Obama's mom was not really "white"

[antigone382]

64. In a very general sense you can, but intermarriage is not at all a new thing.

With the possible exception of Native Americans, who are pretty much all of Asian descent (though they came over in three separate waves), we're all so mixed with each other that making clear-cut definitions is simply impossible. That doesn't mean that observable physical characteristics are not useful at times--for example, another victory for forensic anthropology: we know that Native Americans came over in three waves because of the increasing prevalence of shovel-shaped incisors (a trait associated with modern Asians), and the direct correlation between incisor shape and the three different language families among Native groups--in other words, the three waves of immigrations into the New World were completed by three different ethnic groups, who had different languages and physical characteristics that are fairly clear and consistent.

In addition, there are definitely ways that we can identify the adaptability of certain physical traits, such as skin tone, body structure, and even the prevalence of sickle cell anemia. But there is no consistent way of applying these findings to any clear racial classifications. Rather, the mysteries of human migration and interconnectedness have been unlocked in some incredibly surprising ways through the analysis of mitochondrial DNA. We've found, for example, that the dark skinned, curly-haired people of Papua New Guinea, who by outward appearances would seen very closely related to Africans, are actually more closely related to Europeans--and that Africans are also more closely related to Europeans than they are to New Guineans.