Brethren,

Have a wonderful working week.
Enjoy the following.

Joe

Research Shows 11 Million White Britons Have 'Black' Blood
October 3, 1999

Desmond Davies, PANA Correspondent

LONDON, UK (PANA) - Some 11 million white Britons - one in five of the
population - have African or African-Caribbean blood relations, according
to Britain's leading geneticist, Dr Steve Jones, a lecturer at University
College London.

His research took him to census figures as far back as the 16th century, a
period when thousands of black people were living in London and the West
Country.

"It is inevitable that, given the length of time black people have been in
Britain and the population explosion over the past 400 years, that black
and white Britons have the same genes," Dr Jones said.

"Many people who think of themselves as white - although they may not want
to admit it - have a black ancestor."

Even the British royal family has 'black' blood, according to Dr Jones,
whose findings were featured in a television programme on the slave trade
broadcast Sunday across the country.

Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, was a direct descendant of the
illegitimate son of an African woman in the Portuguese royal household.

The grandfather of the Manchester United footballer, Ryan Giggs, came from
Sierra Leone.

He arrived in Cardiff in the 1950s as a seaman and settled in the Welsh
capital where he married a local woman.

Given the blood connections between black and white, traits of the genetic
blood disorder, sickle cell - thought to be confined only to those of
African descent - have been found among some white Britons.

"We have to accept that the rivers of genes, which flow through history,
run through each other all the time," Dr Jones pointed out.

The writer of the slave trade series, Trevor Phillips, who is black, said
of Dr Jones's research: "This shows that the word 'race' has no biological
meaning."




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:

        http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html

AAM Website:  http://www.danenet.wicip.org/aam
----------------------------------------------------------------------------