Racial Alchemy

Since the 2005 discovery that the SLC24A5 gene variant plays a sizable role in human skin pigmentation, scientists have become increasingly intrigued by the possibility of genetically manipulating skin color. Curiously, however, this research is going on with little mention of the dreaded “R” word: race.

A recent New Scientist article, for example, expends almost 3,000 words on the ins and outs of skin color’s genetic basis and apparent malleability without once mentioning race. The author eagerly notes, however, that “our skin color might one day become almost as easy to change as hair color is today, freeing us from the constraints of our genes [and] mak[ing] life far harder for those who still insist on judging people on the basis of a handful of gene variants.” Nina Jablonski’s 2006 book Skin: A Natural History devotes nearly 300 pages to understanding skin’s social, cultural, and biological significance without seriously engaging race’s long and tortured history; only two references to race appear in its index.

It is not uncommon for scientists to underestimate race’s relevance to their work. Stanford geneticist Gregory...