Do "white" people tolerate the cold weather better than "black" people?

My students! One of them said someone told him that white people tolerated the cold better. My first response was “Not this one!” I hate the cold!

But it started a pretty lively discussion..which I love!

Apparently the original logic is the Caucasian race originated in cooler climes (like Sweden, whatever,) so our skin is fairer for some reason relating to that.

I said that seemed counter intuitive to me, as darker skin would absorb warming sun light, whereas lighter skin would tend to reflect it.

I ended with the thought that it was probably just a genetic mutation of some kind that happened to work.

Which led to a discussion of albinism.

Anyway, they asked me to ask you what your thoughts are.

So, what are your thoughts?