Black inferiority claims are not new
October 24, 2007
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Recently, a Nobel Prize winning scientist made the claim that people of African descent are intellectually inferior than Westerners, aka, white people. James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the unraveling of DNA who now runs one of America’s leading scientific research institutions, had this to say in regards to his “gloomy” outlook for Africa:
“all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really”. He said there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal but “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true”
Now, he said that in an interview. He goes on to make the same claims in a new book:
“There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so.”
Of course after a furor erupted over his comments, he apologized:
“I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said. I can certainly understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways that they have.”
Talk about being full of it. It is one thing to say something and people either misunderstood or the speaker mispoke, but to reiterate it in WRITING in a NEW BOOK shows that he firmly believes what he said. His apology is nothing more than a tactic to put out the flames.
All of this went down last week, however, this is definitely not the first time people have made claims that blacks are inferior.
One of my former professors, Dr. Na’im Akbar, explored some of the history of black inferiority claims in his book Akbar Papers in African Psychology:
- G. Stanley Hall, founder of the American Journal of Psychology stated in 1904 that “Certain primitive races are in a state of immature development and must be treated gently and understandingly by more developed peoples. Africans, Indians and Chinese are members of adolescent races in a stage of incomplete development.
- Carl Jung said that “he (the Negro) has probably a whole historical layer less (in the collective unconscious) than you (Caucasians). The different strata of the mind correspond to the history of the races.
I won’t even get started on the craniometric studies that “found” that the human brain got smaller as you “descended” from Caucasians to Ethiopians.
All of the above examples from Dr. Akbar’s book are from statements and studies at least 70 to 100 years ago, but this latest example, in addition to many others (like Glayde Whitney - a former professor at Florida State that I luckily did not have a class with), show that this train of thought has not gone away. I say that it is not limited to racist scientists, but also, those who may be subconsciously racist.
An example - school teachers who treat black students, especially black boys, differently from other students and don’t even realize it.
Denise Collier’s dissertation, “Sally can skip, but Jerome can’t stomp”, explores, according to the Austin Weekly, “teacher perceptions and beliefs of black male students and how these may impact the teachers’ treatment of those students in the classroom setting.”
Collier found that African American males were subject to harsher punishments than other students for the same infractions. She also found what she calls “normalized racism”. This means the teachers were often unaware of their own behavior - subconscious racism.
Of course, the vast majority of African Americans already knew this and have been talking about this for years. However, you cannot talk about it enough because this treatment effects the learning experience and life perceptions.
The New Jersey State Department of Education recently stated that too many black students are being labeled special ed and are taking steps to reverse this trend.
Many will try to say ‘well they probably belong there’, doubtful. Especially when I personally know numerous people that were labeled special ed and went on to be very successful, including getting their doctoral degrees.
These perceptions that blacks are inferior is a very big problem, especially when it comes to the subconsciousness of teachers. Furthermore, when statements are made like what was said by James Watson, it adds fuel to the fire for those who adamantly agree with the notion.
My suggestion is to require annual diversity training for these teachers, in addition, provide training to minority parents on how to reverse the negative effects.
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This is just an example of ignorant information that is redundantly being issued back into society in a newer form (same content). It also deals with “their” own inferior complex which would compel them to even try to explain the ignorance written in their “findings”!
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I find it so strange that people make comments like this.
How Boring is your school?
how useless is the information you are trying to impart?
Who remembers this stuff after they pass the standardized tests?
How much effort do you put into actually living life as oppose to defining your existence as “Better Than” by comparison?
African americans exist outside of societal norms through no fault of our own. And when we do not try to adopt the colloquial academic lingo and “Trivial Pursuits” of boring people we are determined to be “Stupid” or “Ghetto” in the work place.
They have tried to convince us we are black so that it is okay for them to just be “White”
(Top dog/under dog)
If they admitted openly everyday that we were a result of thousands of slaves brought to this country and force bred for strength and durability there would be some ramifications repurcussions and reparations they would have to deal with.
If you are gonna call me inferior explain to me why I am inferior and then give me my 40 acres and a mule and we’ll see what I can do with it.
