Links of Note:

• "A Brief History of the Color Line" by Frank W. Sweet explores the origin of the notion of 'race' in our history.  Frank Sweet also monitors a scholarly discussion group on the One Drop Rule.  
  
  
• A link to the US Census Bureau and its 'Race' data section. "The 'race' question on the U.S. Census is racist"  by Bob Curtis is a good backgrounder along with thoughts and considerations for filling out the 'race' question on the Census.  The Federal Leviathan is Counting on You: David Kopel, of the Cato Institute, makes a political case for starving the bureaucratic beast of 'race' information.  
  
  'Census 2010: Refuse to Choose' at Interracial Voice advocates that citizens "Say no to race and ethnicity boxes on the 2010 Census.  At this site you will find the excellent essay by Naomi Zack entitled American Mixed Race: The U.S. 2000 Census and Related Issues.
  
  
• Unmasking Skin: National Geographic takes a look at skin; the body's largest organ.  Of particular note is A New Light on Skin Color by Saadia Iqbal making the case that skin color is nothing more than an evolutionary adaptation and not an indicator of a man-made 'race' classification.  See also the American Anthropological Association Statement on "Race"; noting essentially that:

  "With the vast expansion of scientific knowledge in this century, however, it has become clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups."
  
  The Genetic Archaeology of Race by Steve Olson of the Atlantic Monthly also provides a good overview of developments in the genetic sciences.  A more detailed discussion can be found on Science Magazine's Cultural Anthropology: DNA Studies Challenge the Meaning of Race  by Eliot Marshall (Free Abstract, Fee for full article).  Other good resources can be found at Stanford University's Race, Genes & Anthropology site.

  Scientific America's Does Race Exist? and Policy Review's Medicine's Race Problem look at the question from the pure perspective of the medical sciences.  Also look at Episode 8 of Bill Nye's The Eyes of Nye produced by KCTS Television.
  
  Our brains have developed and refined the ability to distinguish differences like skin color.  This evolutionary adaptation is a two edged sword.  How, but Not Why, the Brain Distinguishes Race provides some insight into the brain's mechanism for categorizing the differences we see in fellow humans.  Keep in mind (pun intended) that until Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems , many perceived that the Sun revolved around the Earth.