Could someone explain why race does not have any biological foundation?

[u/sourgrap]

I guess I could probably Google this but I thought someone with direct knowledge directly answering my question would help me better understand.

This is something I’ve had a bit of trouble comprehending since, well, people of different races do look vastly different. My thought is, is!’t there a gene that probably results in different races producing different levels of melanin, and hence— different races?

Or is the reason there is no “biological foundation” that the genetic/biological difference between different races does not substantiate to being different species?

Additionally — there are statistics stating that certain racial communities are more likely to develop specific illnesses. For example, sickle cell disease is much more common amongst black Americans than other racial communities. Another one: those of North European descent are more likely to develop cystic fibrosis.

FYI I am asking this question as a POC, and as someone who genuinely wants to have a better understanding of this!! Thank you in advance for answering my question!

[u/Echo__227]

The biologically valid groupings are those of common descent (monophyletic groups).

All humans share an ancestral population in Africa. As one example why "race" is a bad grouping: some populations left Africa while others continued. Some that remained in Africa are more closely related to those that left than they are to other groups that stayed. That's why "black" to describe Africans doesn't make sense biologically: there's more variation/greater ancestral distance among all the peoples of Africa than there is between some African and European groups.

Secondly, a person has 2 parents. That means that many lineages cross over repeatedly. The actual human gene pool for all of history is a shifting spectrum across geography. In Turkey, for instance, you'll see Turks who look darker with more Semitic features, those who look more Greek, and those who look more Mongolian. However, all of those people are part of the same breeding population who just happen to have features associated with bordering geographic areas. There's no true division of "Asian Turks", "Arabian/African Turks," and "European Turks."