Why Racism Is About the Color of the Mind, Not Your Skin

Race is natural, Racism is not

Race is natural, Racism is not.

Pic by frank mckenna

The first time my son met an African American kid, he was shocked.

“The sun is extreme here,” he told me, “Look at that kid’s skin.”

My five-year-old has been playing for hours with this boy he met on a beach in Puerto Rico. It was his first encounter with someone with black skin. We had just moved from Argentina where less than 2% of people have dark skin.

My son didn’t perceive the other boy’s as different because of his color— he was only concerned about the sun effects on his skin. This observation taught me a lesson. Race is a social concept; it’s not part of our DNA, we learn it as we grow up.

Our mind is race agnostic until society teaches us that not all skin colors are equal.

The Color of our Minds

Kids naivety aside, the color of our skins are indeed determined by the sun. I’m not talking about getting tanned. Nature is wise; human skin has adapted over centuries as our early ancestors migrated across our planet.

There’s a direct c…