What Is Race?

RACE! What does that word bring to mind? For some it means discrimination and oppression. For others, hatred, riots, and even murder.

From the race riots in the United States to apartheid in South Africa, from the wars among ethnic groups in Eastern Europe to the struggles in places like Sri Lanka and Pakistan​—race has become the focal point of untold human suffering and devastation.

But why is this the case? Even in lands where people seem to be tolerant of almost everything else, why is race such a sensitive issue? What makes race the fuse that ignites so much turmoil and injustice? Simply put, why can’t people of different races get along?

To answer these questions, we need to know more than what race is and in what ways races differ. We must also understand the role history plays in current race relations. First, though, let’s look at what science can tell us about the subject.

The Problem in Classifying Humans

People living in different parts of the world have varied physical characteristics. These include the color of skin, the shape of facial features, the texture of hair, and so on. Such physical differences distinguish one race from another.

Thus, people commonly speak of whites and blacks, calling attention to skin color. But people also speak of Hispanics, Asians, Scandinavians, Jews, and Russians. These latter identifications refer less to physical characteristics than to geographical, national, or cultural differences. So to most people, race is determined not only by physical features but also by customs, language, culture, religion, and nationality.

Interestingly, though, some writers on the subject hesitate to use the word “race” at all; they put the word in quotation marks each time it appears. Others avoid the word entirely and use instead such expressions as “ethnic taxons,” “groups,” “populations,” and “varieties.” Why? It is because the word “race,” as it is commonly understood, is so laden with overtones and implications that its use, without proper clarification, often obscures the point of discussion.

To biologists and anthropologists, a race is often defined simply as “a subdivision of a species which inherits physical characteristics distinguishing it from other populations of the species.” The question, however, is, Which characteristics can be used to describe different groups within the human species?

Factors such as skin color, hair color and texture, shape of the eyes and nose, brain size, and blood type have been suggested, but not one of these has proved to be entirely satisfactory as a classifier of the varieties of mankind. This is because there is no naturally occurring group of people in which all the members are uniformly alike in such features.

Consider skin color. Most people believe that mankind can be easily divided into five races by skin color: white, black, brown, yellow, and red. The white race is generally perceived as having white skin, light-colored hair, and blue eyes. Yet, in reality, there is great variety in hair color, eye color, and skin color among members of the so-called white race. The book The Human Species reports: “Not only are there no populations in Europe today of which most of the members are of one type; there never were such populations.”

Indeed, classifying the human species is difficult, as the book The Kinds of Mankind notes: “All we seem to be able to say is this: while not all human beings look like all the other human beings, and while we can clearly see a lot of the ways in which people look different, scientists still do not agree on exactly how many kinds of mankind there are. They have not even decided what criteria we can use to assign people to one race or another. Some workers would simply like to give up and say that the problem is too hard​—that there is no solution!”

All of this may seem puzzling. While scientists apparently have little difficulty in classifying animals and plants into genus, species, and subspecies, why do they have such a problem in dividing humankind into races?

“Man’s Most Dangerous Myth”

According to anthropologist Ashley Montagu, many people believe that “physical and mental traits are linked, that the physical differences are associated with rather pronounced differences in mental capacities, and that these differences are measurable by IQ tests and the cultural achievements of these populations.”

Thus, many believe that because races possess different physical characteristics, certain races are superior intellectually and others are inferior. However, Montagu calls such thinking “man’s most dangerous myth.” Other experts agree.

Morton Klass and Hal Hellman explain in The Kinds of Mankind: “Individuals do differ; in all populations there are geniuses and imbeciles. But, after all the research, responsible scholars have not seen evidence they can accept of genetic differences between populations in respect to intelligence or ability.”

Why, though, do so many continue to believe that superficial physical differences mean that the races are fundamentally different? How, really, did race become such an issue? We will consider these matters in the next article.

Why is Race Such an Issue?

EVER since the beginning of recorded history, the idea of “them” and “us” has dominated people’s thinking. Many have convinced themselves that they are the only normal people with the right ways of doing everything. This is what scientists call ethnocentrism, the idea that one’s own people and ways are the only ones that count.

The ancient Greeks, for example, did not think much of the “barbarians,” a term they applied to anyone not Greek. The word “barbarian” developed from the way that the foreign tongues sounded to Greek ears, like a lot of unintelligible “bar-bar.” The Egyptians before and the Romans after also felt superior to peoples other than themselves.

