From a Science perspective Race does not exist.

Now that the human genome is complete. It has been declared that Neanderthals and other "protohumans" should be stop being identified as other species as they can and DID crossbreed with us and are in fact... us. They are no longer around as their genes were bottlenecked out of our current gene pool. The term Homo sapiens was coined in 1758 is obsolete and needs to be changed to include most of the "protohumans" previously excluded. The term "Race" is not a scientific term. We now KNOW there are no 'race' genes in our genome and have known this for decades.

As a Biologist, I contest that since "race" does not factually exist, it is merely a figment of bigoted minds who's definitions change with social norms to create division. To Biologists, Chemists, Physics, Mathematics and therefore "Facts," "race" isn't even a word we use in any of our fields. I suggest that we consider removing the term "race" and its subsequent delineations and archaic descriptors and get back to calling us all Humans, Homo Erectus or similar. If you believe me to be wrong, please utilize peer reviewed hard science publications to show me where I erred

 

You are not wrong, but you can't get rid of racism by saying "race isn't a thing".

 

We've got to start somewhere. How about with facts?

 

Race does not factually exist so we should stop using terms that cannot be provenRace does not factually exist so we should stop using terms that cannot be proven.

Consider us having to go through this all over again with populations of other planets.

 

bigotry will always find an excuse. if it can't find one, it will make one up.
it seems like we're seeing more and more examples of this all the time.
partially that may be that the social facades they used to hide behind are melting.
i'm more concerned with the rise of bigotry as a social movement and the consequences of its doing so, for the everyday lives of ordinary people.
this is less a question of biology then of social psychology.

 

Who says that there is such a thing as race? African Americans do!

Every ten years there is a census in the United States. And about 13% of the population check the box that says "African American and proud of it!".

Sheez!

 

Odd... I didn't see that particular box.

 

No expert here, but as I understand it - no matter the skin color - all humans share the same genome. Human whites, blacks, browns, and yellows aren't different as say, centipedes are from kangaroos. People are people.

Racism, bigotry, etc. are just means to an end .......... division .......... usually for selfish economic & political gains.

 

Precisely !!!

 

Oooooohhh ..... now you're starting trouble!!! That comment will have the snobbies all riled up. "Oh good heavens, Edward ...... that person actually called some white people "African Americans" !!! What is this world coming to? I think I'm about to faint."

 

You are correct that the concept of race can not be defined in scientific terms, and this is the "Science and Technology Forum." It does not exist in biological science.

However, to say that it "does not factually exist" is wrong. You, yourself, say that it is "a figment of bigoted minds." Consequently, you do believe it exists, as many thing exist substantially or partially outside science. You can find it in the dictionary. You can find it on a census form. Sure, it's arbitrary and it involves sweeping ideas that are not scientific, but it does exist, as an idea.

It doesn't exist solely in bigoted minds, and the whole notion of race depends on self-identification. As long as people identify themselves with it, it exists. It lacks scientific basis, just as many ideas and feelings lack scientific basis. That doesn't mean they don't factually exist.

I'm not an advocate for racial identification, even self-identification, but its origin isn't necessarily bigoted, and it has some use, possibly even necessary use.

There are written references to what we might today call racial differences that go back 4,000 years. In the Mediterranean world, even in ancient times, people noticed that the Europeans, Western Asians, North Africans, and Sub-Saharan Africans they mingled with in the market or saw sailing from one place to another were visually of different branches of the human family tree. It was an obvious fact, and whether we're talking about the classifications of people in they Egyptian Book of Gates or the Babylonian Talmud, it was a simple matter of observation.

There are lots of civil rights laws on the books that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race. The only way for government to enforce them, or for individuals to use a private right of action, under law is for people to self-identify. It's on a census form, a home mortgage loan application, school registration forms, new-employee forms in the workplace, and on hospital intake forms for aggregation and monitoring purposes. It's useful, because public resources have to be prioritized, and the laws on the books wouldn't exist, and racial self-identification wouldn't be requested of people, if there weren't stark and glaring disparities in life outcomes.

Life science and race don't go well together, but mathematics is usually described as a science, statistical analysis involving race is used extensively by demographers, civil rights lawyers, public health professionals, and policymakers. To say that a civil rights lawyer is a narrow-minded bigot for representing those claiming to have been illegally discriminated on the basis of race. He couldn't provide advocacy or representation for those harmed on the basis of race if he believed, as you do, that race doesn't factually exist.

If you abandon the concept of race entirely today and stop requesting that people self-identify, those stark and glaring differences in life outcomes (educational achievement, incarceration, income, wealth, life expectancy, infant mortality, etc.), won't go away, but some of the only tools available to identify the largest disparities, and those worth addressing, will go away.

All self-identification of race is voluntary. If you don't want to participate, simply answer for yourself and your minor children, "none of the above" or "decline to answer." Many people do just that, and there's nothing wrong with doing so.

When glaring disparities in life outcomes that aren't purely random are gone, and where they don't exist, there's no practical use for the concept of race. However, that's not the world we live in.

 

Its not really about race imo(brainmatter/intelligence).................. important seems to be what you are born into(culture/religion/upbringing/ status qou)(level of education/wealth/ect).......ect ect.

And getting the hole planet/humanity on the same program(from current bs)...........start with basic needs food/water/roof(worldwide)...........education/healthcare/ect ect............equality(not in race), in standard of living?



Try to fix that?...........................................we might get somewhere............ *sigh*..........

Mzzls