Wikipedia says:
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species have subspecies, but for those that do there must be at least two.
Regarding humans:
Humans (Homo sapiens) are the most common and widespread species of primate [bold emphasis added].
What about subspecies of Homo sapiens? There’s this:
In 1978, Sewall Wright suggested that human populations that have long inhabited separated parts of the world should, in general, be considered different subspecies by the criterion that most individuals of such populations can be allocated correctly by inspection. Wright argued that, "It does not require a trained anthropologist to classify an array of Englishmen, West Africans, and Chinese with 100% accuracy by features, skin color, and type of hair despite so much variability within each of these groups that every individual can easily be distinguished from every other."
Political correctness (now wokeness) seems to have subdued straightforward observation a long time ago, insofar as the classification of Homo sapiens is concerned. This Wikipedia article exemplifies the attempt to erase what is obvious by dancing around the truth: Humans who evolved in different regions of the world belong to different subspecies, namely, races.
The observation that race is a “social construct” plays a leading role in the denial that racial differences are real and deep. My answer to that bit of verbal chicanery is here.
Other observations that are meant to deflect attention from substantive racial differences are of this type: Despite the differences across races, all humans beings have in common 96 percent of their genes. Well, if I told you that humans and chimpanzees have about the same percentage of their genes in common, would you consider chimpanzees to be nothing more than superficially different human beings who belong to the same species?
The descendants of ancient racial groupings, wherever they live, belong to the same racial grouping unless they are products of interbreeding. If you watch a lot of movies and TV fare, or live in a “cosmopolitan” urban area, you might believe that racial distinctions are on their way out because of the prevalence of interbreeding. But the vast majority of human beings still live in the same geographical areas in which their ancestors evolved, and are therefore necessarily denizens of different subspecies of humanity. Even those who live far from their genetic homelands tend to marry persons of the same race (e.g., some statistics for the U.S.).
Why does it matter that human beings belong to a variety of sub-species? A candid scientific admission of that fact would put an end to the nonsense the “we’re all the same under the skin”. We”re not, and it’s long past time to own up to it, and to quit using the power of the state to strive for a kind of equality that is unattainable.
Related posts by LV:
Critical Race Theory: Where It Really Leads
Intelligence: Selected Readings
IQ, Political Correctness, and America’s Present Condition
Other:
Nicholas Drummond, “The Fault Line of American Politics” (review of Heather Mac Donald’s When Race Trumps Merit), Law & Liberty, June 12, 2023