On Tuesday, May 02, 2006 @ 12:28 PM, I wrote:

On Tuesday, May 02, 2006 @ 1:39 AM, Randall R Schulz wrote:

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Hi,

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On Monday 01 May 2006 13:36, jfweber@gilweber.com wrote:

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Note, country Identifications are NOT Racial.. there are only a few "Races" in the world. It is a very broad "class characteristic" IIRC Rather like "animal, vegetable, or mineral"

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I suppose I shouldn't do this, but, I have lapses in judgement...

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There is only one race of humans. Homo sapiens. There is no biological basis for what we refer to as race. The tiny handful of genes that are responsible for ethnic characteristics are but a miniscule fraction of our genome and all the rest of the genome mixes and flows throughout humanity without respect to those genes that produce externally visible phenotypic differences.

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You want to know what racism is? It's the belief that there is such a thing as race.

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Randall Schulz

Well, though the genetic differences among races is minute, they are there, as you yourself say -- "The tiny handful...". But the difference is, indeed very minute (race is not a taxonomic category), and was caused by the physical environment where the homo sapiens with those characteristics originated. Skin color was an adaptation to differences in UV radiation at the different latitudes. Dark skin reflects UV more than light skin, so those peoples whose origins were in the tropical regions developed darker skin to cut back on the UV absorption of their skins. Conversely, those living in the lower and upper latitudes developed lighter skin to be able to absorb more UV. So, in essence, I agree with you that the differences among races are miniscule, but that to say that one who believes there is such a thing as race is racism is, I believe, going a bit too far.

Greg Wallace

Then again, maybe the term "lineage" should replace the term race when referring to differences in physical characteristics -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineage_%28evolution%29 Greg Wallace