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Are Somalis really a black?

My somali friends class themselves as black and I would consider them to be black....

One of them told me that somalis were Arabs though which was a bit iffy but hey, ethnicity and race and nationality and all that crap, doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things eh.

Yes, they are.

Original post by Rtcw

Horn of Africa people (Specifically, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and some parts of Kenya), all look very different to regular black people. Why's this?

africa is a massive continent and there is genetic variation within the "black race" ..... I think there is some arab influence in the genetics of somalis/sudanese perhaps? Not sure..

I'm white british, but I don't look like the typical englishman (pale skin, light hair etc) ... It doesn't mean that I'm not really white.... (my parents are of italian/sardinian origin)

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 23

Rtcw

OP

14

Original post by MonkeyMan2009

africa is a massive continent and there is genetic variation within the "black race" ..... I think there is some arab influence in the genetics of somalis/sudanese perhaps? Not sure..

I'm white british, but I don't look like the typical englishman (pale skin, light hair etc) ... It doesn't mean that I'm not really white.... (my parents are of italian/sardian origin)

Yes, I understand Africa is massive place but if you look, you cannot tell the difference from South African to West African, or Central African to West African and vice versa. However, you could tell the difference if the person is from Horn of Africa.

Funky, it is possible they could be mixed with arabs or they have came from north of Africa like previous commenters in this thread have said so.

Reply 24

Slow+Confused

3

Original post by Rtcw

Horn of Africa people (Specifically, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and some parts of Kenya), all look very different to regular black people. Why's this?

What do you mean by 'regular black people' though? For me, as an African, I classify myself as black due to my roots, but I don't have a very dark complexion and have sometimes been mistaken for being Asian or Arab, and once Somali. I look different to Ethiopians and Kenyans, in the same way I look different to African Americans.

To be honest, there are so many black people in the world you can't expect them to all look similar because genes can very so much.

Reply 25

Scarface-Don

17

Original post by Rtcw

Horn of Africa people (Specifically, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and some parts of Kenya), all look very different to regular black people. Why's this?

Because they used to have a large Arab population due to migration across the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden/Arabian Sea. The Arabic and African populations integrated and mixed over the years which results into a group that looks different from the rest of the African population.

Reply 26

Flying Flowers

Of course Somalians are black.

Reply 27

Flying Flowers

Original post by Trigger2

Ugandan people are genetically more different from kenyans than a kenyan is to a white person in Britain. Fact.

Probably the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard and blacks are genetically the most distant race from whites.

Reply 28

jason0

Original post by Flying Flowers

Probably the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard and blacks are genetically the most distant race from whites.

Whites came from the africans who migrated 10s of thousands of years ago, to the western world. The climate change, had a major impact on the features of white peopl, including skin colour. This means that whites are distant from blacks not the other way around. Somalians get there features from the Italians who raped there women, during the european colonization of africa.

Reply 29

Flying Flowers

Original post by jason0

Whites came from the africans who migrated 10s of thousands of years ago, to the western world. The climate change, had a major impact on the features of white peopl, including skin colour. This means that whites are distant from blacks not the other way around. Somalians get there features from the Italians who raped there women, during the european colonization of africa.

Actually that is arguable. Studies have shown that whites are the most genetically distant race from blacks

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 30

JamesLanek

Original post by jason0

Whites came from the africans who migrated 10s of thousands of years ago, to the western world. The climate change, had a major impact on the features of white peopl, including skin colour. This means that whites are distant from blacks not the other way around. Somalians get there features from the Italians who raped there women, during the european colonization of africa.

From Italians? Your whole post reeks of ignorance and utter fail. Somalia was colonised by Britain and Italy and that was only a 100 years ago, not thousands of years ago. Look at this pic to see how Somalis looked 100 years ago on a British ship- http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.5417/Somalis-on-the-quaterdeck-of-HMS-Venus-at-Singapore.html

Reply 31

TRS-T

13

Somalians are like Black Other (as opposed to Black African and Black Caribbean)

Also, for equality sake, all Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Mongolian etc must be classified as yellow.

Reply 32

TRS-T

13

Somalians are Black Arabs?

As opposed to Black Africans?

Reply 33

MonkeyMan2009

13

Original post by Rtcw

Yes, I understand Africa is massive place but if you look, you cannot tell the difference from South African to West African, or Central African to West African and vice versa. However, you could tell the difference if the person is from Horn of Africa.

Funky, it is possible they could be mixed with arabs or they have came from north of Africa like previous commenters in this thread have said so.

There are subtle differences which not everyone can pick up on.... I can generally tell the differnce between an east and west african and south african...

although europeans are white, there are differences between southern and northern europeans which are noticeable, although they are both "white"..... I can tell the difference between northern,southern and eastern europeans....

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 34

MonkeyMan2009

13

Original post by TRS-T

Somalians are like Black Other (as opposed to Black African and Black Caribbean)

Also, for equality sake, all Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Mongolian etc must be classified as yellow.

what a moron!

Reply 35

Silver Arrow

19

Original post by Sweyn Forkbeard

Africa's a pretty big continent; not everyone looks the same. In that particular region there has been a lot of mixing with Arabs and probably with the original inhabitants of Egypt over hundreds or thousands of years.