We are different, yet one humanity

Neuroscience and psychology suggest that racism is learned, but it can also be unlearned...

Fotos Gessen & Gessen

The origin of racism: A construction we can undo

In the earliest days of humanity, when a nomadic tribe entered the territory of another, tensions often arose. Land, food, water, and shelter were scarce, and the presence of unfamiliar groups could pose a direct threat to survival. Thus, fear of the "other" —those who didn’t share the same language, customs, or familiar faces— was not irrational prejudice but an instinctive survival mechanism in a hostile world. This ancient reflex evolved into distrust as a protective strategy. Over time, however, what was once a biologically adaptive reaction became a cultural and psychological burden: prejudice, exclusion, and eventually ideology.

No one is born racist. Racism is not an innate trait of the human species; it is a social, cultural, and historical construct, learned, transmitted, and reinforced across generations. Evolutionary psychology tells us that as a social species, humans tend to group based on kinship, familiarity, shared language or territory. This instinct to form tribes, vital for prehistoric survival, also meant distinguishing between "us" and "them."

Yet originally, that distinction did not imply hate or superiority. It was power structures throughout history that transformed difference into inequality. Physical traits such as skin color, hair texture or facial features —and cultural ones like religion, language, or clothing— were used to justify domination. It wasn't science that declared some superior and others inferior, but rather the political and economic agendas of empires, colonizers, slave traders, and authoritarian regimes.

Racism as we know it solidified into a system that granted privileges to some while denying rights to others, using pseudoscientific rationales to legitimize exploitation, genocide, slavery, and exclusion. Thus was born structural racism: not just an opinion, but a deeply embedded mechanism in laws, institutions, discourse, and tradition.

But if racism was constructed, it can also be dismantled. And in truth, this process has already begun. The ethical and psychological awareness of our time, bolstered by human rights movements, modern science, and intercultural dialogue, now allows us to understand that human diversity is not a threat, but a treasure.

And understanding that isn't just possible… it is urgent. Humanity's true progress will not be measured by its technological power, but by its capacity to recognize itself in others, regardless of origin.

A brief history of racism: From pain to collective awakening

From the earliest civilizations, discrimination based on ethnic origin has been a tool of domination. In pharaonic Egypt and imperial Rome, conquered peoples were enslaved regardless of race. But with European colonial expansion from the 15th to 19th centuries, the idea of "race" began to take on hierarchical, political, and moral meaning.

The transatlantic slave trade, driven by colonial powers such as Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, and the Netherlands, transformed over 12 million Africans into human commodities. Historians like David Eltis (The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas) and Marcus Rediker (The Slave Ship: A Human History, 2007) have documented how this system dehumanized entire peoples to the point of justifying slavery as a "natural order."

At the same time, indigenous populations in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania were decimated, displaced, or marginalized. Colonization brought not only physical violence but also epistemicide: the destruction of native knowledge and culture. As sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos wrote, "Colonization was not only territorial, it was also of the mind" (Epistemologies of the South, 2014).

In the 19th century, racism gained renewed legitimacy under the guise of "science." Social Darwinism (Herbert Spencer) and pseudoscientific racial theories (Arthur de Gobineau, Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races, 1853) classified humanity into superior and inferior races. Phrenology —the now-discredited claim that skull shape reveals personality and intelligence— and anthropometry, which measured human features to define supposed racial hierarchies, further entrenched harmful ideologies. Criminologist Cesare Lombroso used such measurements to link criminality to race. These theories seeped into law, education, and institutional frameworks worldwide.

The 20th century saw the catastrophic consequences of institutionalized racism. Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime in Germany, driven by notions of racial purity and antisemitism, orchestrated the Holocaust: the systematic murder of six million Jews, as well as Roma people, people with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, and political dissidents. Historian Raul Hilberg (The Destruction of the European Jews, 1961) and the Nuremberg Trials documented this genocide and established the basis for international law on crimes against humanity. But from this darkness, a new consciousness began to emerge.

Humanity awakens: Human rights, diversity, and dignity

In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations, proclaimed: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." In the decades that followed, segregation systems like apartheid in South Africa (formally abolished in 1994) collapsed. Civil rights movements gained ground, led by figures like Martin Luther King Jr., who reminded us: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

In South Africa, the resistance against the apartheid system —formally established in 1948 and abolished in 1994— had in Nelson Mandela a global symbol. He spent 27 years in prison before becoming the country’s first Black president and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

In Latin America, leaders like Rigoberta Menchú (Nobel Peace Prize, 1992) brought global attention to the historical oppression of Indigenous peoples, demanding recognition and respect. In Europe, after centuries of ethnocentrism, diversity began to be reflected in public policy, though inequalities persist. In Asia, India abolished the caste system in its constitution, though social remnants remain.

