Popular American presenter Bill Nye had an interesting presentation on why people across the world have different skin colors. Explaining the effect of the sun's ultraviolet rays using a world map, Bill created a TikTok video and this has been going viral on various social media platforms.
The presenter can be heard saying that we humans are all “one species” and have all originated from the African continent. He then brings out a world map made using a brown palette and says, “Our skin is where we make vitamin D. If you don’t get enough ultraviolet, then you don’t get enough vitamin D.”
Explaining why the skin tone of people living in different parts of the world varies, he says, “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. That’s why we have different color skin”.
This very basic explanation has been hailed by netizens as they are of the opinion that it tries to diminish the differences and helps create awareness at a time when internalized racism in every culture is being scrutinized and challenged following the death of George Floyd in the US.
A Twitter user posted the TikTok video that raked over 6.5 million views on the microblogging site.
bill nye just ended racism pic.twitter.com/P2y01erVoT— mari (@mxpxn) July 19, 2020
She wrote in the caption, “Bill Nye just ended racism”. While many people agreed, there were a lot of Twitter users who thought such basic understanding did not help with dealing with racism as it prevails today.
Look at the reactions here:
i love bill nye so much and I hope he never embarrasses me for loving his white behind— . (@fabulouslyfeb) July 19, 2020
It's very weird to me that some people are responding to this video as if it's the first time they ever heard this. Also weird that some people are like "Well, explain hair and facial features then!" as if it's so difficult to extrapolate that from what he's saying.— Dr. Butcher, M.D. Medical Deviate (@DrButcherMD2) July 19, 2020
This cap btw .. science already proved we not one species... white ppl have Neanderthal dna. hair and skin gene. because of mixing very few black ppl have Neanderthal dna. Black ppl are Homo sapiens ( classified as modern human ) .. Neanderthal weren’t classied as human ..— THE HEBREW (@KinggPacino) July 19, 2020
So how come white people haven’t been able to make brown and black babies, even though they live closer to the equator— Tylo (@TyloSol) July 19, 2020
Problems I see with this logic off the top of my head:Native Americans: not whiteAboriginal Australians: not whiteNative South Africans : not whiteAlso the argument itself is racist and promotes geographical segregation based on color— F Æ R-Az (@TheThinkingBird) July 19, 2020
If that's the only reason then south East Asians should've been black and Australian natives white— F Æ R-Az (@TheThinkingBird) July 19, 2020
This vitamin D theory is a common falsehood. It has been disproven. That everyone descends from the same original people however, is true.— Ed (@eko718) July 19, 2020
Earlier this month, Bill Nye Performs a Science Experiment to Show Why You Absolutely Should Be Wearing a Mask which too went viral.