We are all African-- Does that disturb you?

Question

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two big genetic studies confirm theories that modern humans evolved in Africa and then migrated through Europe and Asia to reach the Pacific and Americas. The two studies also show that Africans have the most diverse DNA, and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations.

They tested these changes to qualify them as benign, or potentially affecting genes, amino acids and eventually proteins in a way that could damage health or make people less "fit" -- in evolutionary terms, less likely to survive and reproduce."Like every other study ... the African-American panel as a whole showed more variation than the European-American panel," [a team member stated]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080221/ts_nm/genes_humans_dc

Answer 1

Nope.  No more than the fact that we actually evolved from a fish like creature long before the great apes came along.

Answer 2

Nah. I'm red-headed and fair, mostly Irish, but my maternal great-grandfather was "colored". My mother and my brother have "asian" looking eyes, dark hair, and their skin is so brown that they've been mistaken for Hawaiian, Philippino, Mexican, Native American, and Chinese. I've always known I had African heritage.

PS  I'm still red-headed, but that's thanks to L'Oreal. I use the gray-haired avatar because it's age-appropriate. Thanks for asking. :-)

Answer 3

We are all animals. Does this disturb you?

In truth, what we consider our origin to be, be it Africa or some ancient sea or perhaps the Big Bang, doesn't change the fact that there has been very little genetic flow between European, African, and Asian populations until very recently, and this isolation has caused genetic differences far from superficial.

Many also underestimate the speed of evolution. They should read their science news less selectively:

“Beneficial genetic changes have appeared at a rate roughly 100 times higher in the past 5,000 years than at any previous period of human evolution, the researchers determined. They added that about 7 percent of human genes are undergoing rapid, relatively recent evolution.”

“Harpending said the genetic evidence shows that people worldwide have been getting less similar rather than more similar due to the relatively recent genetic changes.”

“Genes have evolved relatively quickly in Africa, Asia and Europe but almost all of the changes have been unique to their corner of the world. This is the case, he said, because since humans dispersed from Africa to other parts of the world about 40,000 years ago, there has not been much flow of genes between the regions.”

Answer 4

It certainly would not disturb me if I found that even my grandparents were African, I would surely be proud, as most people are of their descent.

Anyway, though the humankind evolved in Africa, this certainly does not make us "all African".  Africa is a relatively modern name for a continent.  Africa as such did not exist 100,000 years ago, it was just another mass of land.  We are whatever we are.  I would call myself British if my parents had migrated here just 30 years ago.

Anthropology and politics do not mix well.

Answer 5

It doesn't bother me. People continually putting the 'out of Africa' date at 60k ago bothers me, sine they've found modern human remains in China over 100k old, and some in Morocco about 162k old.

"Africans have the most diverse DNA, and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations."

Is that a not very subtle racist dig at white people? Because I read the article twice, and I didn't see that info in it anywhere.

I saw this..

"The one thing that I think we cannot say from this study is that any one person's genome is any healthier or evolutionarily fit than another person's genome," said Carlos Bustamante of Cornell University in New York, who worked on one study.

Answer 6

So, what you're really asking, in a round-a-bout way, is "Are you racist?"  I'm really happy that science confirms what rational, intelligent people already know - that there's no such thing as an inferior or superior race of people - but I wouldn't say that I'm African because the first human was born somewhere on the continent anymore than I would say that I'm Scottish because my mom was born in Ayr.  

But no, whether metaphorically or literally speaking, the idea doesn't bother me.

Answer 7

didn't we already know that...?

whatever, no that doesn't disturb me.

Answer 8

nope im proud of it, and guess wat, every1 with blue eyes is distantly related!!!! its  a genetic mutation!!!!! im related to famous hot guys!!!

Answer 9

It doesent disturb me, but.............I think that all different so called races where distributed across this planet by a higher intelligence or GOD.  I believe human diversity was created with their differences from the get go.  If you look at this world it is all about diversity.  Not conformity from one to what we see today.  I just can't see a black person adapting to the environment and changing to a white person or to any other color with the features of hair and eye characteristics.

Answer 10

This refers to the Siberian  migrations the Clovis point, It is now believed ,from several digs that early  Europeans followed the ice shelf to the eastern part of the u.s., and the Clovis was actually a flash fire of technology. The earliest points found belong to the Europeans , not the  Clovis .This is further shown by western digs that points found that were not Clovis were much earlier than thought. The fact that we may all be African still remains true. But with thousands of years of temperate and geaneoligcal differance

Answer 11

Jesus was black?

Answer 12

No it does not disturb me. Being a science major while I was in college, I was bound by empirical evidence. I happen to believe it is culture that divides people more than race.