The concept of Race is rubbish

Ferdinand Berkhof | Tuesday December 17, 2013 10:10

Strictly speaking, race among humans has no real meaning because all humans belong to the same species known as Homo sapiens. In other words, there is no factual biological or genetic basis for the concept of race. There is only one human species, which originates in Africa and the differences in external characteristics of humans in different parts of the world only evolved as people adapted to different environmental characteristics, especially the weather conditions. What I'm basically saying is that there is nothing like race, we are all one.

In the history of humankind though, especially since the 16th and 17th centuries, when Europeans started to travel around the world and 'conquered' foreign lands, the concept of race has been used to steal land, to kill the indigenous peoples of those lands, to sell people like cattle and to rob and to rape at will. When the Europeans spread out from their continent, they felt superior to the people they found in other continents and, often referring to verses of the Old Testament, they used the bible to justify their crimes.

For example, the Trans-Atlantic trade of African slaves to the Americas was justified by the story of Ham, the son of the famous Noah; ship builder, sailor, biologist and zoo keeper. When the great flood was over, Noah became a farmer and planted grapes. One day, he drank too much of his own wine and passed out naked in his tent. Ham, one of his three sons, found him in this embarrassing state. Somehow, this was a mortal sin and Ham's son Canaan and his descendants were cursed to 'be servants'. European Christians in those days believed that the descendants of Canaan had settled in Africa and that the dark skin of Africans was associated with the 'curse of Ham'. So, selling African slaves was deemed acceptable because of a few verses in Genesis. Noah himself by the way lived for nine hundred and fifty years, not all that bad for a drunken sailor.     

So the concept of race has been used for a whole range of crimes against groups of humans, especially by Europeans. The crimes committed during the colonial age were all based on the concept that the 'white race' was superior over others. The concept of race has been used to commit unbelievable crimes. The Nazi's of Adolf Hitler believed that the Aryans were racially superior to the 'inferior races' like Africans and Jews. As a result, six million Jews perished.

And then there was of course Apartheid South Africa. Europeans, looking at themselves as God's chosen, invaded the southern part of this continent, stole the land and established a state in which people were separated along strictly racial divides up to not so long ago. Terrible crimes were committed in the name of God and racial superiority.

Racial discrimination and racial profiling are still rampant in many parts of the world, although they in most cases are not official government policy anymore. With racial profiling I'm referring to the fact that in many parts of the world, the way people look, their skin colour or apparent ethnicity makes them more likely to be stopped in police road blocks, to their luggage being searched at international airports or to be harassed by law enforcement personnel in general. Looking like someone from the Middle East automatically makes you a potential terrorist or suicide bomber. People with a dark skin automatically are potential criminals, rapists and drug users.

Some years back, my then something like twelve year old daughter asked me: 'Daddy, am I coloured?' I thought about it for a moment and then answered her: 'My dear girl, forget about white, black and coloured. You are Kimberley, you are beautiful, you are clever and you are unique. Be what you are and be proud of yourself.' And that's all there is to it. The concept of race is rubbish.