Oct
The Origin of Racism
This is not an exhaustive piece designed to define the origin of racism by a single event. This is a 10,000-foot view, taking into account the history that brought us to the present, so we can better understand how we got here.
300,000 years ago, the first Homo sapiens arrived on the scene.
The first humans were a dark skin tone. Likely what we would consider Black, because Homo sapiens were first discovered to be in Africa. In fact, white Homo sapiens didn’t appear until later when Homo sapiens migrated up north near today’s Russia, and their sun exposure decreased.
So, how on earth did racism develop towards Black people if they were running the world before white people even existed?
A scattered species
Homo sapiens were scattered tribes for thousands of years. They didn’t operate like we do today. They were not aware of other populations’ existence and progress as societies. Today we are aware of the political and cultural events happening in China, Britain, Melbourne, etc.
We know who has nuclear weapons, who is making progress in space research, and who is leading their country with new ideas and methodologies. Countries are aware of the progress being made around them and therefore, forced to catch up.
European development
For most of their existence, Homo sapiens were unaware of each other’s inventions and progress. Because globalization had not occurred, there was intrinsic isolation between tribes.
And according to Yuval Harari, author of Sapiens, around the 16th century, Europe began developing a set of values, judicial apparatuses, and sociopolitical structures that put them ahead of every other existing population without anyone’s knowledge. No other country knew just how far ahead Europe had gotten in terms of production, development and societal progress. No one knew they needed to catch up because no one knew they were behind.
In his book Sapiens, Harari discusses in great detail the progression of events that led to Europe’s advanced development. Everything from their use of ships and money, capitalism, and imperial culture. All of these inventions and discoveries were developed early on by some of Europe’s first inhabitants. Just think of the Roman Empire. It was one of the largest and longest-standing empires in history, and that was in 27 BC.
That’s not to say other empires did not thrive. In fact, we know a lot of Middle Eastern and Asian empires that surpassed Europe in some cases. The Persian Empire, Ottoman Empire, the Chinese Empire, etc. But while all of these empires seemed on par or more successful than the European population, Europe was slowly stabilizing and solidifying practices of judicial law, economic infrastructure, and governmental practices that the other empires were not even thinking about.
In other words, Europe had spent the last 350 years quietly building systems and infrastructure that would soon make them the most powerful continent in the world. An example of these systems’ effect on recent history would be the building of railroads.
When railroads were first invented in the mid-19th century, many countries didn’t have the infrastructure to build very many of them. By 1880, China and Persia had only built 22,000 miles of railroad. Meanwhile, Britain had built 220,000 miles. Having that much railroad access gave Europe more power to travel faster and transfer goods and services and expand all aspects of life. They were able to build these railroads faster and longer because of their established infrastructure that had long been in place enabling them to efficiently build and adjust to new systems at a rapid pace.
And while there is much more to unpack here to get the full picture of just how powerful Europe was in the 16–20th century, the main point boils down to this:
All Homo sapiens tribes were originally scattered around the world. And as the tribes developed, Europe happened to be the group that established and practiced certain political and judicial systems first, setting them up for a great start to becoming a successful people group. But it went to their heads and eventually gave them the false idea that they had the right to conquer the world. And Harari calls this the mentality of conquest.
Mentality of Conquest
For centuries, Europe had been leading out in just about everything. With their progression of technology came their progression of scientific discoveries.
And being ahead financially, Europe had the means and interest to explore those scientific explorations to great extents. Other countries made phenomenal scientific discoveries in this time between 1500–1950, but none compared to the discoveries of Newton and Darwin, two European scientists who changed the world forever with their findings.
And with these and other scientific discoveries, Europe developed a taste for conquest. The idea that the world was a place to be discovered and conquered perpetuated the downfall of humanity in terms of equality.
From 1500–1950 Europeans (and American white people once they arrived in America) developed a sense that the world was theirs. In America, you’ve probably heard it called Manifest Destiny. The idea that the Western world (white people) were to manifest and conquer the rest of the world. It was theirs for the taking.
Color begins to matter
Europeans and Americans began taking over parts of Africa and brought slaves to America in 1619. America also enslaved indigenous people around this time.
The idea is completely bonkers if you think about it even a little. Europeans/American white people assumed that because they were the first to establish strong infrastructure which allowed them to expand their territory, they were destined to enslave other people.
Because Europe had a few good ideas back in 27BC, they assumed it gave them the right to abuse people. But, as we saw with Hitler and the Holocaust, a bad idea in the hands of a person in power can convince the world to do despicable things.
But after the abolition of slavery, racism didn’t stop. It lived in Jim Crow laws, redlining and subprime loans, deindustrialization, and The New Deal and the Social Security Act which explicitly left out jobs belonging to predominately Black people. Racism didn’t go away, it just transformed.
So where do we go from here?
First, acknowledge slavery and racism exist. Do your research and understand that racism is real and is rooted in centuries of malpractice and greed from people who thought their technological advances gave them the right to abuse the world.
Second, ask “who benefits from racism?” Asking yourself this will force you to look at the systems around us that give white people, politicians, rich neighborhoods, police forces, and businesses an implicit leg up in the game of life. Don’t be a European Emperor and assume your advances are an excuse to abuse.
Third, be anti-racist. Don’t be neutral. Actively condemn racism and systemic racism. Call out your friend’s racist comments, speak up for the marginalized, even if it feels uncomfortable, and vote for leaders that defend equality in your local and national elections. It’s not enough to sit on the sidelines and watch the fight. Actively fight against the racist ideologies that have been permitted and championed for too long.
This was a rudimentary look at human history that focused on the origin of racism, not its full history. And it is by no means exhaustive. The mentality of conquest is just one factor of many that led to the unfair and abhorrent act of slavery. I would encourage you to read Harari’s “Sapiens” as well as Dorian T. Warren’s (and others) “Hidden Rules of Race” to get a more robust and historical account of racism’s past. Both books are written by people of color.
The Origin of Racism was originally published in Lessons from History on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.