I think it might be useful to but an anthropologist or a geneticist on one of these panels or programs to remind or reveal to those watching and speaking that there is little genetic difference between what most cling to as a race. It's hard to believe that the archaic notion of different races still persists. Some of the pseudo-scientists of the past, especially those who wrote books or espoused their own debunked theories are still cited by those who need the concept to have validity. But the ship has sailed. We now know that people created the concept of race to further their own racist agendas. How else could the institution of human slavery exist for centuries?
I retired from full-time teaching about 14 years ago. Sometime around 2004, a local news station in the Bay Area produced a program called "About Race." It was one of the first times that the history and use of the term race had been explained so thoroughly by experts. Among the topics explored and illustrated was how our notion of "race" is a human construct.
The TV station graciously sent me a video copy of the program sans commercials so that I might use it in the classroom. The reactions were immediately fascinating. Some of the ways the idea of race was illustrated involved easy activities that could be done in the classroom.
With that in mind, let's fast forward to 2009. I was supervising student teachers for a new graduate credential program near Portland, Oregon. One of my students was placed with an outstanding veteran teacher just east of Portland. The day I was scheduled to observe my student-teacher soon became atypical. It had snowed the night before and some teachers and students had difficulty getting to school. Those living west of the school had little difficulty, but because those east of the school lived in higher altitudes, many roads were still closed or dicey at best. When I arrived at the school, my student teacher and his mentor (cooperating teacher) were present. The class of about 32 contained only about 12 students. Most other classes were about the same. The teacher in charge (mentor) informed the office to send him about 20 students from classes whose teachers were no shows thus far. So there we were 3 teachers with about 35 students from various classes. We needed to keep these kids occupied for at least 85 minutes.
We began a general discussion about current events and the topic soon turned to racial attitudes. What a great time to explore how the concept of race is false. I raised the notion and veteran teacher with me knew exactly where I was going. Non-verbally he gave me the go-ahead. Those activities aforementioned soon followed.
"Who is the tallest person in the room?" I asked the class. They all pointed to a basketball player who stood about 6' 5". Who is the shortest? A diminutive girl of about 4"10" raised her hand. I had them stand. We did the same for which student was the lightest in skin tone and who was the darkest. The contrasts were sharp. I then explained how genetically there was a greater difference in height than skin tone. That, in fact, every student in the room had the same 6 genes for skin tone.
After the initial shock from this scientific truth, we then went into a discussion of how the concept of race has historically been constructed. The terms Negroid, Mongoloid, and Caucasoid were coined to describe what traditionally has been referred to as the three races of human beings. No mention of culture. The geological reference of the Caucasus mountains is, of course why whites were referred to as Caucasian. Mongolia for Asians and Negroid for Blacks. All contrived.
Fortunately, with the advance of science, we know the truth. At least many of us do. Those that deny or reject these truths have their own agendas and find the real truth highly inconvenient. Any renewed national conversation about race should have everything we know on the agenda. This is not being politically correct, just correct.
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