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by Cornbilly 495 days ago
> races don't exist

Do they exist in a scientifically viable way?

Most of the definitions around race are tied to a subjective view of a person’s physical appearance.

Is Obama (the son of a black Kenyan man and a white American woman) black or white? If neither, what is this new race to be called? Would he be a different race if his father was also mixed race?

I find that often times asking people this question leads us back to something akin to the one-drop rule and I don’t see any value in that.

2 comments

> If neither, what is this new race to be called? Would he be a different race if his father was also mixed race?

American racists had precise, and now-offensive nomenclature for rations all the way down to 1/8 black, possibly beyond. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/mix...

This [1] discussion on X includes a gene prevalence graph, showing varied groups mostly easily identifiable by DNA sequencing. Such graphs use the prevalence of 2 genes amongst different samples of populations. Including more genes develops a much sharper image.

https://x.com/JoshRainerGold/status/1888468962306142430