Racism is Ridiculous

There is a lot of talk about racism right now, which I think is good. We can’t confront a problem that we can’t discuss. However, racism itself is a very strange thing. If you look at me, I have dishwater blond hair, bluish gray eyes, pale skin, and Caucasian features. Nobody would hesitate to describe me as “white.” If you look at my genetic test, I have a higher percentage of Neanderthal DNA than the average person, and that is generally a mark of how much European blood someone has, so does that make me whiter than average? But I also have West African, Mongolian, and Ashkenazi DNA, so does that make me less white? You can see how ridiculous the question is when you look at it that way. Apparently a lot of white supremacists have been doing genetic tests and finding out they also have “non-white” DNA, much to their horror. There was a whole paper written recently on their reactions to this news, which range from doubting the science behind the tests to debating what actually makes a person “white.” I think it is much more helpful to discuss a person’s cultural background than their race when thinking about how they might react to the world, but I cannot deny that people judge each other on how much melanin they have. Therefore racism is a really important topic to discuss. However, if you think I have any answers to this vexing problem, I am sorry to disappoint you. I am just amazed that there are still people who think being “white” is superior.

Famous Hat