[fanfan]

The palms of a black person are lighter, but they are not “white” and certainly not albino.

My palms are not white or albino either.

I apologize for asking stupid questions, but I'd like to learn more about the history of humans. The history of history, as it were.

Skin color is determined by melanin content.

Yes.

The skin color black is the abundance of melanin not the absence of color.

Right, See my last post, above.

People who do not have this fully functioning system have lighter skin.

I disagree with this premise.

If your view is....

I haven't formed a view yet, as I don't have all the facts.

[allmendream]

The fully functioning system allows for the maximum amount of melanin production and fixation within the cell. It is a multi step multi protein (and thus gene) system invoked within melanocytes, cells within the skin that produce melanin.

SLC24A5 (solute carrier family 24, member 5) is a gene that is thought to explain around 25-35% of the difference in skin color between Europeans and Africans. The most common allele in Europeans has a single nucleotide polymorphism resulting in the change from one amino acid to another in the resulting protein.

The European allele produces a protein that doesn't work as well within the system that fixes melanin in the skin. That is as obvious as my face in the mirror, and I know it like the back of my hand. ;)