Museum exhibit examines science of race

The Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House and African American Museum is hosting a traveling exhibit from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences entitled “Race: Are We So Different?”

Tyler Allen, lead program coordinator for the exhibit, said it’s a distilled version of an exhibit on the subject that appeared in the Raleigh museum in 2017.

“We just finished these banners in March, so this is the newest iteration of the exhibit,” Allen said after finishing installation in the Wilson museum’s main room.

The eight-panel presentation features text in English and Spanish.

“I am so glad to be a part of it,” said Bill Myers, museum founder. “I think it is very timely, and people need to come in here and see this exhibit.”

“Race: Are We So Different?” will be featured for the next six months.

“The purpose of this exhibit is to spark dialogue about race from a scientific context,” Allen said. “Of course, we are a science museum and a lot of times, we get questions. Why is talking about race being done in a science museum? We want to take an approach where we are looking at it from a scientific, anthropomorphic lens and look at it from a different capacity to spark dialogue.”

The exhibit examines people’s differences and similarities.

“Race has been used as a construct rather than a genetic or biological reality,” Allen said. “So this is kind of looking at how, through the years and through history, it has been used to promote racism.”

Panels examine how humanity can move forward with a better understanding about race.

“I feel like looking at it through a scientific lens takes out some of the emotional components and opinion-based things where it is more factual looking at things,” Allen said. “At the genetic level, humans are 99.99% the same, so biologically and genetically there is little variation.”

Myers said people need to look beyond race to move forward.

“When people know more about each other, the chances are that they are going to get along better, that race relations will improve, that progress will be made without a whole lot of tension,” Myers said. “You just take a person for who that person is and you get things done rather than looking around to figure out what color he is or what nationality he is or what gender he is. Just do it. That has been my philosophy of life.”

Myers said people’s ability to move beyond racial issues is a sign of progress.

“So many things that hinder progress are really there because of race. We have no control over that. I can’t control the fact that I came here brown,” Myers said. “Don’t make me because of my color. I have no control of that. I am going to be Black the rest of my life.”

Myers said people need to see others as unique individuals rather than members of a monolithic group.

“There are some good people and some bad people everywhere, but don’t judge people because of their color,” Myers said. “Let’s look at the person and what they can give to the community, what they can accomplish in the community, what kind of progress they can represent and things like that and get way, way past the idea of what color the person is.”

Myers, a career educator and traveling musician, has experienced racism.

“I am 91 years old and I can tell you hundreds and hundreds of stories about that,” he said. “Things that I was personally denied strictly because of my color. It had nothing at all to do with my character but strictly about my color. Things from being able to go vote, being able to borrow money, jobs, all that comes into play — not looking at who the person is and what they are about, but strictly because of what color they showed up in.”

Myers said it’s important that people come see the exhibit and realize how much folks have in common.

“We still got some ways to go, but we have come a long way,” Myers said. “No doubt about that.”

Located at 1202 Nash St. E., the Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House and African American Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

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