From Deutsche Welle:

Don’t use the term ‘race,’ German scientists urge

Following the 100th anniversary of the death of the “German Darwin,” researchers have distanced themselves from the classification of humans into races. Scientific decency should preclude using the term “race,” they say.

Scientists at the University of Jena in eastern Germany have called for the term “race” to no longer be used, saying there is no biological basis for the classification of humanity into races.

“The primarily biological justification for defining groups of humans as races — for example based on the color of their skin or eyes, or the shape of their skulls — has led to the persecution, enslavement and slaughter of millions of people,” the scientists wrote in the Jena Declaration.

“However, there is no biological basis for races, and there has never been one. The concept of race is the result of racism, not its prerequisite,” they continued. …

Scientific research on genetic variations of human beings shows that “instead of definable boundaries, genetic gradients run between human groups,” say the scientists. “To be explicit, not only is there no single gene that underpins ‘racial’ differences, but there is not even a single base pair.”