RACE Are We So Different?
We expect people to look different. And why not? Like a fingerprint, each person is unique. Every person represents a one-of-a-kind, combination of their parents’, grandparents’ and family’s ancestry. And every person experiences life somewhat differently than others.
Differences… they’re a cause for joy and sorrow. We celebrate differences in personal identity, family background, country and language. At the same time, differences among people have been the basis for discrimination and oppression.
Yet, are we so different? Current science tells us we share a common ancestry and the differences among people we see are natural variations, results of migration, marriage and adaptation to different environments. How does this fit with the idea of race?
Looking through the eyes of history, science and lived experience, the RACE Project explains differences among people and reveals the reality and unreality of race. The story of race is complex and may challenge how we think about race and human variation, about the differences and similarities among people.
“[Racism] is not about how you look, it is about how people assign meaning to how you look.” Robin D.G. Kelley, Historian
