Two weeks ago, as part of the Training Week I had at my new job (FRISS), I had a training session on "Diversity and Inclusion" because ever since I started working with other people it's a subject that fascinates me. And even though I have hands-on experience on it, due to the multiple environments I have been put on, in particular after leaving Portugal, I want o learn more about it to overcome my shortcomings, as I still have some and as always we should aim to always be better and grow, in particular when it comes to this subject, that we can simplify into being a better human being and understand our fellow humans.
The curious thing was that the trainer was a South African guy, with a full English name (not Afrikaans), that spoke English with an authentic South African accent but looked like a person originating from the Indian subcontinent. And yes, his roots are from there, but his family was brought to South Africa by the British around 170 years ago. So they are living there in the land far longer than South Africa is an independent nation.
Does it make sense we still look at him and identify him as a "non-native" or as foreigner/immigrant, just because he's not black nor white like the ones we would consider native? For sure there are black people living there that came from elsewhere after the trainer's family was placed in the land. And actually he told a funny story about this because the locals, and himself used to be like that, don't usually like West Africans because they consider them to be untrustworthy, so it's not just based on skin colour or other physical traits.
Still my first thought when he said "I'm South-African" was "No, you're Indian!". And this is one of the issues we have in society today. I had that thought which can be understandable because it was based (and biased) on appearances alone, but some people would actually say it out loud, and other people would actually disagree that he's as South African as some of the other "natives". I at least changed my opinion when he told his family's history.
And moments later during the same session, we were shown a great video about a DNA experiment and then asked who of us had done one DNA test already. One of my colleagues that is Philippine shared about her's, and even though I can't remember the exact percentage, she had a substantial amount of Neanderthal DNA and she even said it was noticeable in her forehead. And it's true, she's a beautiful woman but her forehead is not at all proportional to the rest as one would expect (although one most likely wouldn't notice it at first glance) and that is because of her Neanderthal DNA.
And what got me thinking is that she looks to have Asian origins, judging just by her physical appearance, right? So Europeans like myself would consider her non-native, a foreigner, an outsider, likely an immigrant (I am an immigrant myself), but if we look at it, she's more "native" than the most of us!
Neanderthals are the native species of humans in Europe. The Homo Sapiens, the so called modern human, the species we all belong to, originated in Africa and then migrated to the rest of the world and in time acquired different physical characteristics in different areas of the globe.
So people with more percentage of Neanderthal can claim to have more "true European native" roots. They were already here when homo sapiens arrived (and eventually mingled).
I have never done a DNA test but am curious. Being from Portuguese family without a known outside origin in our ancestors, I'm probably a typical western european, with some north-african mixture there.
But physically I'm average height here in The Netherlands, but not being thin and blonde makes me look a bit more like a German (I asked some Dutch colleagues if I would pass as a local and they were the ones saying I looked more German). The fact I have a name with Germanic origins helps in that assessment I guess.
Curiously, according to this naming website it's in Brazil where my name is more popular followed by France and Switzerland. But I digress and I'm not here to talk about Bruno...
So the thing is, even though I look and sound a native European guy, my Philippine colleague has more "true european" (I know this a unique interpretation I'm giving it right one) roots than myself...
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