America's increasing Hispanic population may erode the skin color/race connection. In a cultural, social and legal sense, if not necessarily in a biological sense, all people of Hispanic origin are regarded as being of the same race even if their skin colors differ wildly.

check out britney's mom:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/...ears/ index.html
Looks hispanic to me.


Britney's face also looks castillan. And she has that nice color, not pasty white.

America's increasing Hispanic population may erode the skin color/race connection. In a cultural, social and legal sense, if not necessarily in a biological sense, all people of Hispanic origin are regarded as being of the same race even if their skin colors differ wildly.

I think it may be just the opposite. The increasing Hispanic population may make things WORSE. Witness all the recent stories about Hispanics favoring Hillary Clinton over Obama, although the media seems to avoid any serious mention/debate on the issue, probably a bit of pandering to the politically correct notion that "any spotlight on non-European persons displaying prejudice will only strengthen Whitey" type beliefs. Plus, look at all those "opinion surveys" that note Hispanics have very low opinions of Blacks (which has been pointed out, is probably more a reflection of Hispanics not having been fully indoctrinated/brainwashed with PC (many being recent arrivals), whereas Whites may harbor certain beliefs, but aren't stupid enough to publicly admit to them or express them even in an anonymous survey).

I think a lot of the silly "all non-Europeans are Black" nonsense is probably traceable to "Afrocentricity" idiocy. Funny that you mention the "Cambodian girl as black" comment, for I've seen a web page (probably by an "Afrocentric") claiming that the Cambodians who built Angkor Wat and other temples are "definitely black". I'm pretty sure I've seen similar "Chinese people are definitely black" Afrocentric tripe as well. It's all silly how these people ("Afrocentrics") really believe there was some mythical time years ago, where all non-European persons engaged in one big non-stop orgy of love, but then "Whitey" came along and spoiled the party!

Lastly, Britney Spears' mom does seem to exhibit some sort of "exotic" ancestry, in my "non-scientific" opinion. Seeing as how Britney's from Louisiana, I would have guessed "Cajun", but I see that her mom is from Mississippi actually. Possibly some sort of "native American" ancestry maybe, but often times that's a crypto reference to "African ancestry". But that just makes things even more interesting - if her mom did have say 1/64th "African ancestry", then the "Afrocentrics" in the paragraph above will start claiming her as a "brilliant singer of color", rather than an "untalented cracker" that they probably call her now!

Stop this obsession with skin color. Soon people will be able to change colors and the whole thing will be history. People will not understand all this preoccupation with a meaningless detail.

Are all "Hispanic" people considered to be the same "race"? I'm sure some people think this way, but I think people who know much about the history of central/south america do not. Additionally, on most demographic sheets there are two sections. One asking the respondant wether they identify as white, black, asian, etc. And another asking if they identify as Latino, Hispanic, etc. (Not that I think that any of these forms of categorization are "the right way." Just that it is a distinction that I see on a regular basis).

I do not think that the incresing Latino population is making racial categorization more rigid. Blacks and Latinos have different voting preferences for the same reasons that they are different ETHNIC groups. While each individual has their own set of criteria that they evaluate candidates by... additionally, things like culture & family history are also of influence. Some one whose family has experienced discrimination& the civil rights movement might look for different qualites in a leader than someone whose family flead a military dictatorship, or even someone whose family has lived in the US since the western states were added to the union, but continue to face discrimination b/c people assume that Latinos are all recent immigrants.

I think that every generation, people try to set up ethnic groups against eachother,especailly ethinic groups that are discriminated against. & i think people need to be very careful view differnet wants or needs between ethnic groups as sources of disdain.

"Stop this obsession with skin color. Soon people will be able to change colors and the whole thing will be history. People will not understand all this preoccupation with a meaningless detail."

yokey dokey. yes right away stopped. obsessonomoro

Now I'm waiting for a day long ago in a galaxy far, far away, where one can change one's skull shape.

btw, is it not true that Indians and Australian aboriginals have one less chromosone for color than do the black Africans.

