Race In Christopher Dunn's The African Diaspora

The concept of “race” has continuously evolved from where it stood 200 years before. Many approach race as dynamic instead of static currently, however I believe this changing perception and advancements in the philosophy of what “race” is hasn’t necessarily changed society’s hierarchal view of the largest social construct to exist. Christopher Dunn author of The African Diaspora: A History Through Race described race as the essence within us that makes each group different (Dunn 12); meaning that commonly color is used to distinguish amongst races i.e. black, and white. However the idea of race is much deeper than that there are many other ways in which to define race which include phenotype (physical characteristics of a people), lineage (purity of blood, i.e. jewish people/ Israelites), and lastly in culture (religious preferences, dress, food). The main problem that lies within these four definitions of race is that it separates people into two categories “us” and “others” ( Dunn 13). It is from these judgments and beliefs of the ideas of “us” and “other” that stems racism. Additionally this idea of hierarchy and the prolonged affects

Humans do not differ because there are inherent genetic differences amongst the races as once was believed, the visual differences, nose construction, skin color, body type are a result of evolution from the initial spread from Africa. This discovery was made in 1985 yet “race” and the idea that the largest differences exist amongst races instead of within (as it was proved) is still currently as much a social construct as it was in slavery. One of the key characteristics as how we define ourselves is the color we see in the mirror whether that be white or black, it is still a way by which employers, colleges, and governments identify