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"So, it is a good time to step back and try to understand the underlying concept of race. Here`s a Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ] list about how to think about race. It`s a non-technical introduction to this topic that so confuses Americans."

" Q. Isn`t race just about skin color?

A. That`s a simplistic verbal shorthand Americans use to refer to ancestry. Nobody really acts as if they believe race is synonymous with skin color.

Q. What do you mean?

A. Consider the golfer Vijay Singh , who during 2004-2005 became the only man in this decade besides Tiger Woods to be the number one ranked player in the world. Singh, who was born in the Fiji Islands of Asian Indian descent, is much darker in skin color than Woods.

Singh is at least as dark as the average African-American. Yet, nobody in America ever thinks of Singh as black or African-American. There`s an enormous industry that celebrates the triumphs of blacks in nontraditional venues such as golf. But Singh`s accomplishments elicited minimal interest in the U.S.

A 2007 article, for example, asked where are all the black golf champions who were expected to emerge in the wake of Tiger Woods`s first Masters championship in 1997. It never mentions the blackest-skinned player on tour, Singh … because we`re not actually talking about skin color when we use the word “black,” we`re talking about sub-Saharan African ancestry."

" Q. In America, wasn`t there a “one-drop rule” for determining if one is a minority?

A. For blacks, yes: for American Indians, no. Herbert Hoover`s VP, Charles Curtis, was famous for being 1/8th Kaw Indian. Being a little bit Indian added glamor to his image.

Indian nations have the right to set ancestry minimums (generally, at least 1/4th) required for legal membership in the tribe, and they often police membership with a vengeance."

" Q. What`s an ethnic group?

A. The Census Bureau draws a sharp distinction between race and ethnicity, stating that individuals of Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race. The way the federal government uses the terms can be formalized like this:

A racial group is a partly inbred extended biological family.

“An ethnic group is one defined by shared traits that are often passed down within biological families—e.g., language, surname, religion, cuisine, accent, self-identification, historical or mythological heroes, musical styles, etc.—but that don`t require genetic relatedness."

" Q. Okay, what does it all mean?

A. It means it`s time for our intellectuals to grow up. The world is what it is. Making up fantasies about it, and demonizing scientists such as James Watson, just makes reality harder to deal with."