Discrimination in the Republic

This essay incorporates five articles pertaining to discrimination between people. The references were found in the New York Times: October 8, 2017 “It’s Not Easy to Prove Racism. This Study Does;” January 3, 2019 “An Ancient and Abiding Hatred;” April 28, 2019 “Prejudice Is Blind;” “December 8, 2019 “Science Class Defies Racism with Genetics;” and December 29, 2019 “Outsiders Influence.”

There were roughly 20,000 emails sent to local government employees in nearly every county in our country. These emails were identical except that half came from either De Shawn Jackson or Tyrone Washington-group 1. The other half of the emails came from either Greg Walsh or Jake Mueller-group 2. According to the researchers, the emails sent to each local officeholder were determined by chance. Were there differences between the two groups? If so, which group of emails were more likely to be answered? If you guessed that group 1 were 13% more likely to go unanswered you were correct.

In a second experiment, the same 20,000 emails were sent to the same recipients. The researchers added real estate agent to the names. Did adding real estate agent change the reply pattern between the two groups? In counties that had a greater proportion of whites, group 2 emails were more likely to be returned. The authors concluded that in local government offices, the recipients were less responsive to those with African-American names compared to white sounding names.

Another researcher found that people’s brains were more active when they were viewing faces from someone with their own physical likeness. In another study, Police officers were asked to look at a computer screen.    They were either exposed to crime related words like apprehend and capture -group 1 or words not related to crime-group 2. The officers then saw two faces side-by-side one black and one white. The officers who looked at group 1 words spent more time looking at the blackface compared to the Whiteface. Analyzing data from the New York Police Department, the researcher found that black men were more likely than white men to have been stopped for engaging in what’s called furtive movement-suspicious behavior like fidgeting with something at your waistline.

In an article about hatred and prejudice, columnist Bret Stephens, stated “that most Jews nevertheless can be said to stand for certain ideals and attitudes. A particular concept of morality. A reverence for law founded on the idea of truth. A penchant for asking nettlesome questions. Skepticism toward would-be saviors. A liberal passion for freedom.” He went on to say that “anti-Semites tend to have the opposite set of views for reasons that may be repugnant but are perfectly rational. The fundamental truth about anti-Semitism isn’t that it’s necessarily crazy. It’s that it’s inevitably brutish.” Merriam-Webster defines brutish “showing little intelligence or sensibility.”

These articles, although not exhaustive on the subject of discrimination, illustrate biases and prejudices .In an attempt to add knowledge about Homo sapiens, research and training curriculum for secondary biology teachers had been initiated in our country. This program will measure attitudes of students before the course and after course completion. The focus, for the first time, pertain to the science of genetics explaining the similarities and differences between people.  Because of the sensitivity of the subject matter, not all school districts wanted to take part in the curriculum program.

This curriculum attempts to counter such attitudes and beliefs as “members of one racial group are more ambitious than members of another racial group because of genetics; genetics are causes of racial inequality; genes cause racial groups to have distinct skills, and abilities.” It’s clear that racial categories –census have been used to justify and discriminate governmental policies in our country. Can this curriculum-program change not only discriminatory thinking but behavior?

A few facts: 1. Genes are the basic units of heredity and are located on chromosomes 2. Chromosomes consist of threadlike strands of DNA molecules in the genes consistent of small segments of DNA. 3. Collectively, genes may number around 25,000 and are referred to as a human genome. 4. Psychological traits likely depend on multiple genes with each one accounting for just a small part of the variance among people 5. A few innate human characteristics: infant reflexes, interest in novelty, desire to explore and manipulate objects, impulse to play and fool around and basic cognitive skills 6. Some diseases like Huntington’s are caused by a single gene.  Genes and many environmental factors influence traits.

Our Census Bureau defines race [a social construct-not based on biology of genetics as a person’s self-identification with one or more social groups] as European, African, Asian, Oceana and Natural American. This census classification is usually based on physical features like skin color, height, color of eyes and hair. There is no evidence that these groups have distinctly unifying genetic identities .There are areas of ample variation within these categories. We also share 99.9 percent of our DNA with each other. And, our DNA provides clues as to our ancestry and our human diversity from geographical areas. Don’t forget that mental and physical health diagnosis like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia etc. do not discriminate census bureau differences. Psychology; personality theory; learning theory; motivational theory etc. employ scientific principles and do not divide people into arbitrary social construct groups.

For example, there have been much discussion about intellectual IQ differences between blacks and whites. Current thinking is that research on intelligence do not suggest that differences are permanent among cultural, ethnic or national groups; are genetically determined; or signs of a group’s innate superiority. Current research suggests that we should make sure all children grow up with the best possible environmental circumstances.  The following are influences that reduce mental ability: 1. Prenatal care 2. Malnutrition 3. Exposure to toxins 4. Stressful family circumstances. Furthermore, genes influence our experiences and that our experiences affect our genes as result of stress, emotions, hormonal etc. In other words, heredity and environment interact to produce psychological traits and abilities.

Our brains program us for survival. As young as six months of age, the newborn can experience stranger anxiety. This means that a baby is likely to cry when exposed to an unfamiliar person or face. Therefore, words, perception and emotional responses occur very early in life. Other senses, like hearing, taste and touch are also clues for survival. Furthermore, psychologically competition in a capitalistic society increases the capacity for getting ahead; aggression; hostility; dominance etc. between and among others. Coming in second place is not rewarded. Being the best is rewarded and valued.

Just think of various words, titles, names, descriptions, and concepts that have an emotional component without any apparent or current danger to oneself. These words, psychologically are discriminatory and are associated with hatred, dislike, bad, aberrant and abusive behavior: 1. Liberal-Conservative 2. Democrat-Republican 3. Socialism 4. Communism 5. White- Black- Brown-Yellow 6. Asian-Iranian 7. Protestant-Catholic-Jew-Muslim 8. LG BT-Abortion-White Nationalist 9. Homeless -Welfare 10. Immigrant- Gun Control- Climate Change 11. Einstein, Freud, Marx, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Bernhardt, Kafka, Obama and Trump to name a few.

Yes, our brains program us for survival and we are easily mislead. Our government effectively uses economic and political propaganda- race to discriminate, dislike, hate, like or to love another. Unfortunately, our interpersonal history centers on competition, aggression, power, dominance, Irrationality, impulsivity, ignorance, lies, misinformation, propaganda etc. Man against man includes our government. Our Republic employs a social construct of race which is discriminatory, nonobjective and nonscientific. This tool obviously gets in the way of humanism and brotherhood. Sorry Jefferson, the myth “that all men are created equal” is just a myth. Our Republic would be better served “to have all men treated equally” and to eliminate the word “race.”