The so-called ‘human’ races are a myth – Cumberland Times-News

Human gene research has proven that racism is a falsehood. This conclusion comes from the research of hundreds of genetic scientists working in laboratories around the globe.

It is important that scientific evidence and this conclusion be stated clearly to anyone who bothers to read about this topic. My reference is a book by Daniel J. Fairbanks, a research geneticist published by Prometheus Books in 2015.

The gene variation that most people regard as racial represents a tiny part of genetic variation among humans. There are no discrete genetic boundaries separating the so-called "human" races. Some of the genetic variation is geographical, but much more genetic variation can be traced to the time when all humans lived in Africa more than 100,000 years ago.

The notion of discrete racial categories among humans arose from immigration history. Scientific methods using the large scale analysis of human DNA have resulted in a flood of genetic information, allowing for the detailed analysis of geographical data of any individual. Science doesnt show definite genetic boundaries along traditional racial lines.

Race in English has two distinct meanings. Race, meaning competitive running comes from the old Norse word "ras." Race, indicating a group of people comes from the old Italian word "razza," which has spread across languages with Latin roots such as race in English and French, razza in Italian, raca in Portuguese and rasa in Romanian.

This words earliest meaning dates back to about 1500 CE. Centuries ago, most people made their living growing crops, tending gardens and raising animals. Farmers then referred to animals as belonging to different races.

Darwin in "The Origin of Species" uses race numerous times in referring to a genetically distinct group of animals or plants. Onlythree times in The Origin of Species does Darwin refer to humans in regard to race.

For centuries, farmers and dog breeders practiced artificial selection in reproducing animals and plants that had the desired characteristics.

In the late 1880s, the idea of selective breeding or eugenics being applied to humans arose. This led to involuntary sterilization of prisoners and those in mental institutions.

It was about this time that race began to be used to humans of different skin colors, leading to anti-miscegenation laws prohibiting marriage between people of different skin colors.Both eugenics and miscegenation were based on the assumption of the superiority of the white race.

Theres evidence in our DNA that human migrations have dispersed humans very widely. This explains the genetic diversity of our species.

The most convincing evidence that the concept of human races is untenable comes from the research of Harvard professor and geneticist Richard Lewonton. Before the 1960s and 1970s, scientists had few methods to accurately examine genetic differences among humans.

They based their measurements mainly on appearances such as noses, lips, eye shapes, skin color and hair. They picked these characteristics because they are easily recognized.

Adult body height is genetic to a large extent and varies considerably among people from different regions of the world. For example, the tallest people on average are the Dutch, but close behind are the Masai of East Africa.

Many people who live in tropical regions are substantially shorter than other tribes in Africa, and inhabitants of southern Asia and southeast Asia. These differences can be explained in terms of natural selection (smaller humans can hide in jungle foliage while taller humans have an advantage in seeing predators from a distance in savannah regions).

Pattern baldness is also a characteristic that varies among people from different regions.

Lewonton examined data from 17 different genes in several different groups of people, ranging fromNative Americans, Australian Aborigines, black Africans, Caucasians, Mongoloids, Polynesians, to South African Aborigines.

Lewonton found that the genetic variation within each of these groups exceeded that of different groups. Basically the groups overlapped each other in genetic characteristics. 85% of genetic diversity fell within each group while only 13% was due to differences between groups.

This was also true for blood types (A, B, AB and O). Blood banks identify blood types based solely on thesefour letters with no distinction for skin color.

It is just as likely that a Caucasian will receive a transfusion of a compatible blood type from a black African (Afro-American) as a back African would receive from a Caucasian. In 2004, geneticists from the Utah University School of Medicine showed that humans as a species are much less diverse than many other species.

Their conclusion was that humans worldwide differ on the average differ by only 0.1% genetically. Considering humans fromthree different continents (Africa, Asia and Europe), 85% of genetic variation was found in each continents people and only 10 to 15% of genetic variation was found between the three continental groups.

SKY CONDITIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK:In the first week of October, dawn begins about 6:15 a.m., sunset is about 7:10 p.m., midday is 1:05 p.m., sunset is about 6:58 and dusk ends at 7:56 p.m. There is now about 11 hoursand 46 minutesof sunlight, Each day there is aboutthree minutes less of sunlight. Jupiter continues low in the southwest dusk.

Bob Doyle, professor emeritus at Frostburg State University, invites any readers comments and questions. E-mail him at rdoyle@frostburg.edu. He is available as a speaker on his column topics.

View post:

The so-called 'human' races are a myth - Cumberland Times-News