Liber ab Exodus (Book of Departure)^67
According to Barbara, prior to her arrest she was taunted, ‘Haven’t you people got
anything better to do?’ My gods, our gods, who are these ‘you people’?Our Story Begins in Africa
If all of current humanity began with only one mother, how is it that we look so
different? Do we each not have two feet, two hands, two eyes? And what of race? If we
were all born of one mother, why is it there are different races of human beings?
In this matter, better questions are: Do we look all that different? Are there mul-
tiple races of humanity? The answer to both is a resounding no. In fact, any two mem-
bers of humanity are about as closely related as two can be without being the same
person. In the vastness of the human race, there are no two human beings that are
further apart then two members of even the smallest community of other creatures.
That is to say, if you take a tall black man with brown eyes and a short white woman
with blue eyes, the amount of genetic diversity between the two is less than the amount
of genetic diversity found within any one pack of wolves. There is only one race of
humanity, that being the human race. As such, in my view of Wicca, there is seen only
one Mother and only one Father.
Of the few differences seen within that race, few can be attributed to anything
other than sexual selection. Skin color is an example. You may have noticed that in
colder climates folk tend to have lighter skin. In warmer climates, folk tend to have
darker skin. This is because skin pigment is humanity’s way of protecting it from dan-
gerous ultraviolet radiation. Dark skin inhibits the absorption of the ultraviolet spec-
trum of sunlight like a natural sun tan lotion. However, if we do not receive enough
exposure to ultraviolet radiation, our skin cannot produce vitamin D. Without vitamin
D, we develop rickets, which is characterized by defective bone growth. In Africa, where
all life began, dark skin means a healthy body because it prevents one from being re-
peatedly burned by that ultraviolet radiation, resulting in horrible disfigurement due
to cancerous growths. Because the amount of ultraviolet light striking the earth of Af-
rica is great, there is little concern or worry about vitamin D deficiency or the develop-
ment of rickets even if one has the darkest of skin. But as one moves away from the
intense ultraviolet radiation, dark skin pigmentation causes one to suffer from vitamin
D deficiencies and become horribly disfigured due to rickets. The fact of the matter is,
folk who are horribly disfigured do not tend to breed as often as folk who are not
horribly disfigured. This observation is called sexual selection. While it is not the only
way in which we evolve, it is certainly a major contributor.
As we migrated away from the birthplace of Ash and Elm, we changed—not in a
thought out or deliberate attempt to adapt to our environment, but in a constant ongo-
ing attempt to select the best possible genes for our children. I hesitate to call this
evolution because that would give the idea that a white person is more evolved than a
black person is, and that simply is not the case. A light-skinned person is simply the
product of a line of folk who preferred sex with lighter-skinned people because the
darker-skinned people were either becoming disfigured or dying due to a vitamin Dj WB Chap 03.p65 67 7/11/2003, 5:48 PM