Can racial groups merge?
A. Over time, yes. Think of the term “Anglo-Saxon.” The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes intermarried until they lost their separate identities. (The Jutes even lost their name.) Similarly, the official ideology of Mexico is that whites and Indians have merged seamlessly into La Raza Cosmica, “The Cosmic Race.” (African Mexicans play the role of the forgotten Jutes.) The reality is different, but the mestizaje propaganda isn’t wholly false. Q. But race is just identity politics! A. Well, there’s a reason that identity politics are a big deal. However you feel about all the various kinds of identity politics, you need to understand them. People tend to organize politically around some aspects of shared identity, but not around others. For example, language and religion tend to be politically salient, but not handedness. No politician fears the Lefthanders Lobby, because left-handedness is distributed too randomly throughout the population. Sex can be politically relevant, but it frequently tur
