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A THREE-PART videotape documentary entitled Race: The Power of Illusion explores the genetic basis of race, its evolution, and how race still retains its influence in society today. With a powerful narrative by C.C.H. Pounder and interviews with scholars from Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and New York University, the series examines various myths about race and "how what we assume to be normal, common sense, even scientific, is actually shaped by our history, social institutions and cultural beliefs."
The first in the series, "The Difference Between Us," follows a group of racially diverse high school students to a workshop where they compare their own DNA. The students guess which classmates they believe will share similar genetic traits. White students assume they share similarities with other white classmates, while black students choose other black classmates. Much to...