Underlying questions for this unending American obsession with race - an obsession, by the way, which is meant to divert social pressures away from class conflicts or the friction between the haves and have-nots...
1)Is mind separate from body?
Does appearance expose essence or does it hide it?
Metaphysically speaking is appearance superfluous or is it, along with mind, part of the same phenomenon?
2)Does environment affect only the physical form or does it also affect psychology and intellect? If not, then how does intelligence evolve at all?
3)If skin color is irrelevant then why is form or smell or taste or sound?
Why is color relevant in one context and totally irrelevant in another?
4)If appearance is to be considered an illusion, as Buddhists assert, or superficial, as egalitarianisms asserts, then what are species or elements or any categories and why is there multiplicity?
Is nature a prankster or superfluous, or is nature frugal and indifferent?
Have we wronged other animals by judging them on appearances?
5)If we are to consider the possibility that modern social rules enforce a strict code of conduct which denies the usage of advantages which are considered disruptive and destructive, calling them immoral or evil or ill, then would it not be natural to observe a uniformity of behavior and of performance within a population thusly constricted, giving off the erroneous impression that they are all equally endowed and share equal potentials?
Does not, for instance, the playing of a game within specified and strictly enforced rules not create a level of uniformity we can call a median or mediocrity?
6)If nurture can be blamed for all divergence from this average, mediocre, norm, then what is nature?
The usage of nurture, as the only determining aspect of behavior or action, implies that man is self-determining and that he has overcome his past (genetic or otherwise), and that he has free-will. Why then does this free-will require training/education and a reward/threat system to come forth?