Racism is inherent in many organisations and often a topic in the news. Wherever and whenever it is identified the usual response is to ‘fight’ it. The racism has to be rooted out, stopped, and the people involved reeducated. But this response is a negative reaction to a negative situation, and two negatives will not lead to a positive outcome. Racists are being asked or commanded to stop feeling racist; it’s likely to be no more effective than asking a gambler to stop gambling, an alcoholic to stop drinking, or a child to stop being afraid of the dark.

Let’s look at the human animal from another perspective. Archaeology is revealing that Homo sapiens did not develop directly from an ape ancestor – there is no straight line of evolution that links us with chimpanzees. We didn’t descend from the trees and take up a vertical way of life. Instead, the evidence is increasingly in favour of a much more messy evolution. There were many pre-human (hominim) species and, later, several distinct human species with individuals who would not look out of place in a modern city. Instead of a single simple line of descent, there was a tangled web of interactions and frequent interbreeding between various human species. We may claim uniqueness but we are mongrels.

So instead of tackling racism by denouncing it as being inhuman and inhumane, why not persuade people to value the great diversity of physical structure and skin colour encompassed by our species. Let’s get excited about our origins and respect human differences rather than claim superiority for any one of the many outcomes of our evolution.