The racist “one drop rule” influencing science: it is time to stop teaching “race corrections” in medicine

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a key index of renal function. The classic method for assessing GFR is the clearance of inulin. Several current methods using isotopic (125I-iothalamate, 51Cr-EDTA, or 99Tc-DTPA) or nonisotopic (iohexol or iothalamate) markers are available. Clinically, GFR is estimated (eGFR) from serum creatinine or cystatin C levels. Estimated GFR based on creatinine and/or cystatin are less accurate than measured GFR. The creatinine-based equations calculate higher eGFR values (suggesting better kidney function) for black individuals. This upward adjustment for all black individuals is embedded in eGFR calculations on the belief of higher serum creatinine concentrations among black individuals than among white individuals. Thus “race-corrected” eGFR has become a widely accepted and scientifically valid procedure. However, race is not a genetic or biological category. Rather, race is a social construction defined by region-specific cultural and historical ideas. Furthermore, there is no accepted scientific method for classifying people as black or white individuals. Studies typically rely on self-identification of race. However, any person in the United States with any known black ancestry is considered to be a black individual. This is known as the “one-drop rule,” meaning that a single drop of “black blood” makes anyone a black individual. It does not matter if an individual has 50%, 25%, 5%, or 0.5% African ancestry. The limited accuracy and reliability of this approach would not be allowed for any other scientific variable. Admixture and migration have produced such broad variations that race categories should not be used as experimental variables.

Opressão racial internalizada: um estudo com negros brasileiros

A opressão racial internalizada refere-se a um processo de interiorização de estereótipos raciais negativos, por parte de pessoas negras, ocorrendo enquanto autoatribuição de uma posição inferior em uma suposta hierarquia racial. O objetivo do presente estudo foi traduzir ao Português Brasileiro a Internalized Racial Oppression Scale for Black individual (IROS), desenvolvida nos Estados Unidos, que avalia opressão racial internalizada. Também se pretende identificar a pertinência da temática no contexto brasileiro. O estudo ocorreu em duas etapas, em que a primeira foi a tradução propriamente dita e, a segunda, discussão com grupo focal. Os itens foram avaliados como sendo de fácil compreensão, necessitando poucas alterações e resultando em uma versão traduzida para o Português Brasileiro. A partir da discussão com o grupo focal foi possível identificar a pertinência da temática ao contexto brasileiro. Porém, existem especificidades a serem consideradas em estudos futuros para a adaptação e validação da escala.

The Summer Dream and the Collective Notion of Identity in Ed Bullins’s In the Wine Time

This article argues that Ed Bullins’s play In the Wine Time (1968) presents collective existential black consciousness. The play showcases a collective struggle against the oppressive reality through depicting a realistic image of the depressing life of the blacks in the black ghetto. This stems from the idea that Black existential philosophy and Black existential drama present a collective notion of existence rather than the individualistic notion of existence presented by traditional, European existentialism. Bullins builds this notion among his characters throughout the scenes of the play. To this end, the play characterizes a dialogue between the individualistic level of existence and the collective one through calling on for improving the oppressive reality through choice and opportunity. The collective struggle the play shows throughout the performance intends to free the black individual, as freeing the black individual is the first step toward achieving the collective freedom. Keywords: collective consciousness, black drama, black existentialism, Ed Bullins, In the Wine Time

Perceptions of Racial Slurs Used by Black Individuals Toward White Individuals: Derogation or Affiliation?

Research suggests that racial slurs may be “reclaimed” by the targeted group to convey affiliation rather than derogation. Although it is most common in intragroup uses (e.g., “nigga” by a Black individual toward another Black individual), intergroup examples of slur reappropriation (e.g., “nigga” by a Black individual toward a White individual) are also common. However, majority and minority group members’ perceptions of intergroup slur reappropriation remain untested. We examined White (Study 1) and Black (Study 2) individuals’ perceptions of the reappropriated terms, “nigga” and “nigger” compared with a control term chosen to be a non-race-related, neutral term (“buddy”), a nonracial derogative term (“asshole”) and a White racial slur (“cracker”) used by a Black individual toward a White individual. We found that the intergroup use of reappropriated slurs was perceived quite positively by both White and Black individuals. Our findings have important implications for research on intergroup relations and the reappropriation of slurs.

Community, Race, and Class

This chapter examines the period encompassing Huntington’s nascent physical development, increasing black migrant influx into the town and region, an emergent black residential population, and the developing contours of class stratification. It centers this study on the black individual and collective responses of Huntington’s first generation of black migrants and residents to two corresponding and overlapping developments: one attendant to the rise of the city as the region’s industrial, economic, social, and political hub; the other attendant to the larger historical forces of urbanization, industrialization, racism, and capitalism. It contends that in recognition of the formidable processes and forces arrayed against them, most black Huntingtonians during this era engaged in individual and communal efforts, grounded in cultural and historical commonalities, to better their lives economically.

The effect of subliminal self-affirmation on stereotype activation

The study investigated the effect of subliminal self-affirmation on the time course of stereotype activation. Participants received bogus negative feedback on an intelligence test, then during a practice lexical decision task (LDT), they were subliminally presented with words related to either a life domain they valued most or a life domain they valued least. Participants then viewed a video portraying either a Black or White person discussing campus life, and finally completed the final LDT, which gauged Black stereotype activation. It was predicted that self-threatened participants that were subliminally self-affirmed would show baseline activation of the Black stereotype in contrast to self-threatened participants that were not subliminally self-affirmed. The results of the study did not support this prediction. However, the study did replicate a past finding that showed that self-threat extends the time that the Black stereotype remains activated after exposure to a Black individual. Possible causes for the lack of effect of the subliminal self-affirmation manipulation and new questions raised by the study are discussed.