A Law Librarian in the Dark

Ed.: This month we have a guest columnist substituting for Yasmin Sokkar Harker.

Within days of having yet another conversation about the notion of a post racial America, I agreed to contribute a film review to “A Law Librarian in the Dark”.  After browsing our featured film collection, I came across what appeared to be an interesting 2003 PBS series about race.
 
So, how do we define race?  Is it determined by the color of our skin, the shape of our eyes, the texture of our hair, or is it something else? 

The producers of Race: the Power of Illusion reflect on this fundamental question - what is this thing called “race?”  CCH Ponder narrates Race: the Power of an Illusion, athree part PBS documentary series that looks at race in America from scientific, historical and sociological perspectives.   The series posits two ideas: First, dividing people along racial lines or grouping people into racial groups based on genetic differences is not supported by science.   Second, while there is no scientific foundation to support genetic differences between groups, the consequence of accepting this flawed belief makes racism and its consequences very real.

Difference Between Us

In part I, "The Difference Between Us,” high school students sequence their DNA, test their skin color, and record their blood type.  They then compare the genetic differences and similarities between classmates.  They all make the same assumption: they will be genetically similar to those classmates more “like” them and conversely, they will have the greatest differences with those classmates less “like” them.  However, they are surprised to discover that their genetic differences were as possible with someone less “like” themselves as with someone more “like” them. 

Although the scientific fallacy of grouping people by genetic characteristics has been widely discussed by scholars, the students’ experiment introduces a major theme of the series and provides a transition to explore the origin of biological explanations of the racial divide.

The Story We Tell

Part II “The Story We Tell,” examines the country’s progression from a period in which social hierarchies were based on religion and wealth to a “racialized society” in which social constructs of race informed these hierarchies.

The episode lucidly describes the Country’s leaders calling on, a presumably neutral, science to determine the differences between races.  However, because scientists are products of society, their findings reflected their biases and served to justify the inequality of a society based on a system of categories of race. For example, Samuel Morton who studied and measured human skulls, determined from his experiments that white people have “decided and unquestioned… superiority over all the nations of the earth" because of their larger skulls.  Morton’s “findings” buttressed pro-slavery conclusions of scientists like Louis Agassiz.  These beliefs of inheritable differences morphed into the notorious “one drop of blood rule.”

The House We Live In

Part III, “The House We Live In” examines the effect of these historical remnants and the consequences of accepting race as a socio-political construct. The film argues that it is not biology or biological differences that create race, but instead the “it is the laws and public policies that mark life chances and opportunities made based upon those differences that make race.”

 Race: The Power of an Illusion delivers necessary messages.  However, while the facts and documentation of Race were juxtaposed by discussion and explanations from many scholars, there was little debate.  I would still highly recommend this series, however, I would have preferred to have also heard arguments from those that don’t believe in the power of the illusion.  At its core, this series is about the pervasiveness of racism in America. My hope is that the lack of opposing opinions will not detract from the message of this rich series or turn it into a benign discussion of prejudices.

Race: The Power of an Illusion (2003) three episodes, 56 minutes each; DVD version includes all 3 episodes on one DVD.