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In this second instalment of his three-part series on the controversial race question, Dr Chales Quist-Adade looks at the role Social Darwinism, Eugenics and the Church played in promoting racism. Part One (NA, Dec) ended on the positive note that all humans, of whatever "race" belong to the same gene pool. That is why all members of the "distinct races" can freely interbreed, which explains why a "white" woman and a "black" man can produce normal "white-black" offspring, but it is impossible, for instance, for a pig and a dog, to produce a pig-dog offspring. Please read on...
Human subspecies don't exist. Unlike many animals, modern humans simply haven't been around long enough or isolated enough to evolve into separate subspecies or races. Despite surface appearances, we are one of the most similar of all species. Largescale comparisons of human genomes from many individuals through DNA sequencing show that the gene pool in Africa contains more variation than elsewhere, and that the genetic variation found outside of Africa represents only a subset of that found within the African continent. From a genetic perspective, all humans are therefore Africans, either residing in Africa or in recent exile.
* Skin colour really is only skin deep. Most traits are inherited independently from one another. The genes influencing skin colour have nothing to do with the genes influencing hair form, eye shape, blood type, musical talent, athletic ability or forms of intelligence. Knowing someone's skin colour doesn't necessarily tell you anything else about him or her. Most variation is within, not between, "races". Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population, be they Italians, Kurds, Koreans or Cherokees. About 94% can be found within any continent. That means two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.
* Slavery predates race. Throughout much of human history, societies have enslaved others, often as a result of conquest or war, even debt, but not because of physical characteristics or a belief in natural inferiority. Due to a unique set of historical circumstances, the European enslavement of Africans in the socalled New World was the first slave system where all the slaves shared similar physical characteristics.
* Race and...