What Is Race?

Pam Moore & Pete Wilson, KRON NewsCenter4Monday, February 23, 1998

We begin our story with a pop quiz on genetic science. We have a group of four men. If you were able to look just at their genetic code, their DNA, which of these men have the most genetic differences? "I have no question, given what we know about human genetics, that the tall person and the short person are significantly more different than the black man and the white man of a similar height," answers Dr. Sylvia Spengler, a geneticist at U.C. Berkeley. Sylvia Spengler is part of the human genome project, in which scientists around the world are trying to map the location and function of every gene in the human body. She represents the viewpoint of most geneticists today: that "race" has no real meaning in science. "Trying to mix genetics with race is, to my mind, inappropriate; cannot be done," she says. "...Race is something we do to each other; it has nothing to do with what our DNA does to us." No such thing as race? Has science suddenly gone mad? Can't they see the difference between Al Gore, Michael Jordan, or Jackie Chan? And don't those differences come from our DNA? Pam Moore: "When we see race, maybe body shapes and nose shapes or hair texture differences, isn't that based genetically?" Dr. Spengler: "It's based genetically, but it's a very small part of us." Take skin color, for example. Melanin is the substance that colors our skin and helps protect us from sunlight. Pure melanin is the color and texture of charcoal dust, but our bodies can also produce it in shades of brown, yellow, and red. The mix of melanin we show to the world is controlled by our genes, but it is indeed a very small part of us. How small? While each cell in the human body has 100,000 genes, only about six genes control skin color -- six out of 100,000! What's more, everyone watching this program shares the same six genes, including the genes for dark skin! What that means may shock some people; that each of us has the potential to produce skin as black as an African native. How can that be? According to scientists, it's because we are all, in fact, descended from Africa. That is why geneticists say race, like beauty, is only skin deep. "If you expect that there exists pure races, that is totally absurd," states Dr. Cavalli-Sforza. "I tell people to think of what they would look like without skin. When you do that, you see we're all alike; we're primates," adds Dr. Spengler. And that brings us back to our pop quiz: Why are the tall and short man more genetically different than the black and white man? Because remember, only six genes control skin color. A person's height, on the other hand, is affected by dozens of genes. We wondered how the men who posed for our pop quiz would react to this genetic news. They are classmates at the University of San Francisco. "My first response was, 'Oh there's WAY more difference between Reggie and I," says Rob, who is white. "So now that this information is out, people might accept it, people might not," says Matt, who is also white. "But you can't erase what you've learned throughout your whole life." "I feel like yes, this just supports what I feel already; that there's no difference between ethnic groups as far as genetics," says Reggie, who is black. But this group still had questions, like what about racial differences in sports? Isn't that genetic? One old stereotype is about blacks in sports. For example, eighty percent of players in the NBA are African American. Some people say black athletes have a genetic trait called "fast-twitch muscles," which allow them to run, jump, and shoot better than whites. But science tells us that lots of athletes have fast-twitch muscles, while not all black people are good at sports. In this group, Ryan is the best basketball player while Reggie says he's not so hot. "I've always believed that, you know, whoever you are, whatever color you are, if you work really hard at doing something, most likely you'll become good. Whether it be basketball, football, baseball -- whatever it is," says Reggie. Why are Latinos good at soccer? Do we ever talk about their "soccer" genes? Is there a "martial arts" gene for Asians? A "golf" gene for whites? What about Tiger Woods? Did he get his abilities from his black father or his Asian mother? And that's exactly the problem with trying to define people by race; there are no clear scientific categories that truly separate humans by the color of their skin. But that doesn't mean some people don't try. A 1994 book, "The Bell Curve," provoked a huge controversy by comparing race with intelligence by using IQ tests to show that Asians and whites are generally smarter than blacks. The authors concluded that part of that difference is probably genetic. Sylvia Spengler knows genetic experts all over the world who read "The Bell Curve" and were astounded by that conclusion. She says the small number of genes that control racial characteristics like skin color or curly hair have no connection with genes affecting intelligence, just as a man's height has nothing to do with how smart he is. So, if race isn't based on science, what is it? The best evidence is that race is not in our genes, it's in our heads, something we made up a long time ago. In the days when humans could see that the earth was flat, they could also see that people looked different. And though we now accept that our eyes deceived us about the globe, the belief in racial differences has been tough to change. Prejudice has been around since the dawn of humanity, when we survived by forming groups -- circles of belonging -- where we felt safe, comfortable, and superior to people outside the group. It's what psychologists call "ethnocentricity," or "in-group/out group" behavior. "That all people divide themselves in some sense between the us -- the we, the group I belong to -- that I'm a part of, and those others -- those out groups -- out there," says Dr. Marilynn Brewer. Brewer, a psychologist at Ohio State University and one of the world's leading experts on in-group/out-group behavior, says people in the modern world belong to lots of groups: family, job, school, church. ." . People have a whole pile of history that makes it difficult ... . Do we throw up our hands and say it's difficult, it won't happen? I think not." "When you have a common goal, you can look past the differences. Psychologists say that when racial groups work together for a common goal they can learn to trust each other in a way that makes race and prejudice secondary to their relationships.
February 26, 2008 at 11:23pm · Report