Are all "Hispanic" people considered to be the same "race"? I'm sure some people think this way, but I think people who know much about the history of central/south america do not. Additionally, on most demographic sheets there are two sections. One asking the respondant wether they identify as white, black, asian, etc. And another asking if they identify as Latino, Hispanic, etc. (Not that I think that any of these forms of categorization are "the right way." Just that it is a distinction that I see on a regular basis).

it's double-talk. non-hispanic whites will often speak of all hispanics as if they are "people of color," but hispanics themselves are pretty racist against the colored amongst them. e.g., white cubans can be rather racist against afro-cubans, though white cubans will allow themselves to be portrayed as people of color in other contexts. it's a shell game.


btw, is it not true that Indians and Australian aboriginals have one less chromosone for color than do the black Africans.

i think you have the terminology off a bit. but in general, south asians are very diverse (if you mean south asians not native americans). i think most dark-skinned people deviate a bit from africans (see bougainville islanders).

"I'm waiting for a day long ago in a galaxy far, far away, where one can change one's skull shape."

You don't have to go to a distant galaxy. Head-binding is common in many cultures.

And even without binding, head shape has changed considerably for nutritional and other reasons within the last century.

"You don't have to go to a distant galaxy. Head-binding is common in many cultures."

I mean the whole skull, face bones, brows,nose, etc. and all.

Yes, I know about cranial shaping and molding. My mother was shocked that my grandmother (father's mother) used to talk of molding babies head shapes. I never figured out whether it was a cultural thing or generational.
razib, sorry. I meant south Asian Indians. I'm sure I screwed the terminology. but I'm here to be corrected.

John:

Why do you care what Afrocentrics think. There argument is Melanesians and Negritos in Asia and the Pacific are "black Africans" and due to the fact they may have been present as far North as Southern China (and definitely in Southeast Asia) they started various civilizations.

That is obviously false and no one takes that seriously.

In fact the only time I've ever seen Afrocentric historians or anthropologist taken seriously is when they and some Nordic white nationalist come to agreement that Southern Europeans are not really "white" or "pure white". LOL

I've seen that online a few times, but no serious academic is going to agree to any of these arguments. My advice to you is to learn to ignore "noise" the world is full of it.

Cripes! What is it with you lot and skin colour?
Maybe you just don't wear enough clothes?
Anyway Britney's ma looks Welsh, if you're going to do these random ethnic assignations. Could be some sort of substrate thing going on in the faraway islands to the right. Apart from the prizefighter's schnozzle she wouldn't be out of place in any of the celtic-speaking areas.
Or Galicia ...
F'rinstance, there's a type of very original north-eastern scot who appear, when they choose to be female, to be almost, well ... chinese.
And once when I ended up working outside [at 55 north, to the south of my normal range :^) ] for a few months without a shirt I was rocked back by a passer-by remarking to another local "That man's black!"
Being a spectacular Mc1r mutant I rarely expose my pasty hide to the elements, just reckoned I'd be fairly safe that close to home.

Cripes! What is it with you lot and skin colour?
Maybe you just don't wear enough clothes?

And once when I ended up working outside [at 55 north, to the south of my normal range :^) ] for a few months without a shirt I was rocked back by a passer-by remarking to another local "That man's black!"
Being a spectacular Mc1r mutant I rarely expose my pasty hide to the elements, just reckoned I'd be fairly safe that close to home

Well you kind of answered your own question. Skin color is an important issue in our society. Now maybe it is me but if I heard anyone say, "That man's black!" I wouldn't think he was complementing the black man. Or maybe it was a rhetorical question on your part.

Cripes! What is it with you lot and skin colour?

it's one of the best examples of the power evolutionary genomics within the last 5 years. if you aren't interested, don't read the blog!

btw, pet peeve: people who complain about the content on blogs that they read.

gnxp. Genetics blog. Genetics manifest in physical appearance. The appearance tells a tale. Is that so hard to get?

Perk up dustbubble. They also discuss eye color, hair color and peculiarities of naughty bits.

I may do a post about head shape. I found an interesting article recently about head shape changes in Japan. Some traits have changed by 2 sd's in about 80 years.