racism that continues to plague the country to this day because as the reading suggests, it is not only a  “matter of intentionally informed actions” but rather something “bred in the bone” (Omi, 69).

So how can we deal with racism in this country? I don’t agree with the idea of the neoconservatism racial project mentioned in the reading. We can’t pretend to be “color-blind”; if someone is black then they are black and if someone is white then they are white and we should not have to pretend we don’t see someone’s skin pigmentation because let’s just face it, that is unrealistic. Unless you are truly blind you can not pretend you can not distinguish between race and why should we— why do we have to strip people of their cultural or racial identity in order to truly be just to people. I watched this great TED talk on how to deal with racism— basically what it comes down to is the fact that racism and the association between “bad” or “criminals” and African Americans is part of the American psyche. It is useless for people to claim that they see no color as the speaker, Verna Myers, put it “We gotta get out of denial. Stop trying to be good people. We need real people”  and  the reality of it is that we all have biases whether it be that we don’t trust a woman to be a pilot or that we clutch our purses a little tighter when a black man passes by— the most important thing we can do to over come this is to face it head on. We all need to recognize where our biases lie and disassociate the negative ideas we have about a group of people by replacing them with the ideas and associations we get from getting to know good people of that race or culture.

TED TALK by Vernā Myers