Race

As defined by biology, human races do not exist. Certainly not the big three-to-five groupings that were widely accepted at one time. Perhaps the closest our species came to that was the relatively isolated indigenous Australian population but even there we don’t quite fit the biological definition.

That definition, admittedly, can be a bit nebulous. Some consider a race to be equivalent to a subspecies; others make it a further division. Without agreement on a precise definition of either term, it does not make any practical difference. It may be noted that breeds of dogs vary genetically far more than humans but are not considered to be either races or subspecies.

Humans have always gotten around a lot. We’re wanderers and inclined to leave a genetic fingerprint wherever we wander. We can certainly find average genetic differences between populations but nothing nearly unique enough to qualify as a race/subspecies. Have there ever been human races in the biological sense?

The Neanderthal/Denisovan population might qualify. I am inclined to see them as a subspecies of Homo sapiens, rather than a separate species. Even if one doesn’t accept that, the two populations, Neanderthal and Denisovan, are certainly close enough to be the same species. Are they separate races? I would say no more so than two populations of modern humans.

We could take that back further, to the humans who gave rise to both the Neanderthal/Denisovan line and our own. If one accepts Neanderthals as Homo sapiens, then so would be our common ancestor, no? At any rate, we moderns would certainly be able to interbreed with Homo heidelbergenis or whatever name we choose to give that ancestor.

How far back would that be true? No telling at this point. Maybe we’ll find genetic material someday that can give us a better idea. As good a guess as any might be that the jump from an erectus to that heidelbergenis type might be the dividing point.

I have digressed from the question of modern race, haven’t I? It probably is best to speak of genetic differences rather than racial ones. These chromosomes are found here and those there and these others somewhere else and they all tell the story of how we’ve journeyed across continents and seas, intermingling all the while. We’re one big race with local differences.

Those differences are likely to continue to lessen, as much as racists and nationalists resist. It really is inaccurate to use the term race at all, to speak of ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’ and whatever. Sure, some of us are darker or lighter than others. That’s all there is to it; people are people; they naturally think and act alike.

Even those Neanderthals, I suspect.