For centuries the Chinese called their country Zhong Guo, or the Middle Kingdom, because they were convinced that China was the center of the world if not of the universe. Later, when European missionaries with red hair, green eyes, and ruddy complexion came to China, the Chinese branded them “foreign devils.” Likewise, when Orientals first showed up in Europe and North America, their slanted eyes and what were considered strange customs made them easy targets for ridicule and suspicion.

Yet, there is a significant fact to consider, as the book The Kinds of Mankind says: “To believe in one’s [racial] superiority is one thing; to attempt to prove it, by using the findings of science, is something else.” Efforts to prove that one race is superior to another are relatively new. Anthropologist Ashley Montagu wrote that “the conception that there are natural or biological races of mankind which differ from one another mentally as well as physically is an idea which was not developed until the latter part of the eighteenth century.”

Why did the issue of racial superiority become so prominent during the 18th and 19th centuries?

Slave Trade and Race

A major reason is that the profitable slave trade had by then reached its apex, and hundreds of thousands of Africans were being taken by force and pressed into slavery in Europe and the Americas. Often families were broken up, with men, women, and children being sent to different parts of the world, never to see one another again. How could slave traders and slave owners, most of whom claimed to be Christian, defend such inhuman acts?

By propagating the view that black Africans were naturally inferior. “I am apt to suspect all negroes, and in general all other species of men to be naturally inferior to the white,” wrote 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume. In fact, Hume claimed that one could find “no ingenious manufactures amongst [Negroes], no arts, no sciences.”

However, such claims were wrong. The World Book Encyclopedia (1973) noted: “Highly developed Negro kingdoms existed in various parts of Africa hundreds of years ago. . . . Between 1200 and 1600, a Negro-Arabic university flourished at Timbuktu in West Africa and became famous throughout Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East.” Nevertheless, those involved in the slave trade were quick to adopt the view of philosophers such as Hume that blacks were a race inferior to whites, indeed, even subhuman.

Religion and Race

Slave traders got considerable support for their racist views from religious leaders. As early as the 1450’s, the edicts of Roman Catholic popes sanctioned the subjugation and enslavement of “pagans” and “infidels” so that their “souls” might be saved for “God’s Kingdom.” Having received the blessing of the church, early European explorers and slave traders felt no qualms about their brutal treatment of native peoples.

“In the 1760s, as for many decades to come, black slavery was sanctioned by Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Reformed churchmen and theologians,” says the book Slavery and Human Progress. “No modern church or sect had sought to discourage its members from owning or even trafficking in black slaves.”

Although some of the churches talked about universal Christian brotherhood, they also promoted teachings that intensified the racial controversy. For example, Encyclopaedia Judaica states that “it was only after lengthy struggles and theological discussions that the Spaniards recognized the native races they found in America as men endowed with souls.”

The implication was that so long as the “souls” of the people of such native races were “saved” by being converted to Christianity, it was unimportant how they were treated physically. And when it came to the situation of blacks, many religious leaders argued that they were cursed by God anyway. Scriptures were misapplied to try to prove this. Clergymen Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, in their Bible commentary, assert: “Cursed be Canaan [Genesis 9:25]​—this doom has been fulfilled in the destruction of the Canaanites—​in the degradation of Egypt, and the slavery of the Africans, the descendants of Ham.”​—Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Whole Bible.

The teaching that the forefather of the black race was cursed is simply not taught in the Bible. The truth is, the black race descended from Cush, not Canaan. In the 18th century, John Woolman argued that using this Biblical curse to justify the enslaving of blacks, depriving them of their natural rights, “is a supposition too gross to be admitted into the mind of any person who sincerely desires to be governed by solid principles.”

Pseudoscience and Race

Pseudoscience also added its voice in an effort to support the theory that blacks are an inferior race. The book Essay on the Inequality of Races, by the 19th-century French writer Joseph de Gobineau, laid the groundwork for many such works to follow. In it, Gobineau divided mankind into three separate races in descending order of excellence: white, yellow, and black. He claimed that the unique qualities of each race were carried in the blood and that thus any mixing through intermarriage would result in degradation and loss of the superior qualities.

Gobineau argued that once there existed a pure race of white, tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed people whom he called Aryans. It was the Aryans, he argued, who introduced civilization and Sanskrit to India, and it was the Aryans who established the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome. But through intermarriage with the inferior local people, these once-glorious civilizations were lost, along with the genius and fine qualities of the Aryan race. The nearest people to pure Aryan still remaining, asserted Gobineau, were to be found in northern Europe, namely, among the Nordic and, by extension, the Germanic peoples.

