Will We Ever Be Rid of It

Certainly any hope of dispelling racism requires the spread of knowledge to correct misinformation. History has shown, however, that knowledge is not enough. Knowledge about the biology of human variability has accumulated dramatically during the past several decades, on a rising curve. Yet we have little reason to believe that racism and the misinformation associated with it have diminished in the same proportion. If anything, it appears that assumptions about the reality of “race” have dodged evidence and adapted themselves to contradictory information, persisting in a changing environment. Even physicians and other health professionals habitually classify patients according to “race” in medical records, despite the genetic complexities we discussed in Chapter 2.