RACISM

Beware of People Trying to End Race and Not Racism

We can’t fix the problem with the wrong diagnosis

Dr. Allison Wiltz
Momentum
Published in
5 min readApr 12, 2022

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Photo by Leslie Jones on Unsplash

By now, you’re probably aware that race is a social construct, and racism is the byproduct. The “American plantation system,” using faux scientific claims about European superiority, took root during the Age of Enlightenment. How ironic that a time known for scientific advancement also led to baseless discrimination.

Some scientists believed that Black skin came from “the power of maternal imagination or from darkened sperm,” while others claimed “darkened humors stained the skin.” Ultimately, White people of the era believed they were the standard for human excellence and that any deviation from that was pathological. There’s a bit of a chicken and the egg complex going on here; which came first, the creation of race or racism?

A study showed that 3-month-year-old babies prefer faces of their own racial group, showing that people naturally recognize differences, even before naming these distinctions. Race does not have any biological markers; it describes physical differences. And it’s unfortunate that the “there’s only one race, the human family” group seems to miss the forest for the trees — the boogeyman is not race, it’s racism. White people seeing Black people, recognizing their…

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Momentum
Momentum

Published in Momentum

Momentum is a blog that captures and reflects the moment we find ourselves in, one where rampant anti-Black racism is leading to violence, trauma, protest, reflection, sorrow, and more. Momentum doesn’t look away when the news cycle shifts.

Dr. Allison Wiltz
Dr. Allison Wiltz

Written by Dr. Allison Wiltz

Black womanist scholar with a PhD from New Orleans, LA with bylines in Oprah Daily, Momentum, ZORA, Cultured. #WEOC Founder

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