How to Argue With a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality

by Adam Rutherford

It is therefore possible that you are genetically unrelated to people from whom you are actually descended as recently as the middle of the eighteenth century. This is a point that further undermines the appropriation of genetics as a means of asserting membership of a tribe, race or other identity.

All human behaviour is a heady mix of genes and culture, of biology and history. Not enough is known about genetics or cognitive abilities to make definitive statements about evolutionary selection for genes that enhance the most sophisticated and elegant expressions of humankind. It is possible that there is a genetic nudge in that direction, though unlikely based on current data, and there is very little evidence to support the idea.

Race is real because we perceive it. Racism is real because we enact it. Neither race nor racism has foundations in science. It is our duty to contest the warping of scientific research, especially if it is being used to justify prejudice.