The Biology of Race

Today I sat in a history class on the Middle East, listening to a fellow student say, "there is a biological aspect to race. Races are biologically different." Then, this student continued on to cite 'twitch-fibers' in muscles as an example of how races are different. AKA, this is why Kenyans run so fast. Ridiculous. I cannot believe that an 'intelligent' college student believes in such a logic. The irony of course, a couple weeks prior, in a different class, i read articles and theories completely debunking the whole muscle-fiber theory on the differences between and amongst races. And more so, for some reason i always feel it is white men who should possess this faulty logic, that biology is the culprit behind the differences amongst peoples. But no, this particular student happened to be of a 'minority'. Goes to show you how all people are capable of being indoctrinated with faulty logic- myself included, of course.

So for the record I'd like to state: race is a social construct, not a biological fact.

On the other hand, disease has much to do with biology. But not everything. For example, perhaps biology allows disease to occur, but society enables disease to become disability. Without biology, we wouldn't have disease, without society, we wouldn't have disability. Of course, that is a very condensed argument. one could say, "well what is biology?" "what is science?" science is also very much a social construct. but these days, everything is a social construct. i feel like social construction has become the new 'my dog ate my homework'. are we so hopped-up on the social construct that we've forgotten about agency? some say that's the point of social constructionism, to provide agency behind things like race, ethnicity, etc. but at what point does so much agency remove agency? and does that even make sense? i just feel that people throw this social constructionism in the wind, kind of like, "well race was socially constructed so what the F am i to do about it?" that's a good question.

so what do we 'do' about race, since it is a social construction, a thing of human imaginings? do we deconstruct it? but how do we take apart the architecture? is there a manual? and how do we make sure we don't construct a new structure of -ism during our Demolition Derby? i guess these are age-old questions. but my thing is, when are we going to quit questioning and start doing something? i think we need to hop on 'this' before the above, un-named studet(s) of the world go on to become our future GBs. scary.

so what does this all have to do with being a Sicko? here it is. in the same sense that i am only a Sicko due to my Society, racial minorities are only minorities. because in actuality, all of us minorities are the majority. and it isn't Us that is sick, it is It. It being The System. the system that attempts to prove Us Sick by Our Biology. When in fact, there is nothing sick about my or your biology. Sure, maybe somethings are 'abnormal' with me, thus I'm a Sicko, but really, how does it really make me all that different from all the really different people out there? so i don't do things like the 'average person'.... well you know what, i'd like to meet this so-called 'average' person. I bet he/she/it is a social construct too. Because in the end, i've never met an 'average' person. I don't know Joe The Plummer. What i do know is this, the person who looks most typical is most often the least typical. i know you can't judge a book by its cover and i know that the concept of normal is just as imaginary as my little friend named lucy i used to talk to when i was five. (by the way, as a kid i never had an imaginary friend and felt very deprived, so i imagined that i had an imaginary friend, as a kid- see how the cycle goes...)

in the end, it isn't to say that a person in a wheelchair experiences the same social disability as a black person in america. obviously or not, different historical factors play into the stigma, prejudice and discrimination felt by various persons and groups. but the point remains, we are all disabled by this society - even the so-called upper crust. because in the end, no one really benefits from a society that raises some up only to put the vast majority down. there is an inherent social guilt that accompanies such society and guilt never reflects positively upon those who harbor it. therefore, as i've said before and will state many more times to come: We are All Sick. We are All Diseased.