Blood has no ethnicity or race

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

Blood: That chemically complex and usually red fluid, that circulates through the vascular system of all human beings, and most vertebrates.

Consisting, essentially of semi-solid corpuscles suspended in plasma and delivering oxygen and nutrients to all the cells and tissues that make up, us humans; it has no distinctive feature other than to have different blood types, known as blood groups; and functions to distribute internal secretions, remove waste products, guard against infections, and help maintain homeostasis of the organism. Homoeostasis is the tendency of an organism or cell to regulate its internal conditions, such as the chemical composition of its body fluids to maintain health and functioning, regardless of outside conditions. The maintenance of a steady body temperature in warm-blooded animals is an example of homeostasis. In human beings, the homoeostatic regulation of body temperature involves such mechanisms as sweating when the internal temperature becomes excessive and shivering to produce heat, as well as the generation of heat through metabolic processes when the internal temperature falls too low.

Thus, blood has functions only determined by nature, and not man; and has no other characteristics other than those mentioned above. However, the vanity of man has made him coin words such as full-blood and half-blood, to denote kinship by descent; and race - especially that fools concept of a noble lineage as referred to by: blue-blood, even though the colour of it still remains crimson. “Blood is thicker than water” is another proverb that has surpassed the test of time. The generally accepted interpretation of the saying is that the bond of those related by blood is stronger than the bond of marriage or friendship. How true, yet how misunderstood is this saying. For that matter, all humanity is relater by blood. The only true distinction that can be, made if it need be, is the grouping by blood type; and that will not confirm relationship. This being so, where from arises issues such as: breed, clan, race, stock, and tribe; except by the deliberate cultivation by men of cunning, intent upon gaining advantage over other men. Such classification does not always insure a corresponding unity and nobility of mind; if it did, it would always act as a stimulus to noble actions. Instead, all it has done is to act as a clog rather than a spur, and divide the human race for the benefit of a few. Historically, race has been, is still, used to develop social class and hierarchies of power, privilege, and access. Racism becomes a direct byproduct of race.

Distinct

Groups of humans have probably always identified themselves as distinct from other groups; but such differences have always, not been understood to be natural, immutable, and global. The traditional definition of race and ethnicity is, related to biological and sociological factors respectively.

Race refers to a person's physical appearance, determined by genetic traits such as skin colour, eye colour, hair colour, bone/jaw structure. Ethnicity, on the other hand, relates to cultural factors such as nationality, culture, ancestry, language, and beliefs. These features are the distinguishing characteristics of how the concept of race, is used today. For example, take the Caucasian race. In his book Race; Ethnicity: The Aftermath, M. A. Mac Conaill describes the physical characteristics of Caucasians as being: “light of skin and eyes, narrow noses, and thin lips.

Their hair is usually straight or wavy.” A person whose appearance matches these characteristics is, said to be, a Caucasian. However, there are many ethnicities within the Caucasian race e.g. Irish, Welsh, German, French and Slovak. What differentiates these ethnic groups from each other is their country of origin, language they speak, cultural heritage and traditions, beliefs and rituals. Some attempted to use biological differences to infer levels of intelligence between the races. Using intellect tests and classifying races as less able were tactics used to qualify the level of superiority between various races. As a result, racial groups possessing relatively little power often find themselves excluded or oppressed, while hegemonic individuals and institutions are, charged with holding racist attitudes. Racism has led to many instances of tragedy, including slavery and genocide. Racial discrimination often coincides with racist mindsets, whereby the individuals and ideologies of one group come to perceive the members of an out-group as both racially defined and morally inferior. This use of racial categories is frequently criticised for perpetuating an outmoded understanding of human biological variation, and promoting stereotypes.

The science of racism was developing in Europe, and during this time, historians and philosophers, mostly European, attempted to rationalise and classify the various races that existed in the world. In a broad classification that defied rationality, they declared that there were four races in the world: the European man (white), the Asian man (yellow), the African man (black), and the American man (red). They also ranked these races, incorporating the hierarchical racist system of superiority; ranking their own race - since they, the Caucasians, are evaluating it - at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the yellow race, then the red, and ending with the black race. Today, all this has come to mean a meaningless exercise and classification because racism and race evolved out of the white man’s belief system subscribed to by many of the original colonist.

Traditions

This time in history was when White Europeans were expanding across the globe, which brought them in contact with the world’s dark hued people and their cultures, customs, and traditions. Originating primarily from the British Isles (England, Scotland, and Ireland) these colonists identified strongly with the myth of Anglo-Saxon racial superiority, which prided itself on racial purity, physical prowess, and beauty; love of independence, and their “gift” of creating democratic institutions. As with most falsely held beliefs, all their traits turned out to be fables and fiction; and their democratic institutions a comedy of errors.

The colonists no doubt conquered lands, but they conquered through deceit, cunning, and because of the complicity of the locals who were, disunited due to jealousy and greed of their own compatriots.

There is no correlation between race, ethnicity, and blood. While biologists sometimes use the concept of race to make distinctions among fuzzy sets of traits, others in the scientific community suggest that the idea of race often is used in a naïve or simplistic way, i.e. that among humans, race has no taxonomic significance: all living humans belong to the same species, Homo sapiens and subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens.

Race has been socially and legally constructed despite, the lack of any scientific evidence for dividing humanity into racial baskets. Race and ethnicity has no biological or genetic basis. At best, it is a classification system used to categorise humans into large and distinct populations or groups by anatomical, cultural, ethnic, genetic, geographical, historical, linguistic, religious, or social affiliation and to denote genetically differentiated human populations. Even these superficial differences are merging in the mist of time. Therefore, words such as race and ethnicity are now, often replaced by other words, which are less ambiguous and emotionally charged; such as populations, people(s), ethnic groups, or communities, depending on context.

Much of the violence that humanity suffers in our times is rooted in misunderstanding, and in our rejection of the values and identity of alien cultures based on race and ethnicity. What man must realize is that we have become, not a melting pot, but a beautiful mosaic: Different people; different beliefs; different yearnings; different hopes; different dreams; but a common mass with a goal, for all humanity.

If all life is, united by a single origin; and humanity, by blood; what matters, of all that which matter not? A good principle was never found solitary in any breast. Thus, a generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion is all that humanity needs for a happy and contented life; and for progress and prosperity of mankind.

See you this day next week. Until then, keep thinking; keep laughing. Life is mostly about these two activities.

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