Many components of a person are biological. A person's hair, eye color, blood type, are all biological traits. Race is NOT a biological trait.
Why is race NOT a biological trait? Simply, race is a social construct that exists to divide states to uphold specific systems and keep powerful people in a position of power. The construct of race serves to keep people oppressed.
Most people think race means skin color, and isn't skin color biological?
Skin color is actually a product of evolution. We understand now that the darker someone skin is, the closer they live to higher amounts of UV radiation. So technically yes, it is biological, but it has absolutely no impact on any other aspect of a persons biology.
Darker skin will provide great protection from UV rays. The eumelanin acts as a physical barrier, protecting deeper skin layers from harmful amounts of UV rays.
As people started migrating north, populations had a harder time absorbing vitamin D. Without vitamin D, there can be a host of deficiencies that would impact the health of populations. Folate for example, needs to be protected from UV rays as it is an essential nutrient for people and can be denatured by large amounts of UV radiation.
So while skin color is a product of biology, it does not impact any other component relating to a persons health.
©2023 by UnjustMedicine. Created by Faith Phillips
Sources:
We Should Abandon "Race" as a Biological Category in Biomedical Research.
Female pelvic medicine & reconstructive surgery, 26(12), 719–720. https://doi.org/10.1097/SPV.0000000000000979
Wolfgang Ulmek., & Barbara Fischer
How legacy of medical racism shapes U.S. health care today
https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/health-equity/how-legacy-medical-racism-shapes-us-health-care-today
Timothy M. Smith
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