The molecular entity most ALL humans share! Albino? No? Then you have melanin too!
Melanin defined...
Just what is it?
Melanin is a molecular entity that adds color. ALL humans except Albino's have Melanin. White. Black. Latino. Asian. Indian. Native American. You can come from anywhere on the earth... you can have the purest, whitest skin, yet if you are not an Albino, you DO have melanin coursing through your body.
While we believe this fact should unite us as ONE RACE, the human race, we also understand the need for a really good understanding. Knowledge is after all, powerful, and hopefully in this case, life changing. For the better. Knowing that we all share this element, whether in a tiny degree or whether it fully courses through our bodies, it is there.
If you can tan, you have Melanin. If you have an age spot, a freckle, a mole, you have melanin.
The most clear cut definer of melanin's existence in one's body really is whether or not one is Albino... the only human beings on the earth who live without melanin, or in very rare cases, a very diminished amount, so miniscule that they still do not produce color... from their skin, to their eyes/pupils, and so forth.
Let's break it all down...
MELAS = BLACK
Melanin comes from the Greek word melas which means black/dark. Melanin is comprised of a group of pigments found in most organisms, including humans. Again, all humans, except Albino's. Where does it come from? Why does it exist? Just what is it?
There is a multistaged chemical process call Melanogenisis. It's a pretty intense process that includes oxidation and polymerization. if science is not your forte, this could get a little technical, so we will try to keep it sweet and simple. For those like our very own Basil DeMars who love science, well, we have a wonderful link below to Wikipedia and a few other sources where you can go wild in the Melanin world of science. It's quite an interesting journey!
Let's try and stay with laymen's terms here. And get an easily digestible understanding.
HUMAN ALBINISM. ALBUS = WHITE
Let's first delve deeper into Albinism, to understand why these beautiful and select humans who are fully our brothers and sisters are without Melanin.
Did you know that the Latin term for white is Albus? This is where the word Albino is derived from. Albus. Meaning white. It is a Malanin-less world. Albus/Albino/whiteness...
There is a copper containing enzyme called tyrosinase. To produce Melanin, this enzyme must be present. Albino's are born without this enzyme. They alone can really claim to be white. Everyone else, no matter how pale their skin, really are people of color... people/humans with color/Melanin! How fascinating indeed! To think that so much hatred in our worlds over centuries has revolved around skin color when all of us (except Albino's) share color, just in various degrees!
Albinism and Melanism are the two ends of the color spectrum. Every human being falls into either the Albinism or Melanism subset of humanity.
WHITE- THE ABSENCE OF ALL COLOR
BLACK - THE ABSORPTION OF ALL COLOR
MELANIN - VARIOUS DEGREES OF ALL COLOR
Some Albino's who have a very diminished portion of Melanin, fall into a very distinct sub category of Albinism that is termed Albinoid. They still live within the human spectrum of Albinism versus Melanism and have the distinction of being the only true "White" folk in our race. EVERYONE else has some color/melanin and can either tan, ever so little, or fully, have freckles, moles/agespots/MelaninDots!
ONE RACE, HUMAN.
That knowledge makes it so easy to determine if one is truly white or a person of color! What a revelation! Just think if the world really and truly embraced this concept! How could one still then spread hate based on a molecular entity/chemical process that is they too share? Melanin is shared by all humans who are not Albino! Albino's and Melano's/people of color! That's really it!
Like the settings on a toaster, toast can range from barely toasted, like the meat of an almond/pale tan in color to the darkest fully charred blackness resembling blackened chicken or a cast iron skillet. Still, it's all toasted. And it's all bread. We are all human. In this characterization, Albino's would be the untoasted brioche of the world, where EVERYONE else would be toasted brioche in various degrees/at graduated settings from the lightest possible toast to the deepest darkest toast!
MELANIN
Okay, now that we've gotten a better understanding of what Melanin is not (Albus - whiteness), let's go a little deeper into just what Melanin is (color/pigmentation).
From our hair, to our skin to the layer of tissue under our irises in our eyes, for all non Albino's melanin is present. It's even present in our brain tissue, specifically the medulla and brainstem. There is Melanin present in our inner ear and our adrenal glands. It's an important and vital component in our bodies.
UV PROTECTION
One of the greatest benefits of Melanin, besides beautiful tanned skin is the protection from harmful UV rays. This is why ancestrally speaking African's and other human groups/peoples who live(d} close to the equator have so much more Melanin than say Scandinavians. Living so close to the sun just caused an evolutionary/chain reaction of sorts that produced darker skin tones and thicker melanin enriched skins that could stand up to the harshness of large amounts of direct sunlight.
The proximity to the equator is also why African's and such have wider noses and curly hair. These were all nature's way of helping these peoples survive better... wider noses meant more oxygen to the brain, curlier hair meant the follicles' ability to hold more moisture....
The opposite is true of. per say, those living furthest from the sun. Their noses, ancestrally speaking were more pointed to keep their brains from freezing (I wonder if this is where the concept of brain freeze began) and their hair and skin more oily to keep them better protected from the bitter cold. Ever wonder why a duck can swim/move about in freezing temperatures while immersed in water? It's all of the oil in their skin and feathers! These ancestral traits still bear out today! Yet we digress. For the good though.
MELANIN, DEFINED.
We will continue to update this site and share interesting facts and tidbits on Melanin as well as links for those explorers who like to delve even deeper.
Just know dear reader, if you do not classify as an Albino, then you do have Melanin in you too. A chemical reaction is taking place in your body. Melanocytes, which are cells located throughout your body, produce melanin in you to help you. Whether this production is minimal or full scale, it does exist. Skinwise, at the bottom layer of your epidermis. Eyewise, in the uvea, which is the middle layer of your eye. In your brain. Your heart. Your bones. It is naturally occurring. It's called Melanogenesis. Which makes everyone except Albino's people of color.
Lighter skinned people of color, say Caucasian's/Anglo Saxen's just have fewer melanosomes, which in essence houses synthesized melanocytes. And it just goes on in various degrees. Darker skinned humans, from Indian to African just have more melanocytes. Pure and simple. Definitive and uniting. Let's hope!
Abus/Melus. White and Black! The two categories that define us all! Albino or Melano! Just like there are various degrees of Albinism there are various degrees of Melanism!
ONE RACE. HUMAN.
Albino. Melano. That's it. Whether, let's say from scale of 0 to 10... O being Albus/Albino (white/absence of color) to 10 being Melas/Black - absorption of all color, we are all one!!! Human!!!