By: Julia Michaelson
It only took one gene for 245 years of racism.
Hershey High School’s Biology Club held a session on April 29th, 2016 during the first ever Community Day about the myth of race and the biology of skin pigment. Eric Barber, HHS biology teacher, talked to both sophomores and freshmen during the first session in room D206.
Every person around the world has a different set of gene sequencing creating variation in facial structure, height, skin color, and more. If you live closer to the equator your skin color is darker compared to someone who lives in the north. Darker skin is protected by the sun. The sun destroys folic in people’s skin.
Women with a lack of folic have children with birth defects. People noticed they were birthing unhealthy children, so those people decided to move north.
People with darker skin started having children who were lighter. This was caused by a point mutation.
A point mutation is when there is one letter difference in a person’s gene sequencing. Hundreds of years later one scientist, Carl Linnaeus, decided to go around the world and group people by skin color.
Linnaeus was the scientist known for dividing both plants and animals into different classified groups. Linnaeus did not realize it at the time, but this classification system indirectly lead to 245 years of slavery.
“It’s unbelievable that people were sold off of one tiny point mutation…looking back at people with lighter skin are the mutation,” said Barber.
Topics like this and more are talked about at Barbers’ Biology Club. “I typically talk about this topic in my biology 1 classes, but I thought it’d be interesting to give this presentation today,” said Barber.
HHS Sophomore Myla Cramer attended Barbers’ session. Before the presentation began she said “I didn’t choose to go to this session, so I’m not really sure how this is going to go.” As the presentation went on Cramer said she was getting more into it and started talking more and more.
“I’m so much more interested in this topic…I find it so fascinating now,” said Cramer
Keith Cheng, Pathologist at Hershey Medical Center, came to the second session. Cheng came to guest speak about how he found the point mutation in people.
Cheng has been curious about this topic. He first noticed color change in fish. There were the same fish and he noticed how there was just one slight difference.
After years of research he figured out the skin mutation. This discovery came out the same day as another huge science discovery. People don’t know enough about skin pigments because the Panda Trial caused more attention compared to his research.
“I want the media to reveal this…so much racial discrepancy has come from one minor mutation,” said Cheng.
Barber and Cheng met in 2008 at a national science education convention. They both bonded over wanting to educate students on this topic.
“I want you(students at prevention) to take away information that you can use to spread racial awareness of what is actual happening,” said Barber.
