Or indeed, 'A man's a man for a' that.'
What an excellent post, Dave. I agree with every word.
I'm lucky in that for some reason I've always been absolutely fascinated with anything different in race, culture, music, art etc. A real xenophile! I went every Sunday to Catholic mass with my Irish cousin, then on to C of E communion with my aunt. I had a Chinese friend at Uni who taught me Cantonese. I ran a little playgroup for Indian immigrant toddlers and their mums in Glasgow (a foreign land, Scotland, to a girl from the South!) and of course my husband is a black African. No-one should be judged by stereotyping. It's daft to say things such as, "All footballers' wives are..." or "All Welsh people are..." I think wider experience of different people and curiosity about them gives one an insight to the humanity of us all. It isn't 'us' and 'them'. Everyone has their hopes, fears and sadnesses.
By the way, genetically speaking, it's better for the races to interbreed, as gene-mixing strengthens the line!
If anyone makes a battle out of this thread, it'll be very surprising. Who could disagree with Dave's points?