Gobineau’s basic ideas​—the three-race division, the blood lineage, the Aryan race—​had no scientific foundation whatsoever, and they are completely discredited by today’s scientific community. Nonetheless, they were quickly picked up by others. Among them was an Englishman, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who was so enamored with Gobineau’s ideas that he took up residence in Germany and championed the cause that only through the Germans was there hope of preserving the purity of the Aryan race. Needless to say, Chamberlain’s writings became widely read in Germany, and the outcome was ugly.

Ugly Outcome of Racism

In his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Adolf Hitler asserted that the German race was the Aryan superrace that was destined to rule the world. Hitler felt that the Jews, who he said were responsible for sabotaging the German economy, were an obstacle to this glorious destiny. Thus followed the extermination of Jews and other minorities of Europe, which was indisputably one of the darkest chapters of human history. This was the disastrous outcome of racist ideas, including those of Gobineau and Chamberlain.

Such ugliness was not limited to Europe, however. Across the ocean in the so-called new world, the same sort of unfounded ideas brought untold suffering to generations of innocent people. Although African slaves were finally freed in the United States after the Civil War, laws were passed in many states prohibiting blacks from having many of the privileges that other citizens enjoyed. Why? White citizens thought that the black race did not have the intellectual capacity to participate in civic duties and government.

Just how deeply such racial feelings were entrenched is illustrated by a case involving an antimiscegenation law. This law prohibited marriages between blacks and whites. In convicting a couple who broke this law, a judge said: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and He placed them on separate continents, and but for the interference with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages.”

The judge said this, not in the 19th century and not in a backward area, but in 1958​—and not more than 60 miles [100 km] from the U.S. Capitol! Indeed, it was not until 1967 that the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated all laws against interracial marriages.

Such discriminatory laws​—as well as segregation in schools, churches, and other public institutions and discrimination in employment and housing—​led to the civil unrest, protests, and violence that have become the realities of life in the United States and many other places. Destruction of life and property aside, the anguish, hatred, and personal indignities and sufferings that have resulted can only be regarded as the shame and disgrace of a so-called civilized society.

Thus, racism has become one of the most divisive forces afflicting human society. Surely, it behooves all of us to search our own hearts, asking ourselves: Do I reject any teachings that proclaim one race to be superior to another? Have I sought to rid myself of any possible residual feelings of racial superiority?

It is also appropriate that we ask: What hope is there that racial bias and tension, so rampant today, can ever be eradicated? Can people of different nationalities, languages, and customs live together in peace?

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Blacks were viewed as subhuman by many whites

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Reproduced from DESPOTISM​—A Pictorial History of Tyranny

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Nazi extermination camps were a disastrous outcome of racist ideas

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U.S. National Archives photo

When All Races Live Together in Peace

GOD “made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth.” (Acts 17:26) That is the Bible’s simple statement regarding the origin of the human family.

What it implies is that all mankind, no matter where they live or what physical characteristics they possess, came from one common stock. It also means that in spite of all observable differences, “every nation of men” has the same potential as far as abilities and intelligence are concerned. Yes, in God’s sight, humans of every race or nationality are equal.​—Acts 10:34, 35.

If the Bible view is correct, there is hope that all the prejudices and injustices based on racial differences can be eliminated. Furthermore, if the Bible is accurate regarding the origin of the human family, then logically that same book can also provide us with information revealing how the human race can live together in peace.

Well, what do the facts show? Is the Bible record regarding human origins corroborated by science?

Scientific Evidence

The publication The Races of Mankind, by anthropologists R. Benedict and G. Weltfish, observes: “The Bible story of Adam and Eve, father and mother of the whole human race, told centuries ago the same truth that science has shown today: that all the peoples of the earth are a single family and have a common origin.” These writers also point out that “the intricate make-up of the human body . . . couldn’t possibly have ‘just happened’ to be the same in all men if they did not have a common origin.”

The pamphlet Race and Biology, by L. C. Dunn, professor of zoology at Columbia University, says: “All men clearly belong to one species, being alike in all the fundamental physical characters. Members of all groups may intermarry and actually do.” Then it goes on to explain: “Yet every man is unique and differs in minor ways from every other man. This is in part due to the different environments in which people live and in part to differences in the genes which they have inherited.”

Scientific evidence is conclusive. Biologically speaking, there is no such thing as a superior or an inferior race, a pure or a contaminated race. Characteristics such as the color of one’s skin, hair, or eyes​—things that some may consider racially important—​are no indication of one’s intelligence or abilities. Rather, they are the results of genetic inheritance.

