The NY Times Op-Ed section has an article about race today. It addresses whether race actually exists. Some snippets:
“There’s no genetic basis for any kind of rigid ethnic or racial classification at all,” said Bryan Sykes, the Oxford geneticist and author of “The Seven Daughters of Eve.” “I’m always asked is there Greek DNA or an Italian gene, but, of course, there isn’t. . . . We’re very closely related.”
On the other hand, genetic markers associated with Africans can turn up in people who look entirely white. Indians and Pakistanis may have dark skin, but genetic markers show that they are Caucasians.
Another complication is that African-Americans are, on average, about 17 percent white: they have mitochondria (maternally inherited) that are African, but they often have European Y chromosomes. In other words, white men raped or seduced their maternal ancestors.