"I agree to a point -- race is a genetically identifiable characteristic and something that I find fascinating. However, race doesn't matter."
While I agree that race doesn't matter, I would also say that race itself is not exactly a genetically identifiable charaterstic. Racial categories are defined by people (including Norwegian grandfathers) and these categories change over time. While there are identifiable genes for, say, broad noses or pale skin or curly hair, race is not based on those morphological traits alone. Humans decide why a dark-skinned, curly-haired person with a broad nose (say, a Congolese man) is of a different race than a dark-skinned, curly-haired person with an aquiline nose (say, an Ethiopian man), a pale-skinned, curly-haired person with a broad nose (say, a Greek man) or a dark-skinned, straight-haired person with a broad nose (say, a Paupua-New Guinean man), etc... We've already surpassed the alleged "three races" because people want to distinguish among themselves. The morphological categories are genetically uncomplicated. If people insist on the validity of "race" it would be far more useful, from the scientific community's point of view, to define races genetically. There was an article on this in Discover (the popular science magazine) 10-15 years ago. It said that genetically, you get some strange classifications that cut across all common geographical, cultural and morphological lines, pointing to the fundamental unity of humanity.
But I'm not saying anything you don't know here.
Maybe here:
"Ethiopia is an entire country of mixed race and 90% of the women there could be supermodels."
Well, 90% of the population would make Addis a Mecca for young men worldwide ... but must say I like going to Ethiopian restaurants for many reasons, not all of them food-related!
