The term “race” usually refers to a particular
group of people who have some visible physical traits, such as skin color, hair
texture, facial features, or eye formation in common.
The truth is that no one really knows for how
long the different races have been evolving independently, but it is generally
believed by the scientific community that it would be necessary to go back a
million years or more to find an ancestor common to all races.
Recent events in America (2014 & 2015),
strongly suggest that those few who recognize the fundamental problems with
race relations our nation currently faces, almost live in an intellectual vacuum.
This is because most citizens throughout the United States do not seem to identify
its most dangerous internal enemy: Racial and Cultural
Discontent. It’s apparent
that if the public addresses this subject at all, it is to celebrate them as
signs of a new and better America.
At no point, from the first basic attempts at
classifying human populations in the 17,th 18,th or 19,th centuries and into the 21st
century have scientists agreed on a specific number of races of humankind; nor the
features that should be used in the identification of races, or the meaning of
the term “race” itself. Experts have
suggested an array of different races varying from as little as 3 to more than
60; each based on what they have considered distinctive differences in physical
characteristics alone (comprising hair type, head
shape, skin color, height, eye shape and so on).
One of the more popular divisions recognizes 3
major races, namely Caucasian / White, Asian / Mongoloid — (including Native Americans), and Black / Negroid;
however there is no universally accepted classification for “race”; consequently
use of the term “race” has been under fire for the last few decades.
The
truth is, all men, of whatever race are classified by anthropologist as
belonging to
a single species: Homo
sapiens. So the differences between members
of the various human races are not great, even though they do not appear to be,
nor do they act like members of the same species. Regardless, it’s safe to say that “modern
humans” have to date performed poorly, especially when considering interacting
with each other.
In the prehistoric past, different races, and
sub-races, probably avoided cross-breeding and behaved as if they were
different a species. This concept is based upon the simple fact that “in nature”,
animals that are no more different from each other than are northern Europeans
and southern Europeans never breed with each other. You might argue that the
Mule is an obvious exception, but if not for domestication by human-kind, horses
would not mate with donkeys.
You might be somewhat surprised to learn that
skin color is the least important way in which the races differ! Actually, races
vary in skin color because of different levels of melanin (also called pigment)
production. Each race has approximately the same number of melanin-making
cells, but they differ in how productive the cells are.
Yep, melanin
is the substance that gives the hair, skin, and the iris of the eyes their
natural color (it also gives color to, feathers,
and scales). In humans, those
with darker skin have higher amounts of melanin. By contrast, those with less
pigment / melanin
Color does have one biological effect tough: 3.5
times as much ultraviolet light from the sun passes through the skin of Whites
as that of Blacks. Simply put, Lighter skin is typical to those who evolved in
the northern regions while darker skin, which protects against the sun’s heat, developed
in parts of Africa.
Another noticeable difference in appearance
especially in many East African peoples include elongated limbs and bodies that
dissipate heat more freely.
As for Asians, who evolved in a much cooler
northern climate; their bodies are typically of a smaller structure; they usually
have thick, dark hair, with an eye fold that gives them their classic almond-shaped
eyes — this characteristic is thought to have evolved so as to diminish glare
from snow and ice not uncommon to the region.
Further, the virtual absence of
facial hair on an Asian’s face indicates that back in the day when it mattered,
condensation from a man’s breath would not freeze on his beard and therefore chill
his face. And no, Asians are not really
yellow! See:
Not all racial differences are not so easily
explained. For example, for reasons
unknown, all races do not smell alike. Blacks and Whites have strong, but
differing smells, while many Asians have scarcely any smell at all. Koreans seldom
have odor-producing glands in their arm-pits and Japanese have only a few. Little wonder that when the 19th century
Japanese encountered Europeans they found them rank smelling.
It’s a little known fact that Blacks /
Africans produce identical twins twice as frequently as Whites / Europeans —
who in turn have identical twins twice as frequently as Asians. And too, Blacks
have shorter gestation periods than Whites or Asians. ‘Know what you’re
thinking, but shorter gestation seems to be a characteristic of blacks that is
independent of social status or access to medicine.
