The Human Race….
A close friend reminded me lately that people in this country tend to think along the lines of: “If you’re not for me, then you’re against me.” He was of course speaking in reference to various schools of thought in the world of poetry, but it can easily be applied to just about any situation where human beings interact. We seem to be an ever increasing society of special interest groups, all conveniently vying for recognition and corroboration of an often very narrow view of things.
Among these ideologies is one that seems to come to the spotlight more and more often these days in the mainstream media, the issue of “race”. Recently, I’ve found myself wondering if it is really a legitimate issue for a presidential candidate to feel compelled to address in the United States of America. After all, we are a nation of immigrants, who have been mixing bloodlines for centuries, which fact establishes unequivocally that there is no true biological demarcation. No white person or black, yellow, red, or green for that matter, living in the world, can say for certain they belong to any singular “race”, even in the wilds of Amazonian jungles or the depths of Africa. In fact, it was recently proven scientifically through DNA profiling, that we humans experienced a near extinction, which at one point, dropped our numbers to as low as 3000 individuals worldwide. Out of this near catastrophe has emerged a “human race” that can trace its DNA roots back to a singular female profile. In essence, we all have a common Eve ancestor, if you will.
Outwardly I am white skinned, but my bloodlines I’m sure are as diverse as any American’s: Scots/English/Irish/Swedish/Norwegian/Austrian/and many genealogical unknowns, as both my grandmothers were adopted. The point is: I don’t honestly consider race based on skin color an issue, nor do I think I would, even if I was not outwardly white skinned. The candidates to me are not separated from the rest of us, or one another by race, gender, or religion for that matter. There are far more decisive rather than divisive criteria on which to evaluate their political strengths and weaknesses besides “race”.
What are your thoughts?