ONE RACE: THE HUMAN RACE

According to the Advanced English Dictionary, race equals a people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock. Every Homo sapiens living on this third rock from the Sun contain the like number of internal organs and exterior features, unless deprived of these items by accident, war, or even a genetic error with the only true difference is the pigmentation of the largest organ the human body possesses: the epidermis. As stated by Louis L. Snyder, “No one race contains all superior or all inferior individuals” (31). The misconception of an inferior people due to the pigmentation of their skin, their religious beliefs or their geographic location has not been a new line of thought, rather quite the contrary, since the ancient Greeks to modern-day Christians humanity has developed and nurtured traits encouraging the growth of prejudices toward their fellow man; howbeit differences in appearance, opportunities, or birthplace in no way creates an inferior sub-species of the human race. Perhaps, the truth would be a personification of uneducated and blind people wreaking havoc upon the less fortunate revealing in those who practice such belittling prejudices; he/she without sin, cast the first stone or be careful of the image that looks back at you in the mirror.
Snyder states: “There was little consciousness of race before the sixteenth century. The ancient world was a small world in which physical differences were not noticeable” (25). Yet, the Graeco-Roman peoples not being much different in appearance with the tribes of the north considered the Celts to be barbarians. British historian and statesman, Lord Bryce summed up the early conflicts of warring factions as:
"However much men of different races may have striven wit...

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...ter circumstances that no proofs can be stated for the existence of innate or inborn racial differences” (31).
Today’s views of ‘racialism’ concur with Snyder’s view of fifty years ago supported by the vast undertaking of collecting DNA samples from across the globe and once all the findings are published the result will be surprising to those non-believers of the unity of the human race. Prejudice is not innate—prejudice is taught. Whether the difference be in the color of one’s skin or the religion he or she practices or dietary preferences—bias is not innate but bitterly taught by one’s parents, culture, and environment.

Works Cited

Gilbert, Erik & Reynolds, Jonathan T., Africa in World History. Third Edition. Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, 2012.
Snyder, Louis L., THE IDEA OF RACIALISM Its Meaning and History. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. 1962.