<p>“Polygenism was used as a justification for the enslavement of black people…”</p>
<p>Show me where. The justification for Black slavery was that they were heathens not that they were Black.</p>
<p>“Dogs are considered a subspecies of wolf”</p>
<p>Yes but Canis latrans is a coyote and not a wolf and coyotes and wolves are separate species. fmiliaris, the domesticated dog is a sunspecies of Canis lupus the wolf and whether all wolves and dogs could successfully interbreed is questionable.</p>
<p>“I don’t understand why a race would evolve into a different subspecies when humans have 99% of their genes in common regardless of race. Race is nothing more than a color, so why would that cause a new subspecies to come about?”</p>
<p>I am using race in its scientific sense not the colloquial sense. In that sense it involves a whole host of physical and behavioural characteristics that may adapt a a species to a particular environment. The behavioural adaptations alone can be sufficient for scientists to distinguish physically all but identical groups of animals into seperate races. For instance there is a recently discovered group of chimps that commonly nest on the ground. If this behaviour is coupled with a complex of other behavioural differences then the chimps will likely be classified as a seperate race or perhaps even subspecies. They are in the process of adapting themselves to a different niche in the ecosystem and if that adaptation proceeds far enough they would eventually evolve into a new species.</p>