Nobel Prize winner James Watson, who created uproar by suggesting black Africans were genetically less intelligent than whites, is in the news again.
Watson's great-grandparent may have been African, according to an analysis of his genetic makeup, which showed 16 percent of his genes--16 times the average for white Europeans--are of black origin. Nine percent of his genes are Asian, which means Watson is less than three-quarters white, reports the Times Online. (See also: Nobel Prize Winner Apologizes for Calling Blacks Intellectually Inferior)
Why are many of Watson's critics smiling at the irony? In October, Watson, who earned the Nobel Prize in 1962 for his co-discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, was quoted by a British paper as saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours--whereas all the testing says not really … There are many people of color who are very talented … People who have to deal with black employees find this is not true."
How can this be? Studies show we're all from Africa and there's no such thing as race outside of its social context. Read what the White Guy has to say to a reader who tells him "'You don't look white." (See also: Most White People Think Blacks Are Intellectually Inferior)
Watson immediately recanted and apologized for his statements, battered by criticism from the media, science community and the public, but it wasn't enough. The 79-year-old scientist was suspended and then retired from his 39-year post as chancellor of the New York--based Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; a speech he was scheduled to deliver at the Science Museum of London was canceled because of his controversial comments.
What's Watson saying now? Not much. After backpedaling on his comments about race and intelligence, saying there actually was "no scientific basis" for a relationship between the two, Watson is quiet on the issue. His spokesperson, Fraser Seitel, told The New York Times that while Watson had no comment on the recent turn of events, he "regrets very much what was attributed to him" in the British newspaper a few months ago.
"Dr. Watson has never believed that the color of someone's skin, or where they come from, or any other human quality gives any indication whatsoever of a person's intelligence or potential to succeed in life," Seitel told the Times.
While many may wonder why Watson said that if he didn't believe it, or why he would have said that assuming he knew what his own genome showed before he made that comment, the ironic twist of events brings new light to discussions about race and intelligence and may inspire awareness among those who believe intelligence is genetically predetermined, partly by race/ethnicity.
Research shows that all brains are the same size, and nurturing and intervention at every stage through college improves educational outcomes for people across the board. (See also: Does Race Affect Your Intelligence?)
We also know that people have more genetically in common than they think, so why does this debate rage on?
"There are still a lot of bigots in the world," George M. Church, Harvard Medical School professor of genetics and director of the Center for Computational Genetics