Too many Black children are being labeled special ed because their parents are allowing it to happen. Don’t just accept a white teacher/psyschologist saying your child belongs in special ed. Many times when a child is having difficulty in a subject, what is needed is extra study and/ or a tutor. It’s interesting to me how a school system will pay to place your child in special education, but will refuse to pay for them to have a private tutor. Please get to know your own child, what their strengths and weaknesses are. Once a label is placed on a child , it is nearly impossible to reverse it, and special education cripples a child for their whole academic career. My daughter’s fourth grade teacher wanted to have her tested for special education in Mathematics. She did well in every subject except this. My husband and I said “No”, that we didn’t want this for our child, and I know being a teacher, how special education children are treated. There is no teaching that goes on in those classes, just babysitting. Children aren’t given a chance to learn and it is assumed that something is wrong with their brains.
If your child is having difficulty in any subject, get them extra help, early, turn off the television set, make them read and put forth more effort. All parents should consider how they will feed their infants before they bring them home from the hospital, because the benefits of breastfeeding a child gives them an edge on intelligence that will carry them their whole life.Stop putting bottles with artificial ingredients in your children mouths and give them what comes from your own body; it’s the one gift that will benefit them througout their lives and it creates a bond in the parent/child relationship that prepares children for the vicarious circumstances of life,not just greater intelligence.
By the way, our daughter is doing well in sixth grade Mathematics. She still has to work harder, but when she passes tests, she knows that it’s an accomplishment she would never have achieved had we let them place her in special education. Special education classes also prevent a child from taking the required load of work neccessary for the Advanced Diplomas, which is becoming a requirement for college admission. Every precept is built upon another, if a child is labeled special ed in elementary school it will follow them their whole academic career and will take much effort to break that cycle.
HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE ANGLO EUROPEANS,AFRIKA AS WE KNOW IT, WOULD NOT EVEN EXIST. AFRIKA WAS PRETTY MUCH KNOWN AS THE DARK CONTINENT,PRIMITIVE WITH NATIVES STILL LIVING IN HUTS MADE OUT OF MUDD,THEN AROUND THE 1950TH,THE EUROPEANS THERE AT THAT TIME ,STARTED TO BUILD CITY’S AND FERTILIZED THE LAND, SO THEN THAT IS THE REASON WHY AFRIKAN PEOPLE ARE NOT AS SMART AS WHITES,BECAUSE THEY HAVE ONLY A RELETIVELY SHORT TIME TO STUDY AT UNIVERSITY LEVEL,WERE AS THE EUROPEANS HAVE BEEN EDUCATED FOR A LONG TIME EARLIER.
In response to the ill informed Wolf1. It is so typical of those who probably don’t even know American history, lest of all world history. For if Wolf1 did they would know that Africa is the cradle of civilization. Africa brought the light of civilization to Europe, much of Asia and India. If you are interested in the truth of history or if you wish to continue with wishful thinking, then I might suggest that you read world history devoid of the propaganda of the west. African social, political, judicial and agricultural institutions were old and tired by the time Europe was give the first taste of knowledge. Africans mastered the celestrial universe, created gods and godkings, cultivated land based on the seasons, craved and painted monuments that still bear witness to the creative genius of africans long before Europeans were out of the caves and clothing themselves. Africa was so-named the dark continent because of the color of the skin of it’s inhabitants. Africa had libraries and universities that was equal to libraries and universitites of today. Africa suckled Europe and later the child turned on it’s mother and conquered much of it’s parents lands. The land that brought the light to Europe was diminished by conquest over the ages by differing factions from the inside as well as the foreign invasions. The truth is out there for anyone to discover, if the truth is what you seek. I hope that Wolf1 is willing to do the real work of not taking my word nor the word of the distorted history read by most of the revisionist, but they will do the hard work of throughly researching the history and discover the facts. Peace to those who seek the truth!
Whilst I do not agree with Wolf1’s blatantly racist comments, I can also not agree with Vee’s comments on Africa being the ‘cradle of civilization’ and with his/her comments that Africa was civilized and educated before Europe was. The human race did originate in Africa, most likely the modern nation of Ethiopia, but the continent did not spaw the first human civilizations. The first human civilization developed in the fertile crescent which is modern day Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Culture spread from here into Europe, Asia, and Africa. Education and technological strides were made almost exclusively in the Chinese kingdoms and Ancient Greece and Rome until the medieval period however. Most of Africa, with the exception of Egypt, did not experience a boom in development until the arrival of the arabs in the Muslim conquests after the death of Mohammed. Africa was not without culture, don’t get me wrong, but to say that Africans had places of advanced learning before Europe is insane. All so called “African universities” were founded by the ancient Greeks or the Arabs. This is well documented in history by the Greeks, Romans, Muslims, Egyptians, and Iberians.