The unintentional racist.

[Tigranes]

This is probably because white skin is a recessive trait to black skin, so most of mixed people tend to be quite dark.

For example, I suppose all of these people could be classified as African-Americans in the USA (would you agree?):

This was a spectacular post, JW!

We can safely assume from all those pictures that black genes must be dominant.

There is a theory that all the people used to be black at the beginning. Than there was a single mutation in Iran many centuries ago, which allowed for the first white person with black hair to come forth, and so on. Finally there was another mutation in Sweden, to which all the blonde people can trace their origin.

 

[Tigranes]

Germans were never slaves.

Romans must had many Germanic slaves after all those constant border wars.

 

[Borachio]

What race would the people who hate you consider you to be? ___________________

What a strange question!

I suppose the most likely answer is the "slow race". If that's not an oxymoron.

But the people who hate me, and some do, don't consider race to be significant in their assessment. At least, they've never said so. And I think they would.

 

[Senethro]

This is probably because white skin is a recessive trait to black skin, so most of mixed people tend to be quite dark.

Are you sure about that? Is it not just a case of humans perceiving a mixed individual with half the melanin levels of their dark skinned parent to be more black than white?

Edit: Pardon the pedantry, I'm just super sensitive to biological terminology.

 

[John Walker]

There were in fact multiple mutations for various skin colors and hair colors in several places.

Are you sure about that?

I'm quite sure.

Lighter hair is also recessive to darker hair (black and brown are dominant over red and blonde, but not over each other).

BTW - each mutation has advantages and disadvantages. Here is an example:

Take a recessive trait such as Factor V Leiden mutation, a potentially fatal disease. Sufferers tend to have things like strokes because it is a blood clotting disorder. This mutation occurred in one individual in Europe at some time in the past. Although it is potentialy fatal, it has propagated so that a single copy occurs at frequencies of 14% in some populations. How can a potentially deadly genetic disease become so frequent? The answer is that the blood clots more easily it heals wounds. So men in battle had a better chance of having their wounds heal and women in childbirth tended not to bleed to death. What is important is only that the carrier lives long enough to have children and live long enough to raise them. Longevity itself is not an issue.

Sickle cell anemia in Africans is another example because of the increased resistance to malaria.

So a mutation which causes a potentially deadly disease can spread widely due to its beneficial effects in other aspects.

 

[warpus]

romans must had many germanic slaves after all those constant border wars.

in the united states of america, we're talking about america. USA

 

[Borachio]

Oh come on. Now you're joking. The Romans never got to the Americas!

 

[John Walker]

But so far the oldest skeleton with DNA confirming without any doubt blonde hair color of its owner was found in Russia, not in Sweden.

And blond hair is also found among dark-skinned Melanesians (it comes from a separate mutation) and in low frequency among some East Asians.

As for white skin new research shows that Europeans were gradually becoming lighter over thousands of years. It was not "a single point in time".

Edit:

The Romans never got to the Americas!

What about Al Capone ???

==============================

Is it not just a case of humans perceiving a mixed individual with half the melanin levels of their dark skinned parent to be more black than white?

Well - compare how stains on white or light clothes look and how stains on coloured or dark or black clothes look.

Which are more visible ???

Maybe it's a weird comparison but you can see that dark has more options than light. There are more shades of "black" than of "white".

 

[Senethro]

Well - compare how stains on white or light clothes look and how stains on coloured or dark or black clothes look.

Which are more visible ???

Maybe it's a weird comparison but you can see that dark has more options than light. There are more shades of "black" than of "white".

Looks like another example of races being socially constructed categories based more upon perception than on biological reality. Interesting.

 

[Tigranes]

The author of OP will be really pissed after reading last 2 pages

 

[Borachio]

What about Al Capone ???

Italian. Like Columbus.