Race in the Modern World - Notes

Race in the Modern World by Kwame Anthony Appiah

The Problem of the Color Line

W. E. B. Du Bois, in his 1900 address, identified the "problem of the color line" as the major issue of the 20th century. This problem concerns how racial differences, particularly skin color and hair texture, would be used to deny opportunities and privileges to more than half the world's population. Du Bois's concern extended beyond the United States to the European colonial projects reshaping Africa and Asia. Examples include:

• The British conquest of Kumasi in Ghana.

• The British defeat of the Sokoto Caliphate in Nigeria.

• The French protectorate over Morocco.

• British control of Egypt.

• Ethiopia's loss of independence.

These events were influenced by racial ideologies following the Congress of Berlin in 1878, which defined the status of colonized peoples in racial terms. Du Bois, educated at Fisk, Harvard, and the University of Berlin, acknowledged the widespread acceptance of race as a central concept in social, cultural, and political life during his time. Despite accepting the concept of race, he was a strong critic of racism, including anti-Semitism, and condemned the Nazi's racial prejudice after visiting Germany in 1936. The Holocaust and other genocides, such as the German campaign against the Hereros in Namibia and the Hutu massacre of Tutsis in Rwanda, exemplify the centrality of race as a problem in the 20th century.

Civic and Economic Inequality

Du Bois recognized that the color line led to civic and economic inequality through government policies, private discrimination, and their interactions. The civil rights movement in the United States and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa represent such struggles. Similar movements have occurred in Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas, addressing injustices against native peoples, descendants of African slaves, and East and South Asian indentured laborers. The rise of non-European immigration to Europe has brought racial inequality issues, regarding civic rights, education, employment, housing, and income, to the forefront. Du Bois viewed Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans as being on the same side of the color line as himself. However, racial discrimination and insult are a global issue, as seen in Japanese brutality toward Chinese and Koreans and Chinese attitudes toward Africans and African Americans. While ethnoracial inequality is significant, it's not the only important form of social inequality. In 2013, over 40% of the poor in the United States were white. Other forms of discrimination are based on religion and sexual orientation. Despite changes over the past century, racial inequality remains a persistent problem.

"Us and Them" - A Global Politics of Race

Du Bois advocated for a global politics of race, uniting people of African descent and other people of color to combat white supremacy. This ideology played a role in the decolonization of Africa and the Caribbean and influenced the creation of the African Union. Du Bois later became a citizen of Ghana, led by Kwame Nkrumah. He was also a scholar who reflected the era's focus on race as a concept. Thinkers in various fields believed that biologists could scientifically identify primary human races, typically starting with black, white, and yellow races, and often including Semitic and American Indian races. Subgroups were also considered races, such as Anglo-Saxon and Celtic races in the United Kingdom. Race was thought to determine shared moral and psychological traits, explaining historical and cultural differences. Although skeptics like Charles Darwin argued humans were a single stock shaped by environment, many believed in the biological reality of race and its importance for social and political organization. Essentialism, the idea that groups share core properties explaining their appearances and tendencies, was common. The psychologist Susan Gelman notes that this bias is not directly taught but is shaped by language and culture. What was new in the nineteenth century was combining the idea that races were biological and scientifically identifiable with the idea that they were politically central to states. David Hume wrote of “national character” in the 18th century, while Arnold spoke of the “Germanic genius” of the “Saxon” race in the 19th century. Nationalism ideally aimed to unite people of a single race into states. The concept of races being "melted into a new race" was replaced by racial science.

The Other Dismal Science

In the decade after Du Bois' address, emphasis shifted towards culture in understanding human groups. Anthropology, led by Franz Boas, argued that culture, not biology alone, explained differences between peoples. This perspective, which Du Bois adopted, suggested that social races were not biological. In the United States, racial classification meant a person with one black grandparent was socially black, regardless of physical traits. Walter White's autobiography highlights this irony. Colonial contexts also presented anomalies, such as grouping diverse Nigerians as "Negroes". National character was attributed to ethnic groups, whose members could vary in physical appearance. This second phase challenged the claims of the first phase. Natural scientists questioned the biological basis of social races, and social scientists emphasized culture over biology. Mendelian population genetics supported Darwin's view, showing that differences between geographic populations were statistical variations in gene frequencies. The UNESCO declared in 1950 that cultural traits had no demonstrated genetic connection with racial traits. Race was seen as a sociocultural construct, influenced by historical processes where biological differences mattered only when people chose to emphasize them. Racial prejudice was thus seen as arising from historical and social phenomena and falsely claiming scientific justification.

Construction Work

In the 1960s, "genetic geography" emerged, with scientists like Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza arguing that race had no place in human biology. Social scientists began viewing "races" as social constructions, using terms like "ethnic" or "ethnoracial" groups to avoid biological implications. Some philosophers and biologists have attempted to reintroduce race as a biological concept using cladistics, but this does not undermine the socially constructed nature of racial boundaries. Biology does not inherently possess political or moral significance. Statistical differences in biological characteristics between socially constructed groups do not imply a causal relationship with group biology or justify differential treatment. As Du Bois argued, biology should be excluded from discussions about race in political life. The belief that racial inequality would be easier to eliminate once it was recognized as a product of sociology and politics rather than biology was soon proven false. The persistence of status differences between ethnoracial groups, even after governments ceased to impose them, proved to be true.

Imagined Communities

Despite hopes that racial thinking and hostility would diminish, essentialist beliefs about differences between groups persist. Differences based on common descent continue to form social identities, whether biologically based or not. Ethnoracial categories remain politically relevant, shaping political affiliations. Inequalities between groups, regardless of their origins, fuel further mobilization along ethnoracial lines, which are based on real or perceived similarities. People are more aware of the fact that we are all one species, yet, perceived differences continue to matter. Affirmative action policies exist around the world. Public opinion polls in the United States reveal racial divisions on various issues due to affirmative action. Even on university campuses where the idea of race being a social construct is common knowledge, the race of individuals continues to shape social interaction. The concept of socially constructed races is difficult for many to accept. Race continues to influence international politics, in part due to the success of pan-Africanism. African Americans are interested in U.S. foreign policy in Africa, and Africans are mindful of racial unrest in the United States. Pan-Africanism, Jewish interest in Israeli politics, Chinese interest in the Chinese diaspora, Japanese interest in Brazil, and Russian concern for ethnic Russians in neighboring countries all highlight the continued significance of identities rooted in shared ancestry.

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

The pan-Africanism, which was an accomplishment of Du Bois, fostered transnational solidarity, aiding decolonization and the fight against Jim Crow and apartheid. Racial solidarity can serve both positive and negative purposes. A world without race consciousness would lack certain positive mobilizations. Du Bois believed that those of African descent should maintain their racial identity until human brotherhood became a reality. Moving beyond ethnoracial identities is now worth pursuing for both moral and intellectual reasons, fostering harmonious and productive coexistence. Tying fates to groups based on misunderstandings about human difference and imaginary commonalities is detrimental. Building cohesion through intentional communities and organizing solidarities around citizenship and shared political commitments would be preferable. Overcoming essentialism and the power of ethnoracial identities requires substantial education in schools and public culture in order to transition to a postracial world, which may still be a distant ideal.