Black people less intelligent? PLEASE!

So - was reading the Metro on the train as usual this morning and was reading an article on Jean Charles de Menezes. For those of you not living in the UK - this poor dude was shot by the Fuzz back in 2005 when we had the terrorist attacks over here in England. Few hours later...it turns out this guy wasn't a terrorist at all. Anyways - thought I'd write about it as they're now saying that he had cocaine in his system which caused him to act irrationally when confronted by armed police. Sorry - but this is a blatant character assassination of an innocent man in order to show the police in a better light. I'm not about to say that the police are not allowed to make mistakes (although this was quite a mistake) but their profession as some may feel, does not make them high and mighty beings, and like you or I they are human beings and as such are going to make mistakes. That being said, why not just admit you were wrong as opposed to disrespecting the mans memory in such a way. That would certainly count toward earning my respect and I believe the respect of many people in the public arena as opposed to what can only be referred to as the actions of cowards.

Meanwhile, in my search to find some links to relate to "my 2 cents" I stumbled upon an article entitled "Black people 'less intelligent' scientist claims". Being a black man myself I decided to have a read and thought this was some form of joke paraphrased to draw attention. It never occurred to me that this was literally the case! However it would appear that Dr James D Watson (one of the molecular biologists responsible for the discovery of DNA structure) has been ignorant enough to make such a claim. My first reaction was laughter quickly followed by sadness. I think any statement that claims black people are genetically predisposed to being less intelligent than other races is mentally retarded to the highest degree. It also leads me to wonder if Dr. Watson has taken social and economical factors into account. While I am willing to concede that in certain parts of the world black people may well have a lower IQ compared to some other races, this has nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with environmental factors. Let us not forget that Egypt - globally known as one of the greatest and most advanced civilisations of it's time is in Africa and it was that very continent that gave birth to such notions as democracy and commerce. And would this sad little mans theory not filter to all black people?? If so how does that explain the likes of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King and Barack Obama? Furthermore, while the IQ of many non white peoples may be less than that of their caucasian counterparts - this is something that I am willing to guarantee has see-sawed over a period of a few millennia and will continue to do so on the basis of the fluidic nature of cultural, economical and political change in different countries. 1,000 years from now will be very different compared to 2,000 years from now in terms of cultural diversity and the opportunities available (or not as the case may be) to the masses. Regardless of which, what disturbs me more are some of the comments added to the post. For the most part the comments were well thought out and presented in a fashion as to not cause offence but it's a shame that in our day and age there are so many people that agree with this obviously deranged fool.

I totally concur with fellow blogger's Karen Scott and Mike Yarmish and feel there are enough sane and like minded people in the world to outbreed fools like this!

Where's Huey when you need him?




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