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My Discovery: Racism Is Not A Real Word

There is only one race of people on Planet Earth, the human race.

By Michael TriggPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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My Discovery: Racism Is Not A Real Word
Photo by Kelly Searle on Unsplash

I have made an amazing discovery. The words "racism" and "racist" do not make sense when used in the context of a person of one skin color discriminating against or displaying hatred against a person of different skin color. Why? Read on.

The word "race" to define human beings of different skin color was first used in the English language in 1580. It was introduced from the French language from the word "rasse" which meant to define a group of people identifiable as sharing a common descendant identifying factor such as skin color. Therefore, people of white skin were one race, people of black skin were another race, people of yellow skin were another, and so on.

This was a generally accepted norm until science revealed this classification to be totally incorrect. How so?

The big breakthrough came with the unraveling of the human genome. A number of scientific teams from around the world released the first full draft of the human genome in 2001. This major discovery on the origins of homo sapiens (the only human race on the planet by the way) revealed an amazing secret.

Every human on planet earth is 99.9% genetically related to every other human

By Alexis Brown on Unsplash

In other words, there are no races mixing amongst the current earth population of 7.7 billion people. Regardless of skin color, height, body weight, the color of eyes and hair, and any other factor that purports to identify humans as a mixture of races, "racism" is simply a non-starter.

This to me was startling. However, it has yet to penetrate to a majority of people on the planet. At the date of writing this article, 20 years have gone by since this major discovery and a vast majority of people continue to use the words "racist" and "racism" to describe bigotry, hatred, intolerance, and discrimination based on skin color.

My now enlightened question is: How can a white-skinned person displaying bigotry and intolerance towards a black-skinned person be accused of "racism" when the two people are of the same race? The answer? What the white-skinned person is doing, is displaying hateful behavior as he or she considers the black-skinned person inferior based on nothing but skin color.

What this ignorant white person does not realize is this simple fact. He/she is 99.9% related to the person they are discriminating against.

According to the English Oxford dictionary, the term "racism" was first recorded in a speech by a thoroughly nasty individual by the name of Richard Henry Pratt in 1902 for all the wrong reasons. He was of the opinion the North American Indian Race should be merged with the white race to eliminate racism. He was quoted as saying: "Kill the Indian in him (an Indian), and save the man."

Even the Neanderthals were of the same race; Homo sapien neanderthalensis. Science is discovering more and more about our now-extinct cousins and expanding genetic testing is revealing that all people with European ancestry carry 1% to 2% of Neanderthal DNA. Science with the assistance of forensic artists and sculptors has been able to recreate life-like images of Neanderthals from skeletons.

By Crawford Jolly on Unsplash

The opinion is that a Neanderthal male with a haircut and shave and dressed in a suit would hardly garner a glance on a busy street. Though Neanderthals were stockier and shorter than modern humans, I assume the same would apply to females.

Why can't enlightened people and parents, schools, universities, news organizations, government departments, and sporting bodies get with the program that we are all one race living here on planet earth? If the word began to be spread that we are all 99.9% the same DNA and we all dropped the words "racist" and "racism", wouldn't it go a long way towards creating tolerance and understanding of all people of all different skin colors?

Or, am I whistling in the wind? Are the words "racist" and 'racism" so ingrained that is it a hurdle that cannot be overcome?

The Author

humanity
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About the Creator

Michael Trigg

I love writing and I think it shows in my posts. I also enjoy feedback, particularly of the constructive kind. Some people think I am past my "best before date" but if that is true, it just means I have matured.

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