Abolish the term "race"

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> While I agree with Dwight's points about race as 1. a social construct, and
> 2. its possible use as a referential biological construct varying to
> distinguish between various populations and groups with particular allele
> frequencies etc. I think that the using the word race to describe these
> clusters would not be in the interest of the profession.
> I would recommend that biological and physical anthropologists not use
> the word race to these very admirable ends, as the word has too much baggage
> associated and will tend to confuse rather than illuminate. Rather than
> trying to rehabilitate it, I think we should abandon it completely and use
> terms that we don't have to be defensive about. Just a thought.

It is much more than just a thought, it is wise to drop the term
"race" for good. For racists want everybody to discuss the
subject for political reasons, of course, notwithstanding their
claims -racionalizations- that race should not be left out of scientific
scrutiny, just as crime, sex, lying or any other kind of human trait or behaviour.

JC Garelli

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