Alcoholism
appears to strike the races at different rates. Asians (and American Indians to whom they are related) react more adversely
than whites do to alcohol. More Asians than whites show an allergic reaction to
alcohol and therefore may not drink as much and many American Indians seem to
have a biological predisposition to alcoholism. Hence, the old western movie cliché
suggesting Indians are more susceptible to intoxication than Cowboys.
Curiously, Asians are twice as likely as Whites or Blacks to suffer from motion sickness.
Curiously, Asians are twice as likely as Whites or Blacks to suffer from motion sickness.
Blacks are twice as likely as Whites to develop
hypertension or high blood pressure.
One cause for high blood pressure among Blacks may be their relative
inability to secrete sodium, so a salty diet would be more hazardous for Blacks
than for Whites or Asians.
It has long been known that blood
transfusions and organ transplants work best between people of the same race. In
fact, until World War II, stocks of blood were routinely segregated by race.
Classification by race was terminated when it was determined to be “politically
incorrect,” however blood banks are beginning to re-institute segregation for obvious
medical advantages.
Long the subject of coarse speculation; male
members of the races do appear to differ in the size of their sex organs. The
best data seems to have been gathered in a 1979 study that actually took
measurements and found that popular myths are correct: male Blacks are better
endowed than Whites and Whites are better endowed than Asians. On a somewhat related note, Whites are
estimated to produce twice the number of spermatozoa per day as Asians do.
Many attempts have tried to discredit the
evidence established in a 1984 study which allegedly established the intelligence
levels of the three primary races. It
reported the results of a survey of 20,000 human skulls showing that the
average size of the brain case in a typical Asian is 1380 Cubic centimeters (cc);
in Whites its 1362 cc; and in Blacks its 1276 cc. Perhaps nothing denounces
this flawed theory more than a 1989 study which determined that brain size in
humans have only a 0.3% positive correlation with intelligence.
In years past it was once universally
accepted that races differ in intelligence, and too, the study of physical
differences was once entirely respectable. Some 19th century biologists,
though, hoped to find justifications for slavery, so can you believe it, not
all were good scientists. Today
(2015) the best evidence suggests that races differ significantly only in such
things as maturation rate, bone density, susceptibility to disease, and perhaps
personality.
The bottom line is that any two humans; red,
black, white, etc. are nearly 99.9% identical in terms of their DNA
sequences. On the other hand, during
the past several years, a new type of genetic variation has been studied
extensively in humans called “Copy Number Variants” (CNVs), which
are DNA sequences representing another important class of genetic variation and
contributes a whopping additional 0.1% difference, on average, between
individuals; so make that 99.8% identical.
If you are among the few who will admit there
are still racial problem in America, you might consider reading the 1996 novel
by Carl T Rowan: “The Coming Race War in America: A Wake Up Call” therein he warns that unless we act
now, this country (USA) will by the end of the millennium have the same level
of bloody racial strife that mired South Africa at the height of apartheid. In
his chapter titled “How to Prevent
Armageddon”, Rowan recommends a massive federally enforced disarmament
program, speedy prosecution of racist cops, and early and massive interventions
into the lives of underclass children— he suggests paying for this massive
undertaking with the money now being earmarked for new prisons.
Before you simply dismiss Rowan’s viewpoint,
you might first have a look-see at a few of his credentials: In 1961, Rowan was
appointed Deputy Secretary
of State by President John F. Kennedy.
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The
following year, he served as a delegate to the United Nations during the Cuban
Missile Crisis. Rowan was appointed as
the U.S. Ambassador to Finland in 1963.
In 1964, Rowan was appointed director of the United States Information
Agency (USIA) by then President Lyndon B. Johnson. In serving as director of
the USIA, Rowan held a seat on the National Security Council.
Carl Rowan was a fair minded individual whose
advice was persuasive and well-balanced – in other words he always came across
as the voice of reason; in the very least he was a well-known and highly
decorated journalist. His columns were published in more than one hundred
newspapers throughout the United States. His name appeared on former President
Nixon’s “political opponent’s master list”, now regarded as a back-handed
complement. Not only was Rowan a 1995 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his
commentaries, he is the only journalist in history to win the Sigma Delta Chi
medallion for journalistic excellence for three successive years. Before he departed those of us among the
living in late September of 2000 he had served at a higher level than any other
Black American in U.S. government history.
All you need do is follow the disturbing events
from Ferguson, Missouri to Baltimore, Maryland to conclude that
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