Race is one way humans classify one another. Race may be based on ancestry, skin color, hair type, or other physical or non-physical features. Yet, views of how humans are classified can differ person-to-person and even country-to-country. Scientists and modern geneticists have begun to find that humans of different "races" may have more in common with one another than they do with humans within the same "race." At the same time, many people look at the racial disparities in education, wealth, and health in the U.S. and conclude that there must be a biological, natural reason why Black Americans and Latinos are less-educated, poorer, or more affected by COVID-19 than White Americans. The debate of "what race is" has important - and perhaps dangerous - implications across society and between individuals.
Race is a biological reality
Humans are different from each other - physically, culturally, linguistically, psychologically. Proponents of race as a biological reality view such differences as anchored in genetic differences at a group level. Black people, white people, Jewish people, etc have certain key characteristic that make them unique and different from others.
People are identified by physiological features which categorize them into races
Outward appearance and ancestry - which are biological and unchangeable - define a person's race.
Race is self-identified, self-determined, and subject to change
Race is a part of one's identity that only the individual has the full potential to discover, expand, and determine. As people transition through different phases of life, understand aspects of their culture, and develop new meanings of race, they can also identify their race differently.
