So, today I needed to write and started about 10 different topics. I couldn't get my mind wrapped around just one so I said, okay Google...I feel lucky. I am not one who usually rolls the dice because luck really doesn't mean anything to me, but I smiled when I saw what Google offered...a picture of Africa. Now, I have never been there. I have always wanted to, but have never made it. Africa is higher on my list than Italy or France, or even Arizona.
There is a little debate going on about where human life originated. Most everyone knows and understands that life started in Africa, but there is talk that perhaps there were 2 great awakenings for the human species...one in Africa and another in Asia. In 2010, it was brought to light by the Christan Science Monitor that perhaps our oldest fossils have been found in Asia. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1027/Human-ancestors-may-have-originated-in-Asia-not-Africa
What we know for sure is that regardless of where life originated all humans are of the same species. I have recently been involved in one of those family squabbles about race relations...(family: i.e. not people you need to talk to on a regular basis if you want to keep your sanity.) Of course, this family in particular is from another , older generation. Unfortunately, they are still allowed to talk in public, and sometimes they pass on their fears, worries, and opinions which have no scientific backing, to a younger generation. So, this blog is for the kids who have to listen to advice that was relevant 100 years ago. Still wrong, but relevant.
I thought human origin was covered in public school. So why is it that people still cling to outdated ideas and theories which have been proven false over and over again...? oh, yeah, that judgemental, I am better than you factor always rears its head, doesn't it? I don't think it's just because we live in the Southern, Bible-belted U.S., I think that race is a problem no matter where you travel. And, as unconvincing as it sounds, white people are not always involved.
I need my children to understand some simple words: equator, migration, change. The equator is the hottest place on the planet where the sun beats down. People who live at the equator are often darker than the rest of us. So, if life originated in Africa....yes! we get dark skinned humans. See, this is fun. Migration is what happened when people decided they no longer wanted to live in the same village with their mother-in-law. They packed up and moved, either to a different village or perhaps they were pushed out of their tribe for breaking a law and were forced to live on their own, hence migrating and finding new people to interact with. What they took with them were their traits, their language, their culture, their belief. These things then became married into a new tribe or they formed a familial tribe of their own creating new languages and customs. Migration let new foods cross territories, new genetic traits be introduced into blood lines, and created new social norms. It may have also provided an opportunity for trade and made a way for a new job: translators. What came next was change. As people migrated they had to accustom themselves to terrain, weather, predators, and housing availability. Because of this the people began to change. Over millions of years humans who migrated away from the equator lost their dark pigment. The size of our hands changed because we found new work. And if you haven't noticed, that little pinkie-toe of yours is not of any use and will probably disappear in a another 200 years. We have lost a need for our appendix, our tonsils, and that lovely yet amusing vestigial tail. We changed based on our surroundings, it is called evolution. You change to fit into your surroundings. Something that did not change though was our ability to pro-create.
Crows mate with crows, carpenter ants mate with carpenter ants. Humans mate with humans. See how simple that was? As we get older we are supposed to get wiser, so why do some of us reject common sense and science and still need old wives tales and ghost stories? Each race has a crippling disease that could effect a new born, each race has genetic codes written into DNA that could effect a baby. You cannot get a perfect child just because you mate with someone of your race because you probably don't know who your great great grandmother slept with and what kind of DNA cocktail is cursing through your own veins.
Life is short. Humans are plentiful. If you find one that you like who doesn't drink, smoke, go to jail every 2 weeks, and can have a conversation without grunting, then stop obsessing about their color. Maybe their grandparents just migrated too far away from the equator.
Tolerance starts at home, unless you live with white, southern baptist republicans, then Tylenol starts at home. ~ mama shey
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