Written by: Aashrab Khanal - 2022001, Grade XI
Posted on: 01 September, 2020
The word "race" is said to have originated in the 15th century from French and Italian. The roots of the word are not found in Latin and ancient Greek. Race makes the word we know as "Racism". The word "Racism" basically means to have hatred towards an individual or a group based on their race or ethnicity. It is also the belief that people of a particular race are inferior or superior to the people of another race. The topic of racism has spurred up in recent months in many countries of the world. Racism is a very sensitive topic to discuss which causes many people to neglect it in fear of criticism. That is why while writing about "Race" we should express our ideas from a neutral view like any other extraterrestrial being would do in this situation.
The word "race" was first used to denote the social qualities of people of different nationalities. Later after the start of colonialism and the rise of polygenism belief, people started attributing race to the physical appearance of men. Today we know that Homo sapiens are the only human species present on planet Earth and the human subspecies consists of mainly four races. They are the Caucasoid (White), the Negroid(Black), the Mongoloid(Yellow), and the Australoid(Aborigines). This type of difference occurred due to evolution and mutation in Homo sapiens and other external factors like climate, geography, and migration of human species. It is known that Homo sapiens first appeared in east Africa. From there, various groups started to migrate north towards Eurasia. At that time Homo sapiens were not the only human species present on earth. The inbreeding among various human species is said to be one of the major reasons for today's diversity. For example, Homo Sapiens is said to have bred with Homo Neanderthalensis which is why we can find up to 2% Neanderthalensis gene in many Europeans and Asians. Similarly, people of different places have a diverse gene pool. But we do not find the gene of another species in the native African population. Biologically speaking there is only the phenotype difference between different races of human species. The concept of physical and mental superiority among different races is not true in the majority of cases. If one species outperforms and survives, then it is indeed a superior species. But this argument doesn't apply to races inside a specific species of a living organism.
The psychological viewpoint of racism is very complex but can be narrowed down to a number of factors and psychological traits. We, humans, are a very interactive species hence cooperation is our strength. That is why we form groups to tackle a bigger problem. That has developed the concept of ingroups and outgroups. There are many examples of this type of conflict in our daily lives. A conflict can arise between groups of people supporting different football teams or groups of people following different political ideologies. In an ingroup and outgroup conflict, people recognize each other by means of some physical representations. For example, the person supporting a football team can be easily identified by his jersey or if he is chanting the team's name. But things like jerseys and badges can be removed and the means of identification can be erased. In the case of inter-race conflict, a black man cannot just change the color of his skin and other physical traits and escape hate from the white community. But racism cannot simply be explained on the basis of the ingroup and outgroup conflict. Racism is often found to be ingrained in social norms and values. For example in America, Africans were brought there as slaves and people compared them to animals who don't need rights and are chosen by the god to work for superior white people. Racism is based on the balance between physical and moral qualities. Many other social forces and interactions help to strengthen the bias towards a minority.
Even though many people believe that the problem of racism has been solved, it is still present in our society and still affects the life of many people. These biases are in an implicit form where we are not conscious of such activities. That is why many people today associate "blackness" to crime. If every person is made conscious about race through means of biological and psychological perspective then racism can be uprooted from the very core of our society. I believe that everyone should play a role to reduce not only racial discrimination but caste discrimination. The following quote greatly sums up my argument.
"There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race — scientifically, anthropologically." - Toni Morrison
