Today I read an article in the New York times describing the necessity to remove the American tradition of listing people as belonging to a “race”. Is race a genetic entity or a social structure?

Being a medical scientist, I am often exposed to research that is discussing medical findings related to the “race” which is denominated ”African American”. From a European perspective this is an incomprehensible term. What is “African American”? A term defining a person with dark skin living in America I presume? Looking for a definition, it seems that it is more a political or social term rather than something that is defined by genetic background. Well, perhaps partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry is required, which includes being a descendant from the slavery era, but also immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations are included in the definition. Thus, clearly the term “African American” is by definition involving a diverse group of people with fundamentally different genetic background. And from that perspective, individuals belonging to this “group” has very little genetically in common.

Therefore, I was so happy to see this article, because maybe it is time to start removing the conceptual thinking away from “race”, and start thinking about the “individual” as a unique entity where “race” is unimportant. The example of Ian Winchester, the partly Ghanian, partly Scottish, partly Norwegian mentioned in the article, illustrates very well that family history and cultural background is more important than “race”.

Medical research reporting differences in health outcomes in “African Americans” and “Whites” often imply differences in genetic background as explanations of different findings. That could of course be correct in some instances, but I would argue that differences in the social situation, health-related behaviour and health care utilisation, including health insurance access, are of much greater overall importance than small differences in genes and gene expression.

comments from NY times readers, most agreeing that race should become unimportant: http://nyti.ms/e6tE6k