Tuesday 18 December 2018

In Black and White



I usually stay clear of political topics in this blog, but today I want to talk about something that's been bugging me for a long, long time. It does have to do with language: specifically, the way in which language informs our speech. I am referring to the use of the terms 'black' and 'white' to categorise human beings.

Why does it matter?


It matters because the language that we use informs our thinking as much as, or more than, the converse. It's no accident that most people don't lay down any meaningful long-term memories until they are two or more. It is the existence of language that allows the formation of detailed memory, and it is memory that allows the formation of rational thought. So yes, the words we use do matter, they matter terribly.

The Facts

Let's look at the relevance of this terminology to the phenomenal world. Is it actually possible for a human being to be black or white in his skin? I say, in his skin, because that is how the terms are used nowadays. I believe the ancient Celts used to say of a person that he was a black man, a white man or a red man in reference to his hair colour, but no one thinks that way today - today it is all about skin.

White people

A living human being cannot be white. Even albinos are pink, as their red blood shows through their skin, which is translucent. So is everyone's - that's why we can blush or turn pale. A person who was actually white must have had all of his blood drained out, and would therefore be dead. Therefore, there is actually no such thing as a 'white person'. So-called 'white people' are generally beige, or cream, or pink, or even light to medium brown, depending on their sun exposure.

Black people

Humans don't come in black, either. You can take the darkest-skinned person in the world, and if you put him next to a black dog, or a black cow, you'll see that he is only very dark brown, the way black coffee is dark brown.

Race

These false skin colours are used to categorise people into races. What does that actually mean, we may ask? There are a number of 'races' who are classified as 'black'. Africans, Polynesians, Melanesians, Australian Aboriginals, and probably some others that I've forgotten. There is only one race classified as 'white' - Europeans. Traditionally, Europeans fell under the Caucasian race label, but at once we see the futility of this system, for Indian peoples are also classified as Caucasian, and they come in all shades of brown.

The notion of race has undergone a number of modifications over the centuries, and you can read a good summary of it HERE. Whether this system of classifying humans is at all useful is very much open to question, absent some political ideology as exemplified by America and Nazi Germany. I'm not qualified in the biological sciences myself, but I do think it's useful when contemplating any speech or writing supporting the notion of race to ask oneself what the speaker has to gain by his beliefs, what political, economic or emotional benefit is supported by the notion.

There was a study done some years ago that I saw reported on the BBC. DNA samples were taken from people all over the world, in every country and culture, and compared for close matching. I can't remember all of the matches they found, but the one that sticks in my mind was between a very cut-glass English woman and a traditional shaman in a village somewhere in Africa (they called him a 'witch doctor', but I think that's just plain rude.) The conclusion reached from this study was that there is actually no such thing as 'race', and the so-called racial characteristics (skin colour, epicanthic folds, curly hair, freckles, nose shape and so on) are nothing more than family resemblances on a large scale. About like dog breeds.


This female Deerhound (Emily) and this male Boston Terrier (Dave) couldn't be more different - they're far, far more different physically than any two humans could ever be. Yet they share a species and could have puppies together.



Recently, Meghan Markle was all over the media for declining to assign herself to a 'race' box. Although I am even now gritting my teeth at having to approve anything done by a member of that awful family, the stand she took was both courageous and sensible. Race as a concept is obsolete, outmoded. and it is actively harmful, enabling as it does all kinds of bigotry. It deserves to go the way of the buttonhook and lead-based paint.








8 meghan markle and why we all should follow her example