Racism -- Reaction to Documentary

Racism -- Reaction to Documentary

Race -- the Power of an Illusion

The documentary Race -- the Power of an Illusion presents a disturbing account of American society. On one hand, racial equality has been the official law of the land since the Civil Rights era of the 1960s and the landmark Supreme Court decisions on constitutional rights during the 1950s and 1960s. On the other hand, racial inequality persisted in many ways much longer than that and affected people of color tremendously, even into the present day.

The documentary makes clear that much of what we consider to be true about race, as a concept is actually untrue in the first place. Actually, modern genetic screening based on DNA technology has proven that there is practically no such thing as racial purity at all. In fact, all of us share genetic markers that prove that we are of mixed race, at least biologically, regardless of what our ethnic heritage might be.

Second, it illustrates how much of what we believe about race and (especially) the way we treat people based on supposed racial differences is related to superficial differences that are only apparent visually. That is why ethnic races (such as Jews and other European ethnicities) managed to break down ethnic barriers much earlier and more successfully in the U.S. during the 20th century than African-Americans and other ethnic people whose appearance (primarily their skin color) make them much more visually distinctive and identifiable as "minorities."

The documentary also explains that making social distinctions based on "race" is nonsensical. All domestic dogs, for example, are members of the same species (Canis lupus familiaris), regardless of whether selective breeding has produced miniature toy breeds or Great Danes. Similarly, human beings are all members of the same species and differ only in superficial physiological adaptations and inherited characteristics based on where their ancestors lived. In principle, it makes no more sense to treat people differently based on their skin color than it would to treat them differently based strictly on their eye color.