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The idea of dividing the human race into races in the way we currently do was born of european anthropological studies done during a historical period where this terminology was defined based on the modernist philosophy that the kind of research being done was neutral in values and factual in output. Imo no research is neutral and the supposed factual output has in many ways been superceded by contemporary genetic research about genetic diversity etc.

Also think that the term race encourages polarised thinking and division. Whereas I prefer the view of humanity based on the Pogo cartoon which concludes "I have seen the enemy, and they are us" (an eco cartoon I know) but the sentiment is applicable elsewhere. Seems to me a better way to regard race is that there's one race, the human race. So the only interracial progeny are mermaids or centaurs etc.

I used the term race at times, but I prefer describing difference between people, I tend to describe what the difference is and/or use the self descriptive phrase used, so my kids are black people in some contexts, even though they're actually light brown skinned, but mostly they're an emo/indie/rock girl and a footie/xbox fanatic :-)

Racial descriptive terms such as black, asian, mixed race, arab or jewish aren't actual terms to define a race are they, they're a socially constructed piece of shorthand to enable us to describe what might be a historical location, religious or cultural tradition describe skin colour or physical features but when you delve into it defining this or that person as being of this "race" becomes virtually impossible with any kind of real logical or scientific basis.

'Race' wasn't a concept invented by white Europeans. Every ethnicity and religion defines itself, and has terms to describe other ethnicities and religions. This idea that somehow only white Europeans are capable of prejudice is born out of white guilt.

All I'm saying is that it's virtually impossible to dance around the fact that we have obvious characteristics that we inherit from our forebears. It's not inherently hateful to say that someone is of a particular race.

I guess it does get more complex now that more people share mixed ethnic parentage. In the USA (and in Britain too, no doubt) most people would call anyone who has even a very dilute share of African blood a black person. THAT comes out of the old days when mulatto children were automatically designated as black. But rather than gloss over one's parentage in the hopes of overcoming old evils, what's wrong with embracing them? There's a rumor that one of my great-great grandmothers had native American blood... I LIKE to think so... 'cause otherwise my heritage would be exclusively Anglo-Saxon.

Some have envisioned a future where all ethnic characteristics blend into one worldwide type. Utopian? Perhaps. Dull? Most certainly. I appreciate seeing the variety of human beings. That doesn't mean I believe in keeping 'racial purity', but it'd be a loss if we all blended into some sort of homogenized human species. It'd be like if all the varieties of birds were cooked down into just some sort of one-size-fits-all chicken, or something.