Indeed, racial differences are minimal, as Hampton L. Carson writes in Heredity and Human Life: “The paradox which faces us is that each group of humans appears to be externally different yet underneath these differences there is fundamental similarity.”

If all humans really form only one family, why, then, do terrible racial problems exist?

Why the Problem

The fundamental reason racism exists is the bad start that the first human parents gave their offspring. Adam and Eve willfully rebelled against God and thus became imperfect, defective. As a result, Adam’s imperfection​—this tendency toward badness—​was passed to his descendants. (Romans 5:12) So from birth on, all humans are prone to selfishness and pride, which has led to racial strife and turmoil.

There is another reason racism exists. When Adam and Eve broke away from God’s dominion, they came under the rule of a wicked spirit creature that the Bible calls Satan, or the Devil. Under the influence of this one, who is “misleading the entire inhabited earth,” deliberate efforts have often been made to deceive people on the matter of race. (Revelation 12:9; 2 Corinthians 4:4) Ethnocentrism​—the idea that one’s own group is superior—​has been fanned into a consuming flame, and wittingly or unwittingly, millions have been swept along, with disastrous consequences.

To put it frankly, selfish, imperfect humans under the control of Satan have spread all the false teachings about race that have been responsible for racial problems.

Therefore, for the human race to become united, all must believe that we are truly one human family and that God did make “out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth.” (Acts 17:26) Furthermore, for all races to live together in peace, Satan’s influence must be eliminated in human affairs. Will these things ever happen? Is there any basis for believing that they will?

Ending Racial Prejudice

Jesus Christ revealed how racial prejudice could be eliminated when he commanded his followers to “love one another” just as he loved them. (John 13:34, 35) This love was not to be just for members of a particular race or races. Not at all! “Have love for the whole association of brothers,” one of his disciples encouraged.​—1 Peter 2:17.

How is this Christian love shown? The Bible explains when it urges: “In showing honor to one another take the lead.” (Romans 12:10) Think what it means when this is done! Each one treats others, regardless of race or nationality, with real dignity and respect, not looking down on them, but actually ‘viewing them as superior.’ (Philippians 2:3) When such a spirit of genuine Christian love exists, the problem of racial prejudice is solved.

True, on the part of ones who have been taught racial prejudice, it takes unusual effort to rid themselves of such Satan-inspired ideas. But it can be accomplished! In the first century, all of those who were brought into the Christian congregation came to enjoy unparalleled oneness. The apostle Paul wrote of it: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one person in union with Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) Indeed, true followers of Christ came to enjoy genuine brotherhood.

But some may object: ‘This will never happen today.’ Yet, it has already happened among Jehovah’s Witnesses​—an organization of more than four and a half million people! Admittedly, not all Witnesses have become perfectly free from prejudices learned from this ungodly system. One black American realistically noted about white fellow Witnesses: “I detect among certain ones of them leftover attitudes of racial superiority, and I have sometimes seen a certain uncomfortableness of some of them when in close association with persons of another race.”

Yet, this person acknowledged: “Jehovah’s Witnesses have, to a degree unmatched by any other people on earth, rid themselves of racial prejudice. They do strive to love one another regardless of race . . . On occasion my heart has been warmed to the point of uncontrollable tears to experience the genuine love of white Witnesses.”

Does the racial unity enjoyed by a few​—even if these number in the millions—​really make that much difference when millions of others are influenced by Satanic ideas of racial superiority? No, we agree that it doesn’t solve the problem of race. It is beyond human efforts to do so. Only our Creator, Jehovah God, can do that.

Happily, very soon now, Jehovah, by means of his Kingdom in the hands of his Son, Jesus Christ, will rid the earth of all injustice and all of those who selfishly promote discrimination and hatred, racial or otherwise. (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 6:9, 10) Then, with a perfect educational program under the administration of Christ, all races will truly become united. As that education progresses, they will live in perfect harmony without any trace of racial discrimination. God’s promise will finally be fulfilled: “The former things have passed away. . . . Look! I am making all things new.”​—Revelation 21:4, 5.

Are you a person who longs for the time when true brotherhood prevails, when all races live together in peace? If so, we welcome you to attend a Kingdom Hall near you, where Jehovah’s Witnesses meet regularly to study the Bible. See for yourself if they do not display genuine Christian love​—for people of all races.

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Soon all races everywhere will live together in peace