We = The Same

From the documentary, "Race the Power of an Allusion," the idea of "race" is noted as being created socially and is based on the differences that are socially made. These differences can include things  like the differences in hair texture and nose structure. In America, other races besides white were at the bottom of the social hierarchy and from this the Eugenics group was made. These Eugenics' goal was to only breed the "best," which were the whites. They called for no intermarriage and believed that if a white intermarried, the kids would have the bad traits of the non-white and therefore would become an outcast to society. In The Bluest Eye, Soaphead Church came from predominately African-American lineage but his family branched out and intermarried with the whites to breed out the black to become a more accepted "white." This is exactly what the Eugenics did not want, but this is what a tribe in Virginia claimed to have done in order to be more socially accepted.

Social acceptance plays a role in the health of human beings. This is explained in the documentary with Hoffman who did not take that into account in his studies of other races. He said the African-American race would become extinct, but there were some major factors that produced these results that if were changed would create alternate results. Hoffman forgot to compensate for the poverty and social neglect that the African-Americans faced. Poverty is unhealthy and can result in death if the poor do not receive enough healthy food and social care. This is what Hoffman based his conclusions on but if the African-Americans were healthy, they would not become extinct. Other scientists in their studies found interesting conclusions about race as well.

As noted in "Race the Power of an Allusion," Cobb found that there were no biological traits to identify African-Americans as negro. It is also noted that there is no way to measure race but people find a way to. This can be seen in the commonly accepted thought that African-Americans have an advantage in sports, as demonstrated by Jesse Owens 1936 Olympics race. However, DNA testing from the documentary showed that 85% of difference in genes is with another person of the same race instead of the commonly held notion that the most difference is with someone from another race. There is also roughly the same diversity within racial groups as without. This leads us to the conclusion that humans are inherently similar and that the differences are between each human being not just between different races. All this being said, racial groups and social astigmatism really affected Pecola in The Bluest Eye.

Pecola really felt the exaggerated differences between her and the whites and even others of her own race. Because she was dubbed as ugly, she desperately wanted a way to feel accepted and loved. She found this by wanting a white person's blue eyes. With these eyes she would feel the needed acceptance and would be able to see the world with "new blue eyes." Also, everyone including herself would be able to see her with "new eyes." However this all becomes superficial with the evidence discussed earlier that humans are essentially all the same. These social differences that are created are a social problem and not really a physical problem.