Big brotheR
01-17-2007, 09:59 PM
We Are One (http://www.cathyheather.net/ruminations/?p=43) Society
Why do some people seem to feel that the color of their skin and the origins of their ancestors make them superior to others with different skin color and/or origins? To be perfectly honest, I do not understand why, in these far more enlightened times, racial and cultural prejudices still exist.
Recent new fossil finds in Ethiopia (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20030609/oldesthuman.html) are beginning to clarify the “Out of Africa” theory for the origin of modern humans. This theory holds that “they then migrated to other regions, starting with the Middle East and then heading northwards and westwards into Europe and eastwards into Asia, eventually crossing into the Americas via Alaska.” A Google search of “origin of humans” turns up this interesting link (http://www.fact-index.com/e/ev/evolution_of_homo_sapiens_1.html):
Since the mid-1990s, there has been a remarkable convergence of views about the evolution of Homo sapiens amongst paleoanthropologists, geneticists, and molecular biologists. This convergence is the subject of books such as Steve Olsen’s Mapping Human History (2002). This modern synthesis is also remarkable for its specificity. For example, there is strong scientific evidence supporting these conclusions:
around 2 to 2.5 million years ago, the genus Homo first appeared;
about 7,500 generations have passed since the appearance of modern humans;
every person alive today is descended from a relatively small group of individuals living in Africa sometime between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago; (emphasis mine)
mitochondrial Eve lived about 150,000 years ago;
Y-chromosomal Adam lived between 35,000 and 90,000 years ago.
So, if all of us have descended from one group of individuals, how can we justify prejudice? Skin color and facial features like the shapes of eyes and noses are nothing more than traits determined by geography and climate over time. Our basic DNA is the same. We all bleed red blood. Our brains are all the same size. Unless a person is born with a specific handicap affecting the brain, we all have the same capacity to learn. And none of us is more “superior” than anyone else. We are essentially all the same.
What got me to thinking about this was listening to Peter, Paul and Mary singing a song written by Peter Yarrow called River of Jordan. Like many of their songs, it carries a message worth listening to and repeating:
River of Jordan
I traveled the banks of the River of Jordan
To find where it flows to the sea.
I looked in the eyes of the cold and the hungry
And I saw I was looking at me.
I wanted to know if life had a purpose
And what it all means in the end.
In the silence I listened to voices inside me
And they told me again and again.
There is only one river. There is only one sea.
And it flows through you, and it flows through me.
There is only one people. We are one and the same.
We are all one spirit. We are all one name.
We are the father, mother, daughter and son.
From the dawn of creation, we are one.
We are one.
Every blade of grass on the mountain
Every drop in the sea
Every cry of a newborn baby
Every prayer to be free
Every hope at the end of a rainbow
Every song ever sung
Is a part of the family of woman and man
And that means everyone.
We are only one river. We are only one sea.
And it flows through you, and it flows through me.
We are only one people. We are one and the same.
We are all one spirit. We are all one name.
We are the father, mother, daughter and son
From the dawn of creation, we are one.
We are one.
Why do some people seem to feel that the color of their skin and the origins of their ancestors make them superior to others with different skin color and/or origins? To be perfectly honest, I do not understand why, in these far more enlightened times, racial and cultural prejudices still exist.
Recent new fossil finds in Ethiopia (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20030609/oldesthuman.html) are beginning to clarify the “Out of Africa” theory for the origin of modern humans. This theory holds that “they then migrated to other regions, starting with the Middle East and then heading northwards and westwards into Europe and eastwards into Asia, eventually crossing into the Americas via Alaska.” A Google search of “origin of humans” turns up this interesting link (http://www.fact-index.com/e/ev/evolution_of_homo_sapiens_1.html):
Since the mid-1990s, there has been a remarkable convergence of views about the evolution of Homo sapiens amongst paleoanthropologists, geneticists, and molecular biologists. This convergence is the subject of books such as Steve Olsen’s Mapping Human History (2002). This modern synthesis is also remarkable for its specificity. For example, there is strong scientific evidence supporting these conclusions:
around 2 to 2.5 million years ago, the genus Homo first appeared;
about 7,500 generations have passed since the appearance of modern humans;
every person alive today is descended from a relatively small group of individuals living in Africa sometime between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago; (emphasis mine)
mitochondrial Eve lived about 150,000 years ago;
Y-chromosomal Adam lived between 35,000 and 90,000 years ago.
So, if all of us have descended from one group of individuals, how can we justify prejudice? Skin color and facial features like the shapes of eyes and noses are nothing more than traits determined by geography and climate over time. Our basic DNA is the same. We all bleed red blood. Our brains are all the same size. Unless a person is born with a specific handicap affecting the brain, we all have the same capacity to learn. And none of us is more “superior” than anyone else. We are essentially all the same.
What got me to thinking about this was listening to Peter, Paul and Mary singing a song written by Peter Yarrow called River of Jordan. Like many of their songs, it carries a message worth listening to and repeating:
River of Jordan
I traveled the banks of the River of Jordan
To find where it flows to the sea.
I looked in the eyes of the cold and the hungry
And I saw I was looking at me.
I wanted to know if life had a purpose
And what it all means in the end.
In the silence I listened to voices inside me
And they told me again and again.
There is only one river. There is only one sea.
And it flows through you, and it flows through me.
There is only one people. We are one and the same.
We are all one spirit. We are all one name.
We are the father, mother, daughter and son.
From the dawn of creation, we are one.
We are one.
Every blade of grass on the mountain
Every drop in the sea
Every cry of a newborn baby
Every prayer to be free
Every hope at the end of a rainbow
Every song ever sung
Is a part of the family of woman and man
And that means everyone.
We are only one river. We are only one sea.
And it flows through you, and it flows through me.
We are only one people. We are one and the same.
We are all one spirit. We are all one name.
We are the father, mother, daughter and son
From the dawn of creation, we are one.
We are one.