Getting Real About Race: Part 1
What’s Real and What Isn’t
There has been a buzz in right-wing circles lately about getting real about race. It’s something I happen to be deep into myself as I write my next book What’s Real About Race? It seems many people want to know what exactly is real about race, what we know in this day and age, post-DNA Revolution. Unfortunately, those with some of the greatest influence are ignoring the facts and posting all kinds of lies.
The eugenicists are still up in arms nearly 150 years later, and 50 years after the science of eugenics was overturned. They are still saying that we have got to face the facts—that racial superiority and inferiority are encoded in our genes. They are still telling us that races have different intelligences and that only those who are born smart should be free to rule.
“It is true that we suffer differently according to our race, and that those who suffer the most have the worst social outcomes. It is false that genetics is the cause of our suffering. ”
A hundred years ago, the science of genetics backed up these lies, because the science was produced by white elites who held influence as the leading scientists of the day. Today, however, there are no credible geneticists who argue these points. Furthermore, the leading scientists of our day argue vehemently against them. This rift within the community of public intellectuals has motivated me to follow the trail to understand where the lies are coming from.
True Lies
Looking into the streams of evidence that far-right influencers have been using of late, I am seeing a pattern noted by many data analysts who have come before me. Think tanks backed by ultra-conservative billionaires (the same folks that fund conservative politicians and white nationalist organizations and media) produce data to show the deep and lasting disparities in social, educational, and life outcomes. They tell us to “wake up” to the disparate crime and poverty rates between different racialized communities.
But these think tanks do not produce genetic data to back up their claims that the origins of our human struggles are deficient DNA. And, ironically, the data that they do produce—the evidence of mounting inequities in social outcomes—only shows what social scientists and epidemiologists have been saying for decades. Our systems are stacked against us.
I will talk more about what’s real about race in my upcoming posts, but for now, I want to draw your attention to where the truth ends and the lies begin. It is true that we suffer differently according to our race, and that those who suffer the most have the worst social outcomes. It is false that genetics is the cause of our suffering. When we talk about the reality of race, we must put the so-called “evidence” perpetrated by the pundits in our crosshairs. We must question the work that those lies are doing to motivate members of our communities to commit racist acts.