The passage argues that it is far too easy to fall into the “race pit,” which refers to using thinking of race as a biological concept. It takes a lot of unlearning and relearning to realize that race does not divide humans genetically, because there are no subspecies of human. We are all extremely genetically similiar to one another.
There have been many instances of misuse of race, such as when scientists used race to try to justify why African Americans tended to have higher atheltic abilities, or when trying to puzzle out which races had higher IQs. In addition, t has been concluded that African Americans tended to have lower birth weights and higher rates of infant mortality due to environmental conditions, not genetics.
Despite race being a biological fiction, race still affects everyone’s lived experiences. These physical differences that have originated in the history slavery have divided people for centuries, resulting in people of color having lower life expectancies, and higher rates of cancer or other illnesses linked to environmental factors. Race is a biological fiction, but racial divisions are very real and affects people’s outlooks on life.