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To: Lane3 who wrote (7042)	4/21/2003 2:29:05 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7689

Thanks for posting that, Karen. Race as it is presently used as a classifying/sorting/discriminating tool is a concept which I hope soon becomes outdated. Cultural heritage, which often mixes current concepts of "race" with geographic or national "origin", will probably survive even as the notions of "race" get updated or are replaced entirely. I've written before about how the intermarriage among traditional "races", especially in America, may one day so blur the distinctions we now draw as to make them meaningless. Which perhaps they always were. If my kid, a product of an Irish-Scottish background on one side and an Asian Indian background on the other, marries the kid of a close friend of ours, whose one parent is Chinese (Taiwan) and the other parent is from the Philippines, what are they supposed to put on the census form? And when the child of that marriage, who is 1/8 Irish, 1/8 Scottish, 1/4 Indian, 1/4 Chinese, and 1/4 Philippino, marries someone whose grandparents are some other combination, at some point I think we just give up and call them what they were all along, "human". Maybe the dream will be that the content of our character really will be the determining factor someday, and maybe it will be looked upon favorably to have the cultural ancestry and heritage of six different continents in one's family tree. I want to see that PBS show, and appreciate your bringing it to our attention. We'll put it on the big screen in the living room and cater in some food for the event.

To: Lane3 who wrote (7042)	4/21/2003 9:32:03 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7689

Genetic background does make for significant differences between some populations but those populations are not strictly along the lines of the classically defined races. The differences within each of the classic race groups are bigger then the differences between the groups. Also with more intermarriage their will be more blurring of the groups. "Race is a human invention," science historian Evelynn Hammonds says in the film. I might change that to "race is partially a human invention." OR "The importance of race is mostly a human invention." Tim

To: Lane3 who wrote (7042)	4/22/2003 2:44:49 AM
From: Lazarus_Long	Respond to of 7689

Good article. I'll keep an eye out for that series. "Race" - largely skin color, with some facial features thrown in - is an easy thing to spot and consequently it is an easy tag to apply to people. When you use that tag to determine amounts of freedom and education allowed and types of employment, cultural differences are soon created. Those cultural differences are real and get added to the physical differences in the characteristics of the "race". If that state is allowed to persist, you end up with something like the situation of the blacks in the US. Because the people are poorly educated, their "race" is presumed to be stupid. With the breaking of the legal barriers erected against blacks, we are seeing more and more who are obviously quite capable. One is National Security Advisor to the President. Another is Secretary of State and a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Interestingly, those cultural differences can be created WITHOUT racial differences also. The caste system, still fairly strong in India, is an example.