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Q&A

Ask the Scholars

Following the initial 2003 PBS broadcast of RACE—The Power of an Illusion, viewers had an opportunity to submit questions to a panel of scholars and experts. Click on a question to read their responses or sort the questions by episode.

Q&A
What role should race play in health research and medicine?
episode 1
Q&A
Is there a gene that controls for skin color?
episode 1
Q&A
Are there distinct traits or characteristics of each race?
episode 1
Q&A
Why do people who need organ and bone marrow transplants tend to match more with people of the same ethnic or racial background?
episode 1
Q&A
Is it true that people metabolize drugs at different rates and that this correlates with "racial" groupings?
episode 1
Q&A
Does the series suggest there are no genetic differences between populations?
episode 1
Q&A
Does mitochondrial DNA change over time?
episode 1
Q&A
When looking for genetic variation, does it make a difference to look at "coding" parts of the genome as opposed to "non-coding"?
episode 1
Q&A
How do forensics investigators determine a person's race from their DNA?
episode 1
Q&A
Are sickle cell and Tay-Sachs racial diseases?
episode 1
Q&A
How do you explain 98% genetic similarity but huge phenotypic variation?
episode 1
Q&A
How are subjects selected for drug studies by race?
episode 1
Q&A
Aren't Black people on the whole the best athletes in the world?
episode 1
Q&A
What can a person's DNA tell you about historical migrations and genetic ancestry?
episode 1
Q&A
How do you explain varying levels of success and achievement by race?
episode 1
Q&A
Aren't racial differences hard wired?
episode 1
Q&A
Has race always been with us?
episode 2
Q&A
How is racism different from prejudice?
episode 2
Q&A
Is there a distinction between race and racism?
episode 2
Q&A
Didn't the Founding Fathers oppose slavery?
episode 2
Q&A
Why are there different levels of advancement in varying countries by race?
episode 2
Q&A
Why were black people written about so negatively in biblical-era writings?
episode 2
Q&A
What role has the Bible played in the construction of racial inequalities?
episode 2
Q&A
How does the U.S. history of race and slavery compare to slavery in the rest of world history?
episode 2
Q&A
Why were only Africans enslaved?
episode 2
Q&A
Is the caste system in India racialized?
episode 2
Q&A
What is the origin of the word "race?"
episode 2
Q&A
Slavery is long over, how does race affect us today?
episode 2
Q&A
Why was a racist ideology so easy for white America to accept and internalize?
episode 2
Q&A
How do we dispel racist ideology?
episode 2
Q&A
Are people who are similar naturally drawn to one another?
episode 2
Q&A
How is racism distinct from ethnocentrism?
episode 2
Q&A
Are we ready for a "colorblind" society?
episode 3
Q&A
What is the difference between race and ethnicity?
episode 3
Q&A
If race isn't real, what about its effects?
episode 3
Q&A
When is it okay to base social policies on race?
episode 3
Q&A
Why do we have to pay for wrongs of the past?
episode 3
Q&A
What can individuals do to stop institutional racism?
episode 3
Q&A
How do you enlist support of white people in achieving racial equality?
episode 3
Q&A
Why not base affirmative action on socioeconomic status instead of race?
episode 3
Q&A
What does equity look like? (when will racism end?)
episode 3
Q&A
Why do recent immigrants do better than African Americans socioeconomically?
episode 3
Q&A
What policies might integrate the suburbs and remedy some of the inequities that stem from residential segregation?
episode 3
Q&A
Don't people's values influence their chances for success?
episode 3
Q&A
Are reparations for slavery appropriate?
episode 3
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Copyright 2018-2019, California Newsreel and Regents of the University of California. This website was jointly produced by California Newsreel, the Othering & Belonging Institute, the U.C. Berkeley Library, and the American Cultures Center at U.C. Berkeley, based on original material created by California Newsreel in 2003.