Geneticists expose racism as nonsense-We started off black & brown, we'll all end up black & brown

sundaytimes.co.za ^

[chance33_98]

Geneticists expose racism as nonsense

Rowan Philp

Gene experts have declared race to be no more than an accident of geography - and predict the future of black and white South Africa will probably be more shades of brown.

Racism is scientifically unfounded, confirmed Professor Trefor Jenkins, Professor Emeritus at Wits University, and Dr Himla Soodyall, director of the Human Genomic Research Unit.

The genetic pool in the country was already so mixed that supremacists had no hope of a pure lineage, they said during a series of workshops at the National Festival of Science, Engineering and Technology in Grahamstown this week.

Soodyall said that, genetically, all modern humans were African - and could be described as either "Africans" or "African exiles".

Her research on the African genome, based on blood tests from more than 1 000 volunteers, showed South Africans from different races shared "recent" blood relatives.

For instance, a quarter of the South African "Europeans" tested had the same individual male ancestor - who lived not more than 30 000 years ago - as a large number of Nama Khoisan people who were tested.

"Given greater social acceptance of mixed marriage in future, we're likely to see a much higher proportion of skin shades lighter than dark and darker than light," Soodyall said.

Her research also found that the majority of all Southern Africa's nine "Bantu-speaking" communities descended from the same man, making most Xhosas and Zulus, for instance, "genetically unusually close ".

She said that gene tests showed that different physical characteristics between cultural groups were the result of adaptations to differing conditions and minor gene mutations.

Jenkins emphasised that modern "race" groups did not evolve separately, as was once widely believed by Western scientists.

He said: "Racism has been shown to have no basis in science... We all started off black and brown, and we'll all end up black and brown."

[fourdeuce82d]

Racism is scientifically unfounded

And mostly out of date, at least among non-knuckle draggers.

Culturalism, however, seems pretty reasonable, and, among non-knuckle draggers, is well accepted.

[Spirited]

Thank you most sincerely for this post.
It matters.

[Tench_Coxe]

You know, who really gives a s___t?

[fat city]

Her research also found that the majority of all Southern Africa's nine "Bantu-speaking" communities descended from the same man

I'd say this guy owes major child support!

[blam]

Fossil Challenge To Africa Theory

"Recent lab studies of this type have suggested that our most recent common ancestor lived less than 200,000 years ago in Africa.

But the Australian researchers contend that the DNA sequences isolated from Mungo Man's bones show him to have a genetic lineage that is both older and distinct from this line.

[goldstategop]

There are blacks with skin light enough to let them fool racists into accepting them as white while on the other hand there are whites with skin so swarthy they can pass as a medium skinned black. That's how silly racism is. Racial differences are a social contruct not a natural occurrence. Course the race baiters on the Left and Right will insist its immutable. But they're preaching to the already converted.

[thegreatbeast]

The fact is that there is going to be a pile of nonsense put out about what little they think they know about genetics and the human genome. We are still at the instant of creation of a new discipline. It might be premature to call it a science as yet. Pronouncements about our origins and where we might actually end up genetically belong on the Metaphysics shelf of our libraries.

[Agnes Heep]

The only political classes in the U.S. for whom race remains an important issue are those on the left. To that sort, the non-white races are viewed as worthy, but inherently inferior.

[WestPacSailor]

If we are all african-american then do we all get reparations?

Where's my 40 acres and my mule?

[cyborg]

This isn't telling me anything the Bible hasn't told me already.

There's a really good website called Answers in Genesis
http://www.answersingenesis.org/
Adam and Eve were most likely two medium toned individuals. My mother is from the West Indies, her father was Spanish,Dutch,French and her mother was black and South American native. I have a olive toned skin and my sister has a milky complexion. She burns to a crisp, and I tan then burn. Here in American race has really big political overtones on both sides. I imagine that a few people on FR probably dismiss this article as being BS because to me brown is something less desirable. Just as on the other side, the liberals (especially black liberals who imagine moral oneupmanship) consider white to be 'oppressor' and naturally expect my sister and I to want to 'pass'. It's all about culture, and less about race.

South Africa is a different case where the racial separation was so complete that even having sex with someone of a different race was illegal. While interracial marriage was illegal in the States, illegitimate sex wasn't. Coloured is even considered a separate ethnic group, although most coloured people (Asians and mixed race-black,white,asian) are called bruin messe (brown afrikaners) and the only thing that really was different from white and coloured was coloured have darker skin. It's complicated but oh well... I've met nice Afrikaners, but not too many black SA's that are nice because of political reasons. Of course, when I went to Europe, what I 'was' didn't matter, especially in England and France.

[King Prout]

all I want to know is this: does this mean I can call myself an "african american" and shut the race-pimps up, or no?

[King Prout]

It seems I am not alone in my reaction. I wonder whether the race-pimps realize just how close the pendulum has come to reversing its direction, and how badly it'll smite them when it does.

[Sinner6]

I think present scietific thinking is that human originated in Africa but civilization started in Tigris/Euphrates. I think...

[SunkenCiv]

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