While James Watson has apologized for his remarks, the pain and self loathing engendered by them doesn’t go away so easily. Watson certainly isn’t the first person of prominence to espouse the belief that black people are less intelligent than whites for genetic reasons. The jury is still out on what genetic factors play a part in native intelligence, and indeed, on what defines intelligence at all. And it is easy to simply dismiss such racist remarks right out of hand.
But I can’t do that. I was trained as a scientist. I hold a PhD in physics, a sure conversation killer in a country where ignorance of math, science, and technology is often considered a cool thing in polite company. No one wants to be a geek. Throughout my college and graduate school days, clouds of doubt would descend upon me, and I’d wonder, almost out loud, whether or not my difficulties were because black people really are inferior. I had to consider the possibility that people like James Watson were right, that I was genetically inferior and could not hope to reach the lofty heights of intellectual achievement. What if I only got as far as I did because of affirmative action and political correctness?
I don’t really have an answer for that question. I believe that I knew my professors and advisers well enough to know that I wasn’t getting a free pass any more than anyone else. I can fight these doubts and I don’t let them get in the way of my goals. But when I read all of the articles about this that and the other health problem, and the social issues that seem to especially plague black people, again I wonder, what if he’s right? Am I living in a false hope?