[ExI] Race Biology

[Lee Corbin]

Olga writes

>>> My stepdaughter (who sports white skin and wavy blonde hair -
>>> as a baby she was absolutely tow-headed) is 3/4 white and
>>> 1/4 black.  Were you to meet her, there's no way you'd think
>>> she was anything but "white."
>>
>> I'll bet that a *lot* of the reason is due to the color of her skin.
> 
> So you would consider her "white?"

And then you repeated the question three times, no matter what
I said.  From what you yourself wrote above, however,
"Were you to meet her, then there's no way you'd think she
was anything but white" then that already takes care of one of
the meanings we associate with your question. Obviously I
would think her white.

Now then.  Say you next reveal to me that she is "3/4 white
and "1/4 black", where you have shifted---and I have no
problem with that---to a scientific type analysis. Here, what you
rightly assume (and what perhaps Damien still denies) is that
there is a fact of the matter to being "3/4 white and 1/4 black".

Here the best interpretation of that is that three-quarters of
her genes that have to do with biological clustering (objective
groupings) are of European origin, and one-quarter of them
are of African origin.

The answer is, of course, is that I would *not* simply say
that she is black.  I would not say that she is white. Now that
you shifted the discussion to the clustering (more objective
notion), I would say merely "she is 3/4 white and 1/4 black"
as everyone else would do.  Except:

Yes, there are racists who'd maintain that the reality is that
because she has "some black blood" that makes her black.
They're using the words in the way that we describe clean
water and contaminated water:  if you mix three gallons of 
of clean water with one gallon of contaminated water, then
you have four gallons of contaminated water.

I hope that it is needless to say that there is not the slightest
bit of evidence that anyone on this list  speaks or thinks like that.
Do you actually personally know anyone who does, or is that
taken as a truth by most of the people in the town where you live?

>> And just how do people on the street know her family
>> history.  As they say here, can't she easily "pass for white"?
>> Unless you're not being entirely forthcoming about her
>> appearance.
> 
> Who said people on the street know her family history?  I neither said it 
> nor implied anything of the kind.

You said that neither I nor anyone else would notice her African
ancestry. Therefore I assumed that in order for there even to be
a question here, somebody had to find out.  Either some bureau
kept records, or people were gossiping, or you told them that
she is, to use your words "3/4 white and 1/4 black". Only in
this case does your question make sense.

> I guess I don't understand what you're saying here.  And she
> doesn't just *easily* pass for "white" - she does it ALL the time.

Clear now?

>> But I'm eager to learn:  is there some kind of official classification
>> where she lives, like there used to be in South Africa (and, for all
>> I know, still is)?
> 
> I don't understand what you're saying here, either.  She lives in America. 

I didn't know that. Perhaps she lives in the deep south?  You did refer
to this weird rule

>>> The reason my stepdaughter is considered "black" is due to the racist 
>>> "one-drop" rule - it has nothing to do with her appearance (or coloration).

Are there actual persons you or she know who use this "one-drop" rule?
Or do you merely assume that such people exist?  As for the latter, of
course they do. Every belief seems to have some supporters. The question
is, "how common is it?".  The way you were going, I assumed that she was
not living in America.

> Disclaimer (of sorts):  I have no idea why or how the world works.  I'm just 
> trying to crawl my way through the chaos.

I thought that I understood this whole thing until I learned more about 
the situation in Brazil, and found that the social concepts can be very
weird (to us here) indeed. 

Lee