I say "bi-racial" for Asian/Caucasian. If I had kids, they would be bi-racial. It's an interesting thing, that drop of white blood. I'm as Japanese as Japenese gets, down the geneology line, so far as we know (although, really, where is that reddish hair coming from, then?) but people always assume that I'm part, because of the whole midwestern cornfed accent and attitudes. Four generations, people, what do you expect?

It's odd that it is treated so differently from black/white, though.

Hey, Kat, do you consider haoli/haole to be a derogatory term?

I'm as Japanese as Japenese gets, down the geneology line, so far as we know (although, really, where is that reddish hair coming from, then?)

The gene that determines redness of hair (MC1R) is separate from the genes that determine darkness of hair. Japanese and Korean people have a higher prevalence of the red version of MCR1 than most other Asian populations, although is still present in only a small percentage of the population, just as in Europeans. Because Japanese and Korean people have the dark versions of the other hair color genes the redness isn't as obvious as it is in northern Europeans. But it's always been there.

What's the normally occurring incidence of that gene in black folk, Rick?

Hey, Kat, do you consider haoli/haole to be a derogatory term?

It was meant to be derogatory, I think. I mean haole equates, in the usage I've been exposed to most often, as touristy, ignorant, not understanding.

There's also something interestingly matter-of-fact about the Hawaiian need to categorize people's backgrounds. I can remember introductions to people sounding like, "Oh, Heidi? She's hapa: German, Mexican, Japanese."

That's fascinating, Rick.

What's the normally occurring incidence of that gene in black folk, Rick?

I don't know, but people think that it was a mutation to enhance vitamin D absorption in northern climates, so it's probably pretty low. Really, about all I know is the consistent story that it's more common in people furthest north in Asia just as it is in the people furthest north in Europe. It does seem to me that I saw a paper once where they were trying to figure out why this allele was more common than expected in Jamaica, if that's why your are asking. Unfortunately, I don't remember what they found.

they were trying to figure out why this allele was more common than expected in Jamaica

I'm guessing that it's nothing as simple as all the miscegenating with the Scots, huh? Because there is a lot of that, and it's the cause in my family.

I'm guessing that it's nothing as simple as all the miscegenating with the Scots, huh? Because there is a lot of that, and it's the cause in my family.

I'm sure that this was one of the main options, but there were lots of places where the English imported Scots and Irish to their colonies, and redness shows up in Jamaica more than the others--or at least that is what I vaguely remember. But really, I think that the gene is at least partially dominant, so you don't need much of a difference in prevalence in the people being imported for it to be noticeable.

there were lots of places where the English imported Scots and Irish to their colonies, and redness shows up in Jamaica more than the others

Do they all have equivalent degrees of miscegenation? I don't think there was much of a genetic disparity between the slaves dropped off in Ja from the ones that went elsewhere, unless there's some tie between being unbearable and red hair.

I'd guess it'd have to lie somewhere else, that it'd be more likely some behaviour post-arrival encourage the spreading of the red (really, it's just what we call people who have a bunch of white blood in them -- redbones -- I don't know if that term is used in the US or not). And I'm way stressing the "guess" here.

I don't know about the degrees of Scot and Irish migration in other islands either -- but I think ours was primarily Scottish, NSM with the Irish.

ita, is there controversy regarding color in Jamaica (light skin v. dark skin) like there is in South America?