Scientific Racism and Origins

(https://www.chstm.org/video/101 )

The book of Genesis reminds us that when God created the world, we were created in “the Divine Image”, Lord Buddha preached that all humans have the ability to obtain ‘Buddha nature’ , Allah professes that everyone is born equal and will die equal. Despite these faiths that guide us into a moral right, there have been centuries worth of moral wrongs that have led to the suffering of the marginalized. It begs the question of, is it in our human nature to desire power at the expense of one’s own suffering? Throughout history, this social divide has been enabled by factors such as race and prejuduce through privilege and power. Presented is an empathetic lens into healthcare while touching on the origin of the social term, race, the roots of racial inequality through systems of oppression, and its lasting impacts on today's BIPOC/Marginalized experience of STEM.

In order to understand the origins of this social construct known as race, there are two important perspectives. One of these perspectives includes an anthropological historical reviewon the misconstrued conclusions drawn on biological factors of skin color. Based on a biological approach to melanin differentiation, it's known that skin color is the result of an adaptation to varied climates with their associated levels of UV exposure. Nina Jablonski reflects on this during her TED talk in 2009 when discussing the historical impacts researchers such as Charles Darwin left on the scientific community after denying this adaptive trait. Consequentially, human skin pigmentation has a fundamental relationship to the intensity of UV radiation, enabling skin color as an evolutionary trait that adapted as populations moved away from UVB rays resulting in a decrease in vitamin D production. Around the same time in 2009, a research article was released discussing how "forensic anthropologists are good at identifying race". In an in-depth read of this article, quantitative data is based on craniometric and molecular data that supposedly indicates a pattern of human variation among different races. In addition to their famed craniometric measures, morphological differences (that were not specified) are presented as distinct between "American whites and blacks"(Ousley, Jantz, Freid, 2009),. It's clear that there are two narratives of race that exist in the STEM community, bridging the gap between how we move from skincolor as an evolutionary trait to a "biological marker of race" can be discussed using the influence of religious ideology.

The time between Homo sapien migration out of Africa to 1st century CE left ample time for the creation of indigenous and cultural subgroups to form their respective communities along various regions of the world. Of these communities, Christianity was adopted and uplifted as a powerful tool for spiritual guidance. Over time and through various adaptations of Christian thought, Medieval Christianity produced the hierarchical structure known as the Great Chain of Being. This newly adapted form of religious thought was used as a classification tool for humans to create order among chaos, this hierarchy included God above all and the following: Angels, Heaven, humans, beast, plant, flames, and minerals. With the rise in scientific thought during the 18th century, those who engaged with scientific reasoning found it reasonable to integrate religious influence to justify their observations. Marks notes that "Science was founded in the eighteenth-century European philosophy as a search for a particular kind of truth"(Marks, 12). Of these truths, ideologies such as the Great Chain of Being encapsulated humans as individuals that shared sentient spiritual attributes with God. However, this categorical hierarchy began to justify anyone outside of the Christian European body as morally unwell and in need of spiritual liberation. The hierarchy in which Europeans stood in the realm of humanity was that of greater respect than those who were darker-skinned because their "race" was the result of unfavored evolution. Charles Darwin famously remarks to this in his subtitled book, "The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life". This accepted moral thought deemed colonialism, enslavement, oppression, and extermination of primarily Indigenous and African communities as naturally justified. A natural irony in the empathetic realm of Christian thought where science allowed those in power to view their oppressive behavior as evangelical work. Paul Harvey cites Genesis 9:18-27 in his chapter, "A Servant of Servant Shall He Be" and introduces the concept of Christianity becoming interwoven with the identity of whiteness. White Christians would begin to make religious justifications of enslavement with concepts such as Mono and Polygenesis. These types of religious etymologies allowed racial categorizations to be drawn throughout history that have led to the disenfranchisement of millions of marginalized individuals today.

