"Does Race Exist?"

Karina Martin

Mr. Quick

A Block

10/22/13

The title of this article asks a very interesting question: “Does Race Exist?” It is interesting because when you think about it, yes, race does exist. Race has existed for years and has caused much conflict throughout the world, especially here in the United States. This article, however, is not talking about the social phenomenon that has existed for years, but the idea of race that has a biological base behind it. A person determines another’s race by looking at his or her physical features. Our features, such as our skin color or hair, are what normally make us a member of a particular race. There are other aspects that also work well in dividing us into groups, like genetically determined propensities for certain diseases.

            In this article, the question of whether genetic information can be used to determine what “group” a person is a “member” of is asked, and the answer to that is yes. As I mentioned before, we determine race by a person’s skin color and hair texture, and these signs are dictated by a handful of genes. However, how some of these “groups” are divided depends on which genes are examined; for example, a person might fit into one group based on their skin color genes, but fit into another based on a different characteristic. An example would be the “African race” in the United States. There are many people that label all Africans as from the same race. However, Africans come from different parts of Africa, which makes them very diverse, especially when it comes to looks. Over the centuries, African-Americans have mixed extensively with different groups originating from different parts of Africa. On the other hand, two people from different “groups or “races” can also share a larger genetic similarity that two from the same “race.”

            There are also medical implications of racial genetic differences that have brought many controversies among scientists. Diseases, such as sickle-cell and cystic fibrosis, result from genetic changes have risen in frequency due to being protective against diseases common in Africa and Europe. For certain diseases such as these, physicians may have to rely on background information about a person’s ancestry in order to best treat them. Some investigators say that group membership play a small role in genetic and medical studies, while others suggest that we can only understand how genetic and environmental differences among groups contribute to disease by using group membership. This dispute over the importance of group membership shows us how strongly our view of race is shaped by different social and political perspectives.