All Humans Are Black: A Scientific Inquiry Into Why Racism Does Not Make Sense
“Believe it or not, black and white are essentially the same colour.”
A pragmatic approach to counter racism is simple enough: it’s just cruel to not like someone based on the colour of skin. And if someone cannot understand that, then the case is hopeless. To such people, a scientific or theoretical approach will make no difference.
Translation: there’s no real need for this scientific approach. However, it’s one that I feel is quite interesting, and one that everyone should know. And it’s always nice to collect new and unique perspectives.
Let’s begin by understanding what colours are.
Human eyes cannot detect light of all wavelengths. It can only detect a certain range of wavelengths: which is known as the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Light waves of wavelengths above this range are called ultraviolet rays, gamma waves and x-rays, and waves below this range are called infrared rays, microwaves and radio waves: all of which are invisible to our eyes: but they still exist.
Now, a rose appears red to us because it absorbs blue ways, and reflects red waves. These ways reach our eyes, and hence we see that the rose is red. Similarly, a leaf appears green to us because it absorbs other waves and reflects green waves.
So colours are named based on which waves on the spectrum they reflect. But there are no white or black waves on the spectrum. So what about these? How were these colours named?
Believe it or not, black and white are essentially the same colour. They both reflect all waves in equal proportions. The only difference lies in what proportion of waves are absorbed.
- When almost all the waves are absorbed by an object, and others are reflected in equal proportion, the object appears black.
- When almost none of the waves are absorbed by an object, and others are reflected in equal proportion, the object appears white.
So why do certain people have darker skin?
African-Americans have a higher concentration of a molecule called melanin in their skins. This molecule absorbs more light and less is left for reflection, and hence their skin appears dark. On the other hand, white people have less melanin in their skins, so fewer waves are absorbed and more are reflected, hence their skin appears fair to us.
But here’s the interesting part. This happens only in the visible spectrum of light. However, on most of the spectrum except for the visible spectrum, all humans are essentially black because other organic molecules are able to absorb infrared and UV light. Let me simplify.
Under visible light:
- Melanin absorbs light.
- Other organic molecules in the skin don’t.
So people with more melanin appear dark, and people with less melanin appear fair.
However, under non-visible light: mainly, infrared and UV rays:
- Melanin absorbs light.
- And other organic molecules in the skin also absorb light.
This is why anyone who has organic molecules in their skin — which is essentially both Caucasians and African-Americans — are black under UV light and infrared rays. And these rays constitute a much larger part of the electromagnetic spectrum than visible light. This is why Carl Sagan, in his book Billions and Billions said “Over a large part of the spectrum, all humans are Black”.
The reason a disparity appears in the colour of people’s skin is due to the limits of our visual sense; it’s because we’re unable to perceive UV rays and infrared light.
You might say that it’s due to a lack of enough visual perspective that racism even exists in this world. And it’s almost poetic how a perfect metaphor emerges; that the other reason racism exists is due to a lack of enough social perspective in people’s minds.
Of course, racism toward African-Americans is just one aspect of racism. Many other communities also face racism. But the underlying cause is the same: it’s due to a defect in the perspective of the racist, not the victim of racism.
Scientifically, socially, logically, religiously — no matter how you look at it, racism does not make sense. Let’s put an end to it.