The history of scientific thought and its categorization of "race" is inexplicably intertwined with the development of racial inequality throughout the United States history. The insidious nature of scientific research influenced under the guise of religious ideology stained evolutionary thought and produced the ideas of biological determinism. This enabled a racially charged lens of the scientific method that embodied a biased view of marginalized communities. A few examples of this include excerpts from the paleontologist Stephen Gould in his book, "The Mismeasure of Man" which critiques academics for the use of quantitative measures such as craniometry. Perhaps the most disturbing impact of biological determinism was shared by William Boyd in 1950 after his publication of "Genetics and the Races of Man" where he attempted to measure and conclude the frequencies of genotypic variation with specific populations. This type of research supported the Biological Race theory which in turn led science down a path of harmful, misinformed notions of human development. Prior to Boyd and his publications, political measures began to take place after taking notice of these earlier scientific "breakthroughs" that left an immense gap in the understanding of humanity within racialized immigration. In 1917, the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 stated that those coming into the United States had to maintain ideal U.S homogeneity through literacy tests and craniometric research conducted at Ellis Island. These types of political measures left ample room for racial isolation among White populations, and for those already in the United States that were non-white, the detriment of scientific racism pushed against progress. Eugenic practices began on women of color, primarily Indigenous Native Americans and African American women for the fear that they would produce populations that would not fit the mold of an "American child". The desire to maintain control over the evolution of the United States was supported under concepts such as Social Darwinismand individuals such as Charles Loring Brace who suggested that humans are progressing towards perfection. One key period of time that revealed the impact of racism begins during the post-civil rights act of 1964 that trickled into American society, revealing the implications of racism on the lived experiences of Black and Brown families. In a PowerPoint created by Sandra Sullivan-Dunbar, the topic of gerrymandering and redlining was introduced as a method for voter suppression in largely African American districts. The effects of political disenfranchisement extend beyond voting rights to property taxes, which inadvertently impacts educational access and resource accessibility, thereby maintaining the cycle of oppression. With communities of color deemed as “red zones”, these color-coded racial maps categorized lending and insurance risks for banks and insurers. As a result, the pernicious impact of redlining impacted the residential investment required to create resourceful schools, food accessibility, and health.

The lasting impact of these types of practices echoes a central theme of social determinants that have been discussed and observed in our everyday lives. In class, a variety of resources were provided to create a dialogue on the data regarding different types of care for various races and ethnicities. Some of these resources included the KFF publication on the Affordable Care Act and those who largely benefited from these policies. Other sources included an NPR podcast on Sickle Cell patients and the lived experiences of scientific racism from healthcare professionals as a result of innate biases on Black health. Some resources were anecdotal pieces on Jahi McMath and her diagnosis as a result of poor care from her providers. All of these stories are centered on the central idea that racism hides behind an invisible veil that most of American society wears. It is worn as regalia among high-standing academics whose privilege earned them a spot in medical school. It's how white students are able to endure less burnout during their time at an institution that is primarily a PWI (predominantly white institution) where race is not the center of their experiences. It's how easily the misdiagnosis of a pregnant black woman can lead to her death because of a lack of bias recognition in healthcare providers (Matose, 2021). When we examine these impacts on health, the logical response would be to implement more bias training in our healthcare system, an increase in DEI training across academic platforms, a formal apology from large institutions that - to this day- benefitted from the disenfranchisement of marginalized communities. These are small-scale changes that have become widely accepted in today's society as "anti-racist" agendas meant to reform the harm of racist behavior. However, there is still a missing link to these standardized forms of repair. Dr. Aana Vigen touches on the topic of human experience and how one's experience should be granted more weight. In her piece, she centers the dialogue on human sexuality and gender, but I know this message transcends into one's own racial experiences. The process of ethical reflection involves a critical reflection on one's own common assumptions and seeking information on the complex and multifaceted issue that is racism and prejudice.

From the perspective of an Asian-American, I have observed how one's response to racism is centered on an individual's personal experience and White folks have an inherent need to understand by de-centering from their historical impact. In doing so, we tend to move away from validating the experience of BIPOC and Marginalized identities when non-marginalized folks follow their own moral relativism. As mentioned earlier in this essay, Christianity and Whiteness have inextricably become intertwined throughout history, and to expect that a white individual or even a PWI to engage in an ethical reflection about one lived reality in a Black or Brown body requires an empathetic cultural shift. This type of empathetic shift requires an in-depth education on the psychology and development of racism and prejudice. Understanding how passive harm and pride affect our emotional states when engaging with varying social groups and how it can lead to the creation of negative stereotypes could contribute to our own understanding of effective change.

I am still learning to critically evaluate racial justice and methods of self-preservation at this time. The history of race in conjunction with science and religion is deep and complex, it embodies the inherent truth about how human nature strived towards power and domination at the expense of others' suffering. In this era of change, we have the opportunity to learn about the experiences and history of the United States through compassionate dialogue and listening. The shift towards a more empathetic ethical reflection is within reach, and I anticipate that change to enact with open dialogue.