Globalization and the Myth of Human Races

by Hector E. Garcia

“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and realistic.” President John F. Kennedy

“Any attempt to deal with an illusion cannot solve anything.” Physicist David Bohm

At the core of the nation’s current socio-political conditions are two underlying challenges, both have been intensified by this stage of globalization but were present before it began with the fall of the Soviet Union. One can be addressed rationally and objectively; it is the growth of inequality in wealth and income… Fortune Magazine published results of Allianz’s new Global Wealth Report of 2015 entitled “America is the Richest and Most Unequal Country.” Globalization was a game-changer but most people in all socioeconomic sectors can win if they are taught a new game plan through educators, politicians, and the media and if they are mentored to demand the necessary legislation and programs.

The other challenge compounds the first one unnecessarily; it is the resentment over increases in the population of minority communities caused by flows of Latino, African and Asian immigrants and refugees. It could be simpler than the first because it draws power from a centuries' old myth that was debunked by DNA science in 2002: the classification of human races, which assumes a hierarchy of moral and intellectual aptitudes related to color of skin, geographical origin and language. These correlations were started in Europe to rationalize the injustices practiced during slavery and colonialism. Unfortunately, it will not be simpler. This myth has become a self-fulfilling prophecy through multiple factors, including historical marginalization legally, educationally, and economically; the amassed wealth in the system created to address “racial” issues; and the convenience of a perpetual and easily identifiable group of second class citizens in a society which prioritizes the maxims of “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses” and “winning-is-the-only-thing.”

The classification has validated racism, the arbitrary expression of prejudice to keep those second-class citizens in “their place.” The myth has had destructive health, socio-economic-political, and criminal justice effects on those deemed lesser-humans by the classification. Such effects have been real and require effective, enduring solutions. But solutions will not be successful only through education, legislation, and norms of social, legal, and professional enforcement as long as we continue, at the same time,  to validate the human "racial classification" in documentation and data gathering, presumably with the intention of undoing racism. Only cosmetic changes will result if most of us continue to believe that there really is some authentic validity behind the "racial classification" of human beings; the myth undermines any effort to move towards justice and greater equity of conditions in access to opportunity. The classification counters the logic behind the founding concept that we are all “are created equal" if we all clearly perceive tangible differences and these are assumed to represent inequality of potential and rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The social wounds caused by this myth throughout much of U.S. history have been deep, costly, and painful; now they are growing unmanageable in spite of the contortions we have invented to make it work. Most recently, these ethnic divisions became the nation's Achilles heel targeted through social media by foreign enemies. At a time of uncertainty, lack of transparency, and deception, these falsified divisions have further undermined democratic compromise and bipartisanship, freezing political action, and have rekindled violence among several communities and between law enforcement and ethnic minorities. The stakes of factoring a myth into analyses and strategies to address the new and complex reality are too high, especially when our children and grandchildren are paying the worst consequences.

 Of course, addressing this myth will create considerable disruption in systems designed partially or fully on the basis of the classification itself and related interests. But it must be done if we are ever going to mature beyond superficial and prejudicial assessments of other human beings — the greatest social asset. It can be done gradually in carefully planned stages, such as the elimination of the concept "human race" from official documents. Austria, Finland, France, and Hungary have done so. Sweden is considering doing it. 

Another stage could be to stop the use of the classification in schools to prevent the mental branding of children, which often defines the rest of their lives while retaining it in services to redress the effects of racism among adults when prevention is no longer viable. Hasn't the growing and more pestilent “American Dilemma" been an albatross on our society’s shoulders long enough?

Hector E. Garcia is the author of higher ed textbook Clash or Complement of Cultures? He was co-founder and Executive Director of Minnesotans for NAFTA and Executive Director of MCLA (Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs).

Published by the Pioneer Press on June 28, 2018