Savannah Lee

Juan Cole gives us the news that ancient humans did not have children with Neanderthals.

You are frowning at me in puzzlement. "And?"

Well, check this out:

"These findings, if true, show that contemporary human beings are all Africans who developed in Africa recently (100,000 years ago?)."

Which means that, genetically speaking, there really is no such thing as race:

"Such a finding would explain why there is SO LITTLE GENETIC VARIATION (emphasis mine) between, say, East Asians and West Europeans--there hasn't been time for them to diverge very much. If we were descended in part from an older species such as Neanderthals, there would be more variation across continents. As it stands, THE GREATEST [GENETIC] DIFFERENCE IS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST AFRICANS, BECAUSE THEY SPLIT LONGEST AGO."

A little over twenty years ago, I learned in an anthropology class that skin color is a red herring. It appears to be a big variation, but it's not. It's just that the skin is a big organ, so this one surface adaptation to sunlight looks like something important and fundamental. But it's not. As my anthropology teacher put it, "Turtles have races. Humans don't."

As a social construct, yes, race exists. But there is a widespread assumption that this social construct is genetically meaningful, and it's not. The two most genetically-divergent populations (ED.: of humans) on earth share the same skin color!

We really are far more alike than different. I suspect, though, that that might be the secret fear, the root of all strife between nations and groups. Not difference and fear of difference, but similarity and fear of similarity.

Sigh.