Race: The Power of Illusion

The movie Race: The Power of Illusion investigated race in society, science, and history. Why are black athletes always the biggest, fastest, and strongest? This movie goes above and beyond answering this question. This movie answered everything from experimenting on bone structures, to class projects on each other’s DNA, to truly finding out if black people have an extra bone in their leg. All the questions I have asked myself my whole life about the opposite race were answered.
The start of the movie takes place in a classroom where the students will participate in a DNA experiment. The DNA experiment is to teach the class a lesson that even though on the outside it looks like we are so different; on the inside we are so much alike. Before the experiment began they were to write down who they thought they were most alike in the class. Naturally, the Asians picked other Asians, African Americans chose other African Americans, and whites decided to pick other whites through out the class. The class is made up of African American athletes to Asian string players. The students in the class are surprised when they discover their closest genetic matches are as likely to be with people from other races as their own. They are stunned to realize that an African American female track star is more similar to an Asian male violinist than to another African American female athlete. A white male is shocked to find out that not only is he genetically matched to his eastern European roots, he is also genetically matched to an African male in Nigeria. The movie continues on with the myth of the extra bone in an African American leg. This myth couldn’t be farther from the truth. After Jesse Owens won gold in the 1937 Olympics he was studied and examined. Not one thing was found out of the ordinary that could distinguish him from a white male.
How different are we from other races? The truth is we are not different at all. We are similar to every race in the world. From African American, Asian, Indian, to Caucasian we are all genetically matched. Inside all of use we are all the same, there are not extra bones in some races and not others. The only thing that divides us in the minds of others is the color of our skin, and even that can be explained. The color of our skin is the result of where are ancestors were located and vitamin D from the sun. We are all the same no matter what color we are or how our hair looks.
I learned a lot about the movie Race: The Power of Illusion. I enjoyed watching the class learn more and more about the results from the DNA test. I could tell from the expression on their faces that they were not expecting the answer they had received. It is hard to except the fact that even though we are all genetically similar then why did so many die before us? It is very sad to think that so many lives were lost because we really did believe we were different of those with different skin color. Now we know the truth and should make an attempt to tell those who don’t believe the same that we are all truly the identical.