By Kelly Culbreath
I think this author has the right idea. Race is a very complicated topic, indeed. It is simply a basic division that we use to try to make order out of our world, but people take it as the gospel of how to know something about somebody. All people on the Earth are descended from Africa, so it makes sense that any characteristics that any other race has, would potentially be found in African DNA. What can you really know for sure when you decide which “race” to categorize a person into???
Mitochondrial DNA proves that humankind started out in Africa, and any other “races” would have evolved from the African DNA set. Therefore, Caucasians’ “characteristic” race traits are really just a mutated version of the original “black” traits. The whole idea of “race” is silly, because there are NO traits that belong uniquely to one “race” that we know of so far. Of course, there will always be those traits that are more common to a particular group of people, due to the mutations caused by the surroundings. But, we have no idea which stimuli will produce which results.
It is possible that this baby might have been subject to stimulus that causes mutations, those normally found where “white” populations would habituate. Then the baby ‘s genes might mutate, to a better-adapted form. As a society, the way we use race as a defining category is fundamentally flawed.
The only information obtained about a person, when ascertaining their race, is which region the person’s family has spent the most time in. And even that is something that is based on multiple hundreds of years, through slowly changing genetic traits. It is not a way to tell anything significant about ANYONE. Even when studies are done based on race, the results are normally not conclusive, and are usually more relevantly tied to cultural and ethnic group traits than “race”.
Another possibility for the origin of this case, is the need that organisms have for randomness in genetics. Randomness is cherished in all species, on the planet, because it provides a better selection of genes in the “gene pool” to choose from. We humans like to call this a “choice.” A choice to live how we want to, to choose a person that fills a need for traits that we need to complement or solidify our own. We like to think it is something that sets us apart, and it does to a certain degree. Organisms that have not had to evolve with having large genetic diversity do not have these “choices” that we have. They have very specified niches, and are pigeon-holed into one particular role. We are lucky to have adaptability, and the freedom to evolve and carry on traits, that will help us survive through changing conditions. An organism can survive better if it has these stored away,to use when the environment changes to conditions that are not suitable for its’ present genetics. By passing mutated genes onto the next generation, DNA insures that the next generation will have those traits should they ever be needed. I think it is fascinating, and a testament to the amazing power of genetics’ adaptability.
Check out the article here:
Black parents give birth to white skinned, blonde, blue-eyed child.
Here is another article about this story with pictures:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/blond_bombshell_yapSXUVO8AsKLUmKTFVO3K
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