Article claiming milk is racist...kind of gets a bit racist

The Daily 49er, a college paper

so this article highlights one new symbol of white racism in America: milk. now that premise is somewhat laughable but it's whatever, the really interesting part to me is the racist undertone of the explanation itself

quote:

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Our current federal dietary guidelines urge people to drink three cups of milk a day, according to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The main health benefit of milk is to guard against osteoporosis, a disease that weakens your bones — hence the “stronger bones” rhetoric. While this is a very practical health benefit, osteoporosis affects Africans at a significantly lower rate than it does most Americans, according to an article on Mother Jones.

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quote:

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The Mother Jones article states that not only is milk non-beneficial to Africans, but following the guidelines may actually be detrimental to their health. There is a strong correlation to calcium consumption and an increased risk of prostate cancer, unproportionally affecting African men. Furthermore, both black children and adults generally secrete less calcium on a daily basis than white people, making them less dependent upon milk.

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quote:

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Remember that this is the dietary guidelines for Americans. I want to emphasize that last word. These guidelines are for Americans. This means they should reflect the health needs of the ethnicities that make up America which, news flash, isn’t just white people. And since the African American community in the U.S. is continuously rising, it seems only logical to acknowledge that while something may be beneficial for one group of people, that may not be the case for another.

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we need one of those sweaty decision memes

on one hand, race is a social construct not based in science. on the other hand, milk allegedly affects different racial groups differently showing racist policies in action. this article teeters on the very precipitous line of argument that literally leads to racism, as its justification for displaying racism. now i'm obviously not claiming that the differences in effects of milk on different racial groups shows the superiority of one race or another (in this instance it actually works against white racists, ironically), but these biological distinctions based on race are exactly the types of arguments used by white racists to demonize minorities