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Jon Rogers of Aurora writes:

In high school science, I learned that the biological world was classified in the following order: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. There may also be sub-species, but nowhere did I EVER see a taxonomical classification titled “race.” This is something that we human tribes have come up with to allow us to sort other human tribes as superior or inferior (depending on one’s point of observation) to allow us to politically or economically gain and advantage.
Our proper classification, according to the system above is “homo sapiens.”
“Homo” meaning human and “sapiens” meaning thinking or intelligent; therefore a more or less literal translation would be that we are classified as thinking humans.
All the rest of the hoopla about what “race” we are is all just politics and interbreeding throughout the various ages (a geologically miniscule period) that we’ve populated the planet. There have been so many wars, migrations, die-offs, extinctions and genetic alterations, that on a very basic level (such as genetic) we are really ALL the same, if we care to take a logical look and admit it. Anyone claiming to be “racially pure” had best take a look behind themselves; they are stepping on their own tail.
It is high time that we, as homo sapiens, start living up to the translation of our scientific classification, and realize that there is only one “race", and that is HUMAN. We are all in (or on) the same boat (planet) and we had better start taking care of each other and it, and do it pretty damned soon.

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

I went for a loan and they asked my race.

I wrote doen "human" inside the space.

It's a disgrace how they try to debase,

It ain't the bank's damn business how our lineage trace.

I agree. Nor is it a university's business what race a person is. There is no place for discrimination on the basis of race in our society.

Race is a cultural/political construct not recognized by modern biology. As a species, humans have much less genetic variation (probably due to a genetic bottleneck not all that long ago) than many other species that appear to have very little difference between individuals. Furthermore, studies using genetic markers (a specific shared mutation) indicate some different "races" are actually more closely related than some members of the same "race".

Start adding up your ancestors. Two parents, four grandparents and so on. Each generation doubles the number. A generation is considered thirty years.

At fifteen generations, about 450 years ago, each of us had 32,768 ancestors. That is roughly in 1557. Thirty years before that we had over 64 thousand.

Now tell someone what race they belong to. Go back far enough, say four or five thousand years, and there are not enough people ever living to make up your ancestor pool. Some ancestors got used more than once.

You might decend from a man who traveled and left decendants in more than one country.

DNA testing should be a lot of fun, at least we can learn our most interesting family group.

While studying for my Master's history comps, one of the books that I had to read was on the history of the concept of race. What I found truly interesting is that the idea of "race" is only about 250 years old and came into full force only about 175 years ago.

It is truly amazing how much damage people can inflict on each other through ideas that, as Jon points out, are meant to make one look superior to their supposed "inferiors."

"Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood."

I wonder why red ants and black ants fight.

Good letter by Jon Rogers. He is right. Unfortunately, racism has become a part of the societies of all nations (at least as far as I know - which may not be enough on that aspect of this topic) that may always stay no matter how much it ought not to be.

I agree with Truth, that it should be no business of a university what race a person is. But they use it to decide who gets preferential entrance over others, hence we have affirmative action policies that pit races against one another rather than considering the content of their character and qualifications.

Mountain Cat,

We also have affirmative action policies in place as an attempt to arrive at the point where "considering the content of their character and qualifications" will become the norm, rather than the past practices of excluding people BECAUSE of their "race", ethnic origin, skin color, etc., etc. This was the original purpose for affirmative action.

The problem today is, simply, that even after about 45+ years, that original goal has not been achieved. And those who opposed the idea in the first place have now managed to gain back a sufficient place in the legal system to be able to reverse both the original intention and the policies.

Racism is very much alive and thriving in the nation today. And, most unfortunately, it has found one bastion and stronghold in a place where it should NOT exist, the education system.

Pick up a stray ant and drop him into any hill. Color notwithstanding, he will be killed because he is from a different hill. Black ants kill black ants, red kill red etc. They can probably smell a difference in some way.

But that was a cute try.

Old Grouch, (and anyone who wants to listen)
Well, you make a good point that one reason for affirmative action was to help level the playing field. That was then and this is now. Today, although discrimination has not been completely eradicated in our society, it far less prevalent than it was when affirmative action came into being. Those who have a major chip on their shoulder will look for prejudice and bigotry and find it because they probably bring it on themselves without even realizing it.

One problem with affirmative action is that it carries the preconceived notion that a person from a certain minority or sex does not have the ability to make it with their earned merits and therefore must be allowed entrance or advancements simply based upon their skin color or gender. If that’s not prejudging a person’s intellect, I don’t know what is.

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