Race is not Skin Color
I have recently seen several people using the the phrase "I don't care about the color of someone's skin" when talking about race. This surprised me greatly. It is taken for granted within the circles that I frequent that skin color is the most impoverished concept of what race is.
I am a race realist. I try to study what race and ethnos mean in the truest sense, scientifically and in terms of tradition and nation. I do this because I am spiritually devoted to eternal truth and reality. There are few truths closer to the root of being than blood and nation. I am not vulgar. I never use slurs because I believe it makes me weaker, and I have no desire to do so in any regard. I am not disgusted by difference for its own sake. I love to learn about other cultures and peoples, though I have no hatred toward people who only love their own home and people.
I have argued race many times with many people. Simplicity is essential for true understanding. I may not be able to achieve simplicity, but in trying to do that I will restrict myself to two points:
1. Race is real and physically defined, biologically and genetically.
https://thuletide.wordpress.com/2020/06/29/a-race-by-race-breakdown-of-human-genetic-diversity-illustrated-guide-for-novices/
The article above is my source for this point. It explains in more detail than I will. It also links to the original study from Harvard University’s Reich Lab. These images represent genetic cluster analysis. You set the number of clusters and the program separates populations into similar and dissimilar, based on shared gene variants.
At two clusters the world separates into African and Not-African:
At eight clusters the program more or less reproduces many classical representations of race from the 19th century:
This is a map made by a third party. It is based on the final twenty cluster analysis. Though the map is highly incomplete, it reveals many of the subtleties at the edges of race and the small relic populations of highly genetically distinct people throughout the world:
Race is real, biological and definite.
2. Genetic traits, distinct between races, affect behavior:
IQ is the traditional trait at the center of arguments about racial difference. It is a high significant trait for the creation of complex civilization, empires and technology. It is measurable and is, in many ways, an ideal metric. Difference in IQ between racial groups has been reproduced many times, but argument over its significance, inherent-meaning, and root-cause never end. The exception is when the careers of the people holding the wrong views are ended and political correctness reigns.
Modern genetic study comports with traditional IQ studies of race. IQ is a highly polygenic trait, meaning it is governed by the relationship between a large number of genes. This is why simple Mendelian genetics are not sufficient. Complex statistical models called polygenic scores have been created. They use educational attainment as a proxy for intellectual ability and correlate them with a genetic profile. These scores separate along racial lines and different groups have different genes or allele clusters representing different pathways to the development of higher intelligence. These studies and models are too complex for a normal person to independently vet, or even for me to do so. Because of that I will leave IQ and polygenic scores aside for this post.
There is a simple, single allele variation that is highly distinct between certain racial groups and is a powerful indicator of socially relevant behavior. It's called the MAOA gene. All human beings have from 2 to 5 copies of a promoter within this gene. A high number of copies seems to inhibit personal violence. A low number allows for the expression of personal violence. In the US the 2-repeat allele is only associated with the African American population (who are primarily Bantu/Congoid in origin.)
I quote the abstract of the paper “Exploring the association between the 2-repeat allele of the MAOA gene promoter polymorphism and psychopathic personality traits, arrests, incarceration, and lifetime antisocial behavior”
Abstract: "A line of research has revealed that a polymorphism in the promoter region of the MAOA gene is related to antisocial phenotypes. Most of these studies examine the effects of low MAOA activity alleles (2-repeat and 3-repeat alleles) against the effects of high MAOA activity alleles (3.5-repeat, 4-repeat, and some-times 5-repeat alleles), with research indicating that the low MAOA activity alleles confer an increasedrisk to antisocial phenotypes. The current study examined whether the 2-repeat allele, which has been shown to be functionally different from the 3-repeat allele, was associated with a range of antisocial phenotypes in a sample of males drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Analyses revealed that African-American males who carried the 2-repeat allele were, in comparison with other African-American male genotypes, significantly more likely to be arrested and incarcerated. Additional analyses revealed that African-American male carriers of the 2-repeat allele scored significantly higher on an antisocial phenotype index and on measures assessing involvement in violent behaviors over the life course. There was not any association between the 2-repeat allele and a continuously measured psychopathic personality traits scale. The effects of the 2-repeat allele could not be examined in Caucasian males because only 0.1% carried it."
The 2-repeat allele among African Americans is found in 5.2% of their population. That is 52 times higher than the Caucasian population. See Table 1 in the study to confirm. The full article can be found here: //www.antoniocasella.eu/archipsy/Beaver_2013.pdf
I don't highlight these points to hurt anyone's feelings, or to complain about crime or violence. I am proving to you beyond reasonable doubt that biologically distinct populations have significant differences in behavior which are governed by simple, identifiable genetic traits. At this point the question is not "why do I want to talk about this fact" but becomes "why is acknowledging difference forbidden?"
Race is not skin color. I prefer to think of it as bio-spirit, the sum-total of how a people express themselves and interact with their environment. You as an individual can be part of a bio-spirit, but it's not something that you own, nor is it something that entirely rules you. I know it can be jarring to go from statistical analysis of genetics, on one hand, to a spiritual expression of what I believe race is, but I think that is necessary to find the truth. The statistics and genetics are necessary to undo a tidal wave of lies and easy answers about what we are. I think the perspective of bio-spirit, or something like it, is necessary because we live in the real, living world of experience. You're a living person, not a genetic sample in a lab.