Why the Nonexistence of Biological Races Does Not Mean the Nonexistence of Racism

Abstract

Color-blind racism is an ideology that allows persons of the dominant socially defined race (European Americans) to claim that racism is no longer the central factor determining the life chances of persons of non-European descent (particularly dark-skinned individuals of African descent). They argue that instead of the ongoing institutional and individual racism of American society, nonracial factors such as market dynamics, naturally occurring phenomena, and the cultural attitudes of minorities themselves are the main causal factors of their social subordination. Concurrent with the rise of this ideology has been the scientific determination that the human species does not really contain biological races. Thus, many color-blind racists have co-opted this fact to further argue that racism can no longer exist, since we have no biological races. This article will not only outline the nature of human biological variation, why that variation does not justify the classification of biological races within the species, but also why this fact has absolutely nothing to do with the ongoing racial discrimination faced by persons with dark skins in the United States. Furthermore, it will explain why membership in a socially defined race has real biological consequences including reducing the mental and physical well-being of the socially subordinated.