Bill Nye: Why Racism Doesn’t Make Sense
“This is a map of the continents of the earth showing how much ultraviolet light lands in each latitude. It turns out the closer you are to equator, more intense the ultraviolet. We use reds and purples. But then as you move away from the equator, we change the colors to orange yellow greens and grays.
Now here’s the same map of the same continents with just one color. And it turns out that everybody on earth is descended from people that live here in Africa. Then as groups of us moved around the world, the color of our skin had to change and here’s why.
Our skin is where we make vitamin D. If you don’t get enough ultraviolet you don’t get enough Vitamin D. But if you get too much ultraviolet then you break down your folates. You have to have it in perfect balance. And because the ultraviolet varies, the color of our skin varies.
And that’s it everybody! That’s why we have different colored skin.
But we’re all one species! But we’re not treating each other fairly. Not everybody’s getting an even shake.
So, it’s time to change things!”
– Bill Nye
Comments