By Anushka Arora, Celebrity Anchor & Actor
“Hating people because of their colour is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which colour does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.” — Muhammad Ali
Nature is judicious; human skin has amended over centuries as our early ancestors migrated across planet. There’s a direct relationship between skin colour and latitude. The closer to the Equator, the darker the skin of those populations — the body creates a shield to protect itself from ultraviolet rays. In areas where winters are more extreme, and sunny days are limited — like in London where I live now — a whiter skin helps produce more vitamin D.
All people alive today are Africans — like it or not, that’s how everything started. The Homo sapiens evolved in Africa. Modern genetic research has shown that all humans are closely related. We all have the same collection of genes, but slightly different versions of some of them. The colour of our skin has nothing to do with race — it’s a by-product of adaptation.
Science has proven that the different types of skin are a consequence of how our ancestors dealt with sun exposure. However, when we think about race, the first thing that comes to mind is skin colour. And, what’s even worse, not all are equal— white skin seems more special than the rest.
This hierarchy is artificial though. Someone got the science wrong, and many people conveniently took it as true. Hint: it helped start a war. In the decades before the American Civil War, Morton’s ideas were used to justify slavery. Also, his belief that Native Americans could not integrate into modern industrial society was central to Andrew Jackson’s policy of Indian Removal.
Modern science has debunked the myth that certain races have more gifted brains than others. However, many people still take that belief as true. Our society is still paying a high price for it.
Internalized racism refers to the feelings of self-hatred among oppressed groups. Their traits have been devalued in Western societies. Colourism is discrimination based on skin colour — darker-skinned groups are treated worse than lighter skin ones by whites or even members of their own race.
Subtle racism is described as a person who has implicit racial or other negative attitudes towards another group. It doesn’t always include acts of bigotry; it also involves everyday behaviours such as ignoring, ridiculing or treating people as less worthy of respect because of their race.
Regardless of the prejudice degree — many people are suffering the colour of their skin, rather than feel proud of it. We have a hard time understanding and accepting those who are different — either because of how they look or think.
Intolerance is natural, rejecting the unknown is part of a self-mechanism. However, considering the limitless access to education and information, it’s hard to believe that racism continues to be so prominent. It’s unacceptable that, in the 21st-century leaders continue to manipulate people by turning a (racial) group into a common enemy — they’ve turned intolerance into an art.
Rather than taking people for who they are; we are told to judge them by the group they belong to.
When you understand that the colour of the skin is not correlated to anything else, it’s easier to realize that the world does not revolve around you. It’s not that white people are not superior, no one else is.
Being colour blind is wrong; is neither desirable nor possible. We need to become aware, and embrace, the differences. Let’s celebrate each one’s uniqueness and promote a culture where diversity of thinking (and looks) is valued, rather than censored.
Having open conversations helps. Having biases is natural, just as the colour of your skin. However, being blinded by skin colours is a social and artificial thing — modern science has debunked race stereotypes.
The colour of our skin says a lot about our minds. I choose to keep mine open. The brain is a flexible muscle, don’t let stereotypes rigidify your thoughts.
