John Cougill is leading a fight that has spanned 10 years and cost him more than $100,000.
Cougill is fighting to level the ethnic playing field.
The fight began in 1992 after Cougill, a Eugene resident and graduate of the University, refused to conduct what he calls “race research” at the National Opinion Research Center. Cougill objected to the research because he disagreed with using “race” as a classification, and he was later fired.
But being jobless didn’t change the use of the
word “race.”
So Cougill founded the Committee to Remove “race” From Our Laws, and enlisted the aid of Eugene lawyer and former U.S. Rep. Charles O. Porter to draft The National Reconciliation Act, a bill that would replace hundreds of references to “race” in federal laws with words like “ethnic group” or “ethnicities.” The bill was written by Rodney P. Mock, an employee at the private practice Porter owns.
The former student’s goal is to push his idea into Congress and make things change all across America.
The bill would cut off federal funding to research using race as a method of putting people into groups. It would also provide participating states with school grants to teach about ethnic equality. Cougill submitted the bill to congressional leaders Oct. 7.
The act, which is not intended to affect people’s civil rights, contends the word “race” in laws doesn’t serve any positive legal, scientific, social or political purpose. Instead, his bill intends to recognize people as human beings as equals — not superior or inferior races.”
The idea is to get the government to stop classifying people under something that doesn’t exist,” Cougill said. “Race is just like communism or Nazism: It hurts people.”
University sociology Professor Michael Dreiling said the concept of race has a “two-pronged reality.”
“On one hand, (race) was socially constructed from the European empire to account for and control human differences,” he said. “In that sense, race has no biological grounding and is a myth.
“However, race is very powerful because people organized their lives and perceptions of differences through that concept and belief of race.”
The American Anthropological Association published research concluding the current notion of race originated from a European classification system sometime after Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas.
The system, which linked skin color to perceived behaviors, served as a racial hierarchy for hundreds of years and was a result of the discovery of new people during worldwide exploration at the time.
Using this system, European taxonomists in the 18th century described themselves as “white, sanguine, muscular, gentle, acute and inventive,” while the African race was described as “relaxed, indolent and negligent.”
Later in the 18th century, European anthropologists attempted to remove the behavioral aspects of race but still used physical characteristics like skin color and skull measurements to create systems of racial classifications.
Today, as anthropological research suggests, the study of genetics has debunked the idea of race, even though the term is still widely used.
Although Cougill hasn’t heard back from the members of Congress who received a copy of the bill, he has not given up hope.
We’re “looking for the leverage to try and get this bill passed,” he said.
In the meantime, Cougill said he will continue to run his nonprofit corporation and fight for equality in the law.
Porter said he also hopes the bill will be successful in Congress.
“All the experts say race is a meaningless word, (and) reasonable people can’t agree on what the hell it means,” Porter said. “I’m convinced that people are people — and they should be treated as such.”