Although racism persists —often disguised as structural indifference or systemic inequality— the voices denouncing it are now stronger, more diverse, and more connected than ever.

Psychologists Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony Greenwald, in Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People (2013), reveal how even well-intentioned individuals harbor unconscious biases. Yet the 21st century has also brought tools for transformation: universal education, open access to information, social media, and even artificial intelligence have empowered millions to share their stories, denounce racism, and celebrate diversity.

Rather than threatening identities, cultural globalization is creating hybrid, multilingual, multicultural societies where racial boundaries are losing ground.

According to philosopher Martha Nussbaum (Creating Capabilities, 2011), a truly inclusive global citizenship requires not just legal protections but also empathy and emotional education. UNESCO’s research (Global Education Monitoring Report, 2020) confirms that diversity education is a powerful antidote to structural racism.

Today, millions of people live, study, marry, and dream together across once-imposed racial lines. The journey is not free of setbacks or new forms of exclusion, but the direction is clear: the world no longer passively tolerates racial discrimination. Each act of resistance, each policy of reparation, and each gesture of human recognition strengthens our shared moral consciousness: human dignity has no color.

Enduring causes persist, but transformative forces are emerging

Racism has not disappeared… it has evolved. Today, it often manifests in subtle ways: hidden discrimination, daily microaggressions, school or residential segregation, or unconscious biases influencing decisions in workplaces, courtrooms, and healthcare systems. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI Report, 2022) has noted that even in well-established democracies, racialized populations face systematic disadvantages in accessing justice, housing, and health services.

Contemporary social psychology, however, has shown that prejudice is not inevitable. Theorists like Gordon Allport, in his classic work The Nature of Prejudice (1954), established that positive intergroup contact —respectful interaction between people of different backgrounds— can significantly reduce prejudice, especially under conditions of equality and cooperation. Decades later, this principle was confirmed by large-scale meta-analyses (Pettigrew & Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup Contact Theory, 2006).

From neuroscience, studies by Elizabeth Phelps and Mahzarin R. Banaji have revealed that the human brain can alter its automatic emotional responses to different groups. The amygdala, associated with fear and alertness toward the unfamiliar, can reduce its reaction through progressive exposure, emotional learning, and empathy (Phelps et al., The Regulation of Emotional Responses to Racism, Nature Neuroscience, 2000). In other words, prejudice is not a biological destiny, but a learned pattern that can be unlearned and reshaped.

New generations are leading this change. In schools, online spaces, and workplaces, they live in contact with diversity and are more aware of exclusionary narratives. Studies like those from the Pew Research Center (2021) show that 21st-century youth are more attuned to racial justice, more critical of power structures, and more likely to demand authentic representation in media, science, and politics.

The rise of diverse leadership, the expansion of multicultural media content, and the consolidation of global campaigns against institutional racism indicate a deep generational shift. Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins calls it a "shift in the epistemic center," where previously silenced voices are beginning to redefine frameworks of knowledge, power, and citizenship (Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory, 2019).

Philosophically and humanely, all of this points to an essential truth: racism is rooted in fear but can collapse under the weight of knowledge, compassion, and collective will. As psychologist Steven Pinker concluded, "the expansion of moral circles has been one of the most hopeful achievements of civilization" (The Better Angels of Our Nature, 2011). In this process, the human brain is not a barrier but a promise: it can learn to love what it once feared.

Looking ahead: A multiracial, pluricultural world

We affirm —with professional, ethical, and human conviction— that humanity is progressing. Slowly, unevenly, sometimes with setbacks, but moving forward nonetheless. We are leaving behind racial prejudices and opening ourselves to a deeper understanding of our shared humanity. And the most inspiring part is not just that we are moving toward tolerance, but that we are beginning to celebrate diversity as a strength rather than a problem.

Human history is marked by mestizaje and cultural blending. From ancient empires like Persia, Rome, and the Ottoman Empire that integrated diverse peoples, to modern migrations shaping cities like New York, London, and São Paulo —or countries like Australia and Canada— cultural exchange has always been a constant (Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Epistemologies of the South, 2014). Yet never before have we had such a real opportunity to build a global consciousness where plurality is seen not as a conflict, but as potential.

The Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, revealed that any two humans share 99.9% of their genetic material, completely discrediting the idea of biological "races" (Collins et al., Science, 2003). Since then, international bodies have insisted that race is not a scientific fact, but a social construct (UNESCO, Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice, 1978).

In this context, we envision a world where the word "human" precedes the word "race" and where racial labels are unnecessary for classification but simply recognize the richness of our shared species. A world where mestizaje is not the exception, but the norm; where identity is not tied solely to the past, but built in the present through real, daily, and humane connections.

