'I'm either too black or not black enough': One teenager's experience

[Graham2001]

I read the article linked below because I wanted to but the second-to-last paragraph disturbed me to the core, is this where epigenetics pseudoscience has led.

And though I was not boarded on a ship from the 1500s to the 1800s, nor did I have to fight for my rights during the 1900s, I am here in the 2000s and the trauma in my DNA...

(Emphasis mine.)


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47866741

It's bad enough that white supremacists claim that violence is an inherent genetic trait of Africans (or that Eirich vonDaniken claims that 'musicality' is an inherent trait of Africans for that matter.)


Inherent racial anything is a bad notion, no matter what the skin color of the person spouting it.

 

[dann]

Except inherent stuff like lactose (in)tolerance or UV-light (in)tolerance ...

 

[ThatGuy11200]

It could be pseudoscience or it could just be a metaphor.

 

[Information Analyst]

"This article was written by Aries Brown, an 18-year-old African-American student at an international school in eastern Europe."

And she's shocked that she's a minority there? Wow.

"Brown, my last name, is the fourth most popular surname in the US. It was given to my ancestors by white slave owners who decided that they weren't worthy of being called anything other than the colour of their skin. So they called us Brown - the colour of dirt."

Brown or Browne is a very common surname in English-speaking countries. It's the sixth most popular in Britain, the fourth in Australia, the third in New Zealand, and the second in Canada. And we're expected to believe it's fourth in the USA because... slavery? It seems that amongst black Americans it is also the fourth most common, and the same applies to the non-Hispanic white American population. In fact, whites and blacks share the same top five surnames, just in a slightly different order, while the next 15 are almost all common English surnames (white order in brackets):

WILLIAMS (3)
JOHNSON (2)
SMITH (1)
JONES (5)
BROWN (4)
JACKSON (19)
DAVIS (8)
THOMAS (16)
HARRIS (25)
ROBINSON (30)
TAYLOR (17)
WILSON (14)
MOORE (18)
WHITE (24)
LEWIS (29)
WALKER (31)
GREEN (41)
THOMPSON (23)
WASHINGTON (145)
ANDERSON (15)

The only real outlier is Washington. The rest simply seem to reflect the fact that slaves often ended up with the surnames of their owners, and thus reflect their prevalence amongst them. The idea that Brown is common for blacks the reason stated seems to be unsupported.

 

[sadhatter]

It could be pseudoscience or it could just be a metaphor.

Option 3 it is just a dramatic teenager being a dramatic teenager.

If this kid was born white he would be a different kind of race obsessed tool. Hopefully he grows or of it, though not likely now that it has gained him a level of fame.

 

[Ziggurat]

The idea that Brown is common for blacks the reason stated seems to be unsupported.

Especially given the prevalence of the last name “White” among African Americans.

 

[Mumbles]

I read the article linked below because I wanted to but the second-to-last paragraph disturbed me to the core, is this where epigenetics pseudoscience has led.

(Emphasis mine.)


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47866741

It's bad enough that white supremacists claim that violence is an inherent genetic trait of Africans (or that Eirich vonDaniken claims that 'musicality' is an inherent trait of Africans for that matter.)


Inherent racial anything is a bad notion, no matter what the skin color of the person spouting it.

It's a theory that I've heard every now and then. I'll even agree that there are *some* areas where slavery in the US may have somewhat distorted genetics - such as sensitivity to salt intake or lactose (in)tolerance being affected by inclusion of European ancestry - but I don't know of any strong studies on these matters, and definitely nothing about "trauma" being encoded in DNA.

It's more likely the effects attributed to this "genetic trauma" are actually due to environmental factors - pollution, relatively poor prenatal care for the US (which is terrible even for white Americans, compared to other wealthy countries and quite a few relatively poor countries), higher stress due to dealing with racism, and so forth.

 

[sadhatter]

It's a theory that I've heard every now and then. I'll even agree that there are *some* areas where slavery in the US may have somewhat distorted genetics - such as sensitivity to salt intake or lactose (in)tolerance being affected by inclusion of European ancestry - but I don't know of any strong studies on these matters, and definitely nothing about "trauma" being encoded in DNA.

It's more likely the effects attributed to this "genetic trauma" are actually due to environmental factors - pollution, relatively poor prenatal care for the US (which is terrible even for white Americans, compared to other wealthy countries and quite a few relatively poor countries), higher stress due to dealing with racism, and so forth.

Or being a whiney teenager.

The most simple answer is often the correct one.

 

[Venom]

Except inherent stuff like lactose (in)tolerance or UV-light (in)tolerance ...

But there is very hasty generalization going on there as well.

These things are strictly not functions of your skin color or ethnicity.

 

[CaptainHowdy]

I read the article linked below because I wanted to but the second-to-last paragraph disturbed me to the core, is this where epigenetics pseudoscience has led.




(Emphasis mine.)


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47866741

It's bad enough that white supremacists claim that violence is an inherent genetic trait of Africans (or that Eirich vonDaniken claims that 'musicality' is an inherent trait of Africans for that matter.)


Inherent racial anything is a bad notion, no matter what the skin color of the person spouting it.

The trauma in her DNA sounds like the suffering of those who call themselves third and fourth generation Holocaust survivors and demand that the Germans pay for their therapy. Everybody wants to be a victim.

 

[Brainster]

Especially given the prevalence of the last name “White” among African Americans.

Bill James once noted that the Kansas City Royals had Frank White, who was black, Bud Black, who was white, and Darryl Motley who was not motley-colored at all. And while I have met several people named Green and one named Blue, their skin color was not as advertised.

 

[Information Analyst]

Option 3 it is just a dramatic teenager being a dramatic teenager.

If this kid was born white he would be a different kind of race obsessed tool. Hopefully he grows or of it, though not likely now that it has gained him a level of fame.

She.

 

[Information Analyst]

Especially given the prevalence of the last name “White” among African Americans.

I wish I'd spotted that....

 

[sadhatter]

She.

Could care less really. It actually makes me think ill of the world that whiney teenager saying whiney teenager things males the news.

 

[dann]

But there is very hasty generalization going on there as well.

These things are strictly not functions of your skin color or ethnicity.

Is one's ability to tolerate UV light not a function of the color of one's skin? My blond and ginger compatriots tend to disagree!
And ethnicity is probably the best way to predict if somebody is lactose intolerant or not: Map of Milk Consumption & Lactose Intolerance around the World (FoodBeast, Nov. 22, 2012).

 

[Hlafordlaes]

It could be taken as poetic shorthand, as having the genes leads to differential social experiences. But as stated, seems the young man gets causality backwards. At any rate, agreed with the OP conclusion.

 

[Baylor]

Could care less really. It actually makes me think ill of the world that whiney teenager saying whiney teenager things males the news.

Could not*

(Seriously, how did omitting the not from 'could not care less' start?)

 

[p0lka]

Could not*

(Seriously, how did omitting the not from 'could not care less' start?)

Oh, I always assumed you were from the US where getting that saying wrong was normal, good call.

 

[Baylor]

I don't see what geographical location has to do with anything. I wouldn't call the misuse of the phrase "normal," but way too often. (Once is too often)

 

[Mumbles]

It could be taken as poetic shorthand, as having the genes leads to differential social experiences. But as stated, seems the young man gets causality backwards. At any rate, agreed with the OP conclusion.

At the most, I recall a few studies that suggest that certain hormonal changes common among PTSD sufferers also show up in their offspring. This is a far cry from showing that trauma actively changes a victim's (survivor's, whatever) DNA, however. The researchers seem to point towards epigenetics - changes to how genes are *expressed* - rather than genetic changes themselves.

Also, these studies only looked at parent-child pairs, and any black American currently in school is *extremely* unlikely to be the child of a person who was enslaved in the US Civil War era (illegal modern slavery does occur, for example sex trafficking rings and the like, but that's not what the writer is discussing).