Cargando…

Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism

The concept of “race” emerged in the 1600s with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, justifying slavery; it has been used to justify exploitation, denigration and decimation. Since then, despite contrary scientific evidence, a deeply-rooted belief has taken hold that “race,” indicated by, e.g., skin colo...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Braveman, Paula, Parker Dominguez, Tyan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8452910/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34557466
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.689462
_version_ 1784570175154028544
author Braveman, Paula
Parker Dominguez, Tyan
author_facet Braveman, Paula
Parker Dominguez, Tyan
author_sort Braveman, Paula
collection PubMed
description The concept of “race” emerged in the 1600s with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, justifying slavery; it has been used to justify exploitation, denigration and decimation. Since then, despite contrary scientific evidence, a deeply-rooted belief has taken hold that “race,” indicated by, e.g., skin color or facial features, reflects fundamental biological differences. We propose that the term “race” be abandoned, substituting “ethnic group” while retaining “racism,” with the goal of dismantling it. Despite scientific consensus that “race” is a social construct, in official U.S. classifications, “Hispanic”/”Latino” is an “ethnicity” while African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, and European American/White are “races.” There is no scientific basis for this. Each grouping reflects ancestry in a particular continent/region and shared history, e.g., the genocide and expropriation of Indigenous peoples, African Americans' enslavement, oppression and ongoing disenfranchisement, Latin America's Indigenous roots and colonization. Given migrations over millennia, each group reflects extensive genetic admixture across and within continents/regions. “Ethnicity” evokes social characteristics such as history, language, beliefs, customs. “Race” reinforces notions of inherent biological differences based on physical appearance. While not useful as a biological category, geographic ancestry is a key social category for monitoring and addressing health inequities because of racism's profound influence on health and well-being. We must continue to collect and analyze data on the population groups that have been racialized into socially constructed categories called “races.” We must not, however, continue to use that term; it is not the only obstacle to dismantling racism, but it is a significant one.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8452910
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-84529102021-09-22 Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism Braveman, Paula Parker Dominguez, Tyan Front Public Health Public Health The concept of “race” emerged in the 1600s with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, justifying slavery; it has been used to justify exploitation, denigration and decimation. Since then, despite contrary scientific evidence, a deeply-rooted belief has taken hold that “race,” indicated by, e.g., skin color or facial features, reflects fundamental biological differences. We propose that the term “race” be abandoned, substituting “ethnic group” while retaining “racism,” with the goal of dismantling it. Despite scientific consensus that “race” is a social construct, in official U.S. classifications, “Hispanic”/”Latino” is an “ethnicity” while African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, and European American/White are “races.” There is no scientific basis for this. Each grouping reflects ancestry in a particular continent/region and shared history, e.g., the genocide and expropriation of Indigenous peoples, African Americans' enslavement, oppression and ongoing disenfranchisement, Latin America's Indigenous roots and colonization. Given migrations over millennia, each group reflects extensive genetic admixture across and within continents/regions. “Ethnicity” evokes social characteristics such as history, language, beliefs, customs. “Race” reinforces notions of inherent biological differences based on physical appearance. While not useful as a biological category, geographic ancestry is a key social category for monitoring and addressing health inequities because of racism's profound influence on health and well-being. We must continue to collect and analyze data on the population groups that have been racialized into socially constructed categories called “races.” We must not, however, continue to use that term; it is not the only obstacle to dismantling racism, but it is a significant one. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-09-07 /pmc/articles/PMC8452910/ /pubmed/34557466 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.689462 Text en Copyright © 2021 Braveman and Parker Dominguez. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Braveman, Paula
Parker Dominguez, Tyan
Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism
title Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism
title_full Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism
title_fullStr Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism
title_full_unstemmed Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism
title_short Abandon “Race.” Focus on Racism
title_sort abandon “race.” focus on racism
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8452910/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34557466
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.689462
work_keys_str_mv AT bravemanpaula abandonracefocusonracism
AT parkerdomingueztyan abandonracefocusonracism