Today, a white boy and an Afro-descendant girl can learn together in the same classroom, share stories, ideas, and dreams. A couple formed by an Asian immigrant and a European woman can raise children fluent in multiple languages, navigating comfortably between cultures. An Indigenous community can —and should— be recognized not only for its past but as a guardian of essential knowledge for the future, from natural medicine to ecological sustainability (Escobar, Sentipensar con la Tierra, 2014).

As Kwame Anthony Appiah states, human identity in the 21st century is a narrative in motion, a constant blend of heritage, choices, and relationships (The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity, 2018). If we choose to build it with emotional intelligence and social justice, the future will be multiracial, pluricultural, interconnected, and conscious.

What was once separation is now a chance for encounter. What once inspired fear can now become curiosity, respect, and love. And what was once used to divide us may now help us weave a shared story: one of a single humanity learning, step by step, to recognize itself in its diversity.

Sowing hope, building integration

Every gesture matters. Every act of respect —however small— is a seed against indifference. An inclusive word, an unbiased gaze, a law that protects all equally, a story that honors the dignity of those once marginalized, even an article of reflection like this one, contributes to weaving the future we long for. As Hannah Arendt affirmed: "Power arises when people act together" (The Human Condition, 1958). And that power, ethically expressed, appears in the daily construction of more just coexistence.

Believing in a world without discrimination is not naïve. It does not mean ignoring history but looking it in the eye and choosing to transform it. We know where we come from, centuries of slavery, colonization, ethnic extermination, and imposed hierarchies under the guise of false superiority. But we also know that history is not a life sentence: it is a living subject that each generation can rewrite. As Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, moral architect of South African reconciliation, reminded us: "Forgiveness does not change the past, but it enlarges the future."

From humanistic psychology, pioneers like Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow taught that every human being has the capacity to grow toward understanding, empathy, and self-actualization when offered the right conditions (On Becoming a Person, 1961; Motivation and Personality, 1954). Today, education and social neuroscience reinforce this view: empathy can be learned, prejudice can be unlearned, and societies can be transformed through classrooms, legislation, art, and daily interaction (Decety et al., The Social Neuroscience of Empathy, 2009).

The Durban Declaration (UN, 2001), from the World Conference Against Racism, affirmed that human diversity is not a problem to solve, but a treasure to protect. That message is more urgent now than ever. In an interconnected world, integration must not be granted as a favor but recognized as a right.

The future we envision is multiracial, plural, compassionate, and deeply human. It will not be built by decree, but through collective action and everyday ethics. It is in our hands: in how we educate children, write laws, tell history, and choose to live together.

A shared destiny: One humanity

There is no simple road to overcoming racism. It is a long journey, filled with contradictions, marked by historical wounds and persistent resistance. But it is also a possible journey. And most importantly: it is a necessary one.

What we have walked as a species —from slavery to human rights, from prejudice to global awareness, from fearing diversity to celebrating it— has taught us that change does not come solely from above or from laws. It must also emerge from below: from us, from our words, our choices, our lives.

Science has dismantled the notion of race as a biological category. History has dismantled the myth of supremacy as a civilizational truth. Ethics and psychology have shown us that empathy can be taught, respect can be cultivated, and the future can be imagined differently. Today, more than ever, we know that diversity does not weaken us; it strengthens us as individuals, as communities, and as nations.

That is why we made a commitment —decades ago— to work, in our measure, toward the integration of humanity. As professionals, as citizens, as human beings, we believe that unity, respect, and justice are not utopias but achievable horizons. That a world free of discrimination is not only desirable, but also possible, if each generation sows awareness and cultivates compassion.

Step by step, word by word, law by law, and gaze by gaze, we can build —in this century of extraordinary scientific and technological progress— a civilization not defined by the borders it drew, but by the bridges it dared to build.

Because ultimately, no one is born with hatred in their heart. No child enters the world seeing enemies in different faces, scorning an unfamiliar tongue, or rejecting a skin that is not theirs. Hatred is learned, yes—but for that very reason, love can be taught.

We say this with the certainty that life, psychology, journalism, and thousands of stories have given us: racism, contempt, and exclusion are not inscribed in our genes. They are transmitted as a broken legacy, but not an irreversible one.

And if past generations planted fear of the other, then we can choose to plant something different. We can teach others to look with respect, listen with empathy, live with kindness, and celebrate difference as a gift, not a threat.

We deeply believe that the human heart is made for connection, not separation. That the human conscience, once freed from prejudice, beats in rhythm with compassion.

That is why we choose to contribute—through our words and our actions—to the truth that love is not only possible: it is the greatest lesson of all.

This is our most noble destiny: to be one humanity, diverse, free, and reconciled with itself. If this resonates in your conscience, walk with us…

If you wish to explore this topic further, contact us, or simply share your thoughts, we welcome your voice at psicologosgessen@hotmail.com... May the Divine Providence of the Universe accompany us all.

María Mercedes and Vladimir Gessen, Psychologists

Authors of What or Who Is the Universe?