is France's Mehdi Baala white?

[yanling]

?Edited by: yanling

 

[white is right]

It depends what you define as white. He caucasian but he is an ethnic arab too.

 

[Cartouche]

It depends what you define as white. He caucasian but he is an ethnic arab too.

Half European/Frenchman (mother), Half Berber (father). One must take into consideration that about 50% ancestors of today's Berbers came from Iberia after the end of the Ice Age! And the influx of European genes continued during the Roman times. Hence many Berbers - especially Riffians and Kabyles - look like Europeans. About 20% Berbers is of Sub-Saharan African origin and the rest are descendants of old Europids, who came from the Levant 40 000 years ago. The Berbers from Morocco and northern Algeria are thus 80% Europoid (Caucasoid) and 20% *******.


Edited by: Cartouche

 

[devans]

A four year old British girl named Madeleine McCann disappeared whils on Holiday with her family in Portugal this Summer. She is white with fair hair. This has been big news in Europe. A Spanish tourist thought she spotted something suspicious while on holiday in Morrocco - a small blonde girl, who looked very like Madeleine, being carried on horseback by some Morrocans.
Here is the girl...

Turns out the Girl is a local Berber child, the daughter of an Olive farmer.

Article

This made look into the Berber people in more depth because it is apparently not unusual for Berbers to have pale skin and blonde or reddish hair. One article I found even linked their ancient language to some european Celtic and Gallic groups - but I am not sure how true this is yet. The Berbers were once the dominent ethnic group across North Africa but have been pretty much displaced by Arabs in most North African countries.

 

[reclaimsocal]

It wasn't very long ago (I believe 6th century) that the Vandals (Germanic) and Alans (Steppe Aryans) set up a kingdom in North Africa. It didn't last very long, but it was a complete migration of their peoples and I'm sure it left a dent in their gene pool. If it weren't for the Eastern Roman Empire and the Vandal King breaking down on the battle field after hearing of the death of his brother, they may have lasted and North Africa might have been a much different place.

 

[devans]

Thanks for the info reclaimsocial. I did see some mention of germanic tribes reaching Africa through Iberia. I also read that the Berbers of Morroco were also prone to taking slaves from Europe, which has also probabaly changed their gene pool.

 

[OC football]

Small, unofficial, white populations can be found thoughout the Middle East and North Africa. Just as small, unofficial, Semetic groups can be found thoughout Southern Europe. No way of knowing how large these respective populations truely are.

What we do know, however, is that if a person has dominate genes then those traits always show. However, it is possible for recessive traits to remain dormant for centuries. A child with two dark parents could be born with blond hair and blue eyes, the opposite is impossible. There exists a fair amount of recessive decent in North Africa / Middle East that occasionally pops up.

 

[JoeV]

North African Berbers are exactly why I don't use the term African American to describe black people. For one, 97%+ of blacks in America have never or will never see the African continent. For two, there are many people with pale skin in Africa, who if they came to America, would technically be considered African-American, not black.