Something to think about. I propose an unpopular, but interesting idea. Let’s explore it:
Two different troops of chimpanzees, both living in Africa, have less genetic similarities with each other than ANY TWO HUMAN BEINGS ON EARTH.
Take any two dog breeds (Doberman, Golden Retriever, Australian Cattle Dog), and even though we treat them with the same respect and ‘rights’ (they’re all equally dogs), they, too, have much, much, much, MUCH more genetic differential than any two human ‘breeds’.
Yes, to us, human beings look different than other human beings.
However, as it turns out, the human race is nothing more than a SPECIES OF CLONES, much like a hive of ants or bees. Even though we have slightly different shades of pigmentation, differences in build or hair color, &c., these differences are negligible at best.
If aliens were to land on Earth, all they could say about us humans is “they all look alike to us”. 
Since we wiped out our closest humanoid cousins (Neanderthals), we’ve just been travelin’ 'round, breeding with each other for all these thousands of years, methodically eliminating any genetic differentials though our human love of travel and sex.
Add to genetic science the fact that anthropologists can’t even agree on how to classify the ‘human races’. How many are there? How do you classify Semites? Central Asiatics? Northeast Europeans? Indians? Australian ‘aborigines’? Polynesians?
Are ‘aborigines’ ‘black’? Are Italians as ‘white’ as Germans? How about Turks? Russians? It gets pretty stupid folks!
As the anthropolists point out, there ARE NO ‘PURE’ human races. EVERYBODY ON EARTH is a mutt. A hybrid. Everyone on earth has the blood of a neighboring ‘tribe’ or ‘race’ lingering 'round somewhere. Instead of ‘racial lines’, we have a global ‘racial’ swath of cloudiness and confusion. The fake idea of ‘race’ thus gets confused with the very real phenomena of culture or nationalism.
Well, since there are no pure ‘prototype’ races with which to compare, and since the genetic differences between us are so infintessimally small (a geneticist cannot tell someone’s race just by looking at their genes alone!!!), the whole thing seems arbitrary and stupid to me.
So, given all this, should we not simply:
a) acknowledge that people have slighly varying physical traits that are due to minute genetic differences?
b) eliminate ‘race’ as the definition of anything? It doesn’t EXIST!
c) concentrate on culture as the defining legacy of human beings that separates us into groups, instead of ‘race’?
Afterall, if someone has 1 ‘black’ parent and 1 ‘white’ parent (in America, at least), they’re considered ‘black’. What does that even mean? Nothing. All that matters is culture (identifying more with “black” culture instead of “white” culture). Same with kids with one ‘Hispanic’ parent or a ‘Jewish’ mother (hispanic, itself, being a made-up non-existent race. Mexicans, for example, come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Brown, peach, lilly, and red. Same with ‘Jewish’. Israel looks like it’s full of “white guys” to me. It’s really about culture, not race, is it not, if we’re honest with ourselves?).
Was Jimi Hendrix “Black” or “Native American”? Was he “Black Enough”? Who cares?
Add politics to the confusion of race in genetic science and anthropology. In America, legally, there is NO PRECEDENT for determining someone’s “race”. REALLY! If you fill out on every legal document that you’re “Black” or “Native American”, as long as you’re consistent, you are what you declare you are! REALLY! No one has EVER been challenged for being a race other than what they claim.
I know a guy who has filled out “Native American” on every document that asks. He considers himself “White”, really. But it has gotten him benefits. Lower interest rates from the bank. Preferential treatment from other institutions. Dishonest? Perhaps. But does race even exist anyway?
In America, there is no legal precedent for ‘lying’ about ‘race’. Here, you can declare yourself any race you want, and be legally assured in that decision, with no negative repercussions (as long as you’re consistent). No one’s ever been brought to court for not being “black enough” or “native american enough”.
If you want to be “Black”, or “Hispanic”, in America, you can! Even if your skin is lilly white. At least, on paper you can (darker skinned people might challenge you on your assumption – then again, they might not – it depends on how well you can fit in culturally, doesn’t it? Afterall, isn’t Eminem “Black” and J. C. Watts “White”?).
It’s all just culture and nationalism. Not race. Race doesn’t exist. It’s a figment.
I say, I for one have NO RACE, save the HUMAN RACE. I declare myself raceless. If anyone asks what ‘race’ I am, I’ll answer ‘human’.
Being brought up “white” in America, I was, I must admit, blessed with an immense cultural gift. I grew up never thinking about my own “race”. It didn’t exist. I wasn’t a “white” guy… just a guy. My opinions weren’t shaped by my “race”. What music I liked wasn’t shaped by my “race”. Who I made friends with wasn’t shaped by my “race”.
Well, isn’t it about time we try and extend that cultural gift to others? To liberate others from the baggage of artificially contrived ‘race’? I’ve heard “black” folk say that their “blackness” enters into their thought processes and self-awareness often. Well, wouldn’t it be nice if, according to the Martin Luther King Dream, they didn’t have to think about race AT ALL? EVER? And wouldn’t the best way to achieve that goal be to eliminate RACE ENTIRELY? Eliminate it from college entrance considerations? Eliminate it from job applications? Eliminate it from loan applications? Eliminate it from the census? Eliminate it from politics? Eliminate it from everything?
Seems right to me. Isn’t “race” just a bullshit cover for culturalism?
I say, if you want to join or participate in a culture, then do it! But leave that ‘race’ bullshit at home. It doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing. The emperor has no clothes.
Just a thought. I could be wrong.