The Science You Need to Know to Explain Why Race is Not Biological

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela

In this extra credit assignment, you will briefly summarize (1-2 sentences each) the 6 major points outlined in the following publication by McChesney (2015). You can access the article here – https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244015611712.

Please skim the 6 respective sections and summarize the main point in clear, concise sentences:

  1. People cannot be reliably divided into racial groups.
  2. There are no relationships between traits that are used to categorize people into races (like skin color) and associated stereotypes.
  3. Over time, geography and environment influence the genetic structures of human populations through natural selection.
  4. There is more diversity within racial groups than between racial groups.
  5. All people living today are descended from populations that originated in Africa.
  6. All people living today are one biological species.