Racism encoded in our DNA?

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With Obama being elected president, the talk of racism has been on the rise. I have seen many post on this website about how racism between both Whites and African Americans has been reported everywhere across the US and abroad. With that said, I have a theory of why racism may exist.

What I would like to present is theory based on nothing more than my ideas. I have no proof, back-up, scientific data for support; nothing. This is for discussion only and I would like some feedback on what some of you may think.

Have you ever noticed that ethnicities usually only have companionship with their likeness. I am a white male and although I have African American friends, only my white friends call me up to go have a beer or stop by and watch the game. I am guilty of this also. I almost never think to call a friend of mine other than my white friends. To be honest, it has never crossed my mind almost like it is taboo or there is a law preventing it. Could this be encoded in our DNA? Could it be the way we are raised from birth?

Let's look at the animal kingdom for instance. Why do wolves only pack with wolves and coyotes only pack with coyotes? What causes them to keep their distance and not mate? By nature they can reproduce so why wouldn't they? I believe there is something about our DNA that makes us by our know term, racist. I believe that racism is encoded in us and is meant to prevent us from breeding with unlike species. Could this part of our DNA cause all the hate we have for each other?

I would like to know what others may think about this. I am trying to figure out many things about life and creation and like many others, confused. There must be logical reasons why we kill each other and display so much hatred for each other when we are so alone in this world and only have each other to rely on.

I would imagine that once , xenophobia played a role in early mans survival . A healthy wariness upon encountering something new was advantageous ,be it in identifying a possibly poisonous plant, or even occasionally "different people" .... However , we are no longer "just" collections of blood relations, tribes or singular ethnicity's, we are, and will continue to be , more than just that.
Levels of social complexity among humans continues to multiply at an astonishing rate , ..... this interaction here on ATS, is a perfect example of social complexity in full effect .

Xenophobia was definitely a strong part of a culture. That kept integrity within a nation. Take Africa for example. There is extreme xenophobia within the blacks. Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, etc. Wars started when the white man conquered them. There used to be peace in Africa, as the tribes were separated by rivers, not by borders. Border is a modern man implementation.

Take Spain. Since Franco, foreigners were not allowed to move to Spain. If you visit Spain, you will find how the majority of the elderly are extremely short. It wasn't until recently where Spain opened their doors.

Xenophobia doesn't necessarily mean racism.

I definitely don't think it's genetic, as in a DNA code. We tend to migrate towards those who are more like us. It doesn't equal racism. When I was stationed in California I noticed that the Filipinos who were stationed there went out of their way to meet and hang out with other Filipinos. Three of my coworkers were Filipino, and every time one of their countrymen came in to the office they would go out of their way to introduce themselves and tell them where all the other Filipinos hung out after work. They wanted to enjoy their own culture and society in a foreign place. I would never have thought they were racist for this. When I was in DC I didn't know a lot of white people that were my age, either. I was a parent and so I hung out with a diverse group of parents my age. If there had been more whites I may have hung out with them if we had similar interests, but that was not the case, so I don't know. I think if I were racist I wouldn't hang out with anyone.

Racists have beliefs about certain races that are negative, feel like they are inferior or hold on to stereotypes about them. They often fear them. It may be a learned behavior from parents and grandparents, but I don't think its genetic. People who leave a home where there are racist family members are able to change their attitude after experiencing the world and learning more about other cultures. This makes me believe it is not genetic.

The definition of xenophobia is an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange. The definition of racism is the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Most foreigners are of a different race so can't we say that xenophobia is the same as racism? I see a lot of similarities between xenophobia and racism. Both terms describe fear in something that is different or foreign. So if xenophobia is a part of our nature, than racism must be too.

I saw a documentary (Jared Diamond ?) which stated that Africa had a large population of much lighter skinned people, but with some critical advantages from agriculture the darker skinned peoples of the Nigeria/Congo region migrated throughout Africa, eventually displacing peoples like the Kung ! bushmen.

It is ironic that we probably developed the use of those xenophobic tendencies at a time when we were all black or at least darker , wandering the Savannah butt naked !

I thank you for your approach....I appreciate your theory and ideas.

I understand why racism exist. Racism is born out of lack of knowledge. Ignorance. Without science, logic, and philosophy, most of our american ancestors degraded, and misrepresented everything they couldnt understand. It was once thought, the result of 'our' color is because of impurities. Science tells us, it takes approximately 50,000yrs for a human to adapt or "evolve" to a condition similiar to these presented. Studies also teach us about the strict laws tribes are custom to. They do not marry with in. Yet, before scientific proof was available people relied on these ignorant assumptions.

Racism exist only because of the lack of knowledge. If people understood why people have color or dont, why people have different physical traits, and what drives us to make some of the decisions we do, we would live in harmony.
All native and tribalectic people believe in a 'wholeness' that is represented in culture and philosophy and in brotherhood with all things living. The colonia, the Imperial, or the "nationalized" people had a very insolent, less meaningful value assigned to life, as history tells us. They gave birth to a chain of command,food-chain illusion.
As far as the animal kingdom goes, reresearch that subject. I have seen monkeys and birds play with each other, cats and dogs, tons of other combinations. Of course animals roll with their kind, but to achieve the success of a greater task the animal kingdom will work with each other.
Racism continues to exist because we refuse to let go of those assumptions and theories. Noone wants to be the bigger person. Sure your A-American friends never call you but does that stop you from calling them to let them know that you guys are on that level?
I can not believe that humans possess a natural fear of anykind. All things that are apart of nature, once had to find soil, and grow to become apart of it. So I partially retract that, it is in our nature, but it isnt in our nature 'naturally'.
Racism is definately one of those things. For centuries we have been believing other peoples ideas rather than 'the idea' or 'the fact'. We have been taught 'the idea' that existence and life itself is modeled in a linear fashion. That is completly absurd. 'The fact' is natives once said life existence and life and inhabitants are as a circle. A circle is equal on all sides, top and bottom, within and out.
learn more and kill racism with elightenment.
nice post raven.
Peace and Love

Well said Akin. There are so many things of this world I have to learn and understand. As I walk around, I see "groups" of everything. I see a pack of dogs, then I see a flock of birds. When I go to the mall, I see a crowd of white people, then a crowd of Hispanic people. So you see, this is where my theory originated. I feel like we only tolerate each other and at any moment, under the right circustance, we could turn on each other. I do understand that we all once came from the same place. So it does make since that it should not be encoded for us to have these tendencies. And ingnorance is all to much an excuse for events happening around us.

I was born into a family where I was taught to love all, no matter their skin color, origin, etc. I always have had friends of different ethnicities, yet I find myself pairing with my own kind, without even thinking about it. This is why I wonder if there is something more to it than just ignorance.