“Race is the child of racism, not the father.” Ta-Nehisi Coates
The above quote underscores how difficult it is to separate these two terms – Race and Racism. Many agree with Mr. Coates that Race is an invention, and what may seem a strange twist to some, is actually the product of Racism. It could also be argued that during the period of colonization, Race was also an identifier with superior/inferior connotations. The primary purpose of this article is an attempt to only discuss ‘Race’, and not ‘Racism’, as it pertains to the colonization of the Western Hemisphere..
The term “Race” was first used in the English language in the late 16th century. It probably came from the French word “razza” which loosely meant a class of persons with a common ancestor. Some scholars think that the Latin root word “radix” which indicated tribe or nation, may have influenced the eventual construction of the word ‘Race’. Most historians place the ‘invention’ of the modern concept of Race in the late 18th century. At that point in the colonization era there was more interest with establishing the superiority of ‘Whites’ than with determining the inferiority of ‘non-Whites’. That was also the time when there was considerable debate whether the different races had developed from a common source (monogenism) or different sources (polygenism).
In this website’s Pseudoscience Section there are a few brief reviews of the publications and reports that presented the purported “truth” about people with different colored skin. The earliest studies were not meant to establish one’s skin-tone as either superior or inferior to another. It is significant to note that many of those early ‘Race’ scientists were botanist and/or naturalists. And it was a time in history when it was being discovered that the world had a huge diversity in plant life. These scientists were adept at examining roses, for instance, and determining size, petal configuration, preferred soil and climate, length of blooming, etc. for each specie. Their purpose was not to claim the yellow rose was better than the red one. Mistakenly thinking that humans could be examined and categorized in a similar manner, they unwittingly established the concept of species within the human race. If that had been the end of it, perhaps no great harm would have occurred. But, other forces came into play. Colonization, being one. In the process of exploration and conquest the Europeans came into contact with the Indigenous Peoples from different continents, and the idea to classify them in the same manner as found in the natural sciences seemed a logical endeavor. Once these distinguishing features were established, it was easy to blend in the presumed and assumed superior attributes of the white colonizers. The foundation of racial grading, ranking and stratification had thus been established.
For most of the world recognizing the Races is a fairly recent state-of-affairs, considering their long history covering many centuries. For us in the United States, we’ve never been without it. We have always had the political and social concepts that justified the view of superior and inferior races. It led to anti-blackness with the enslavement of Africans and the dispossession of the Indigenous Peoples. United States history has suffered enslavement, genocide, massacres, lynchings, property seizures, relocations, family disruptions, and inequitable essential services because of Race. Federal, State and Local laws and our criminal justice system can, and occasionally does, address Race issues, although justice is many times painfully slow. And sometimes legal gains won are later lost with changing attitudes and positions.
In considering the close connection of Race and Slavery, the questions may be: Could Slavery have survived without Race? Did Race make Slavery possible? Or easier to execute? Is it possible to disassemble the invention of Race? Is it one of those, “you can’t put the Genie back in the bottle” kind of situations. Men constructed RACE centuries ago. Are the thinkers from those earlier times too clever to be exposed and reversed?
Here is a quote that attempts to answer those questions:
“Race … turns physical difference into relations of domination … based on the permanent hierarchy of particular groups, developed as an attempt to resolve the fundamental contradiction between professing liberty and upholding slavery.”
SLATE; The Enlightenment’s Dark Side
How the Enlightenment created modern race thinking, and why we should confront it
Jamelle Bouie; June 05, 2018
The phrase “turns physical difference into relations of domination” so neatly expresses the connection of Slavery and Race. And that last phrase, “attempt to resolve the fundamental contradiction between professing liberty and upholding slavery” is the definition of the ongoing struggle we as a country, and perhaps as individuals, have experienced our entire history.
As you read the next few sentences, be aware of what your brain is processing, what reaction you experience as you read an unknown, or perhaps ignored, bit of colonization history.
It is a common practice, in the past as well as today, for well-known, important persons to have nicknames that indicated something about them that was unusual or noteworthy. For example, during the colonization era, a Portuguese explorer was called ‘Henry, the Navigator’ because he was very adept at calculating his position in uncharted waters. King Alfonso of Portugal who in 1452 received permission from Pope Nicholas V to enslave the inhabitants of Western Africa had the nickname of ‘Alfonso, the African’.
What connection did your mind just make with that information? Did if make any sense? Was a Black man king of Portugal? Is that possible? A Black king enslaving other Black people? How can this be reconciled? Perhaps he had a dark complexion and the nickname was meant to ridicule him.
Click here for one possible answer. The information at this link probably won’t answer all the questions. But, it might bring a little more personal awareness on the issue of RACE.
Source: There is a relatively new academic organization named ‘RaceB4Race’ whose website contains numerous articles and recordings relative to the period prior to the modern ‘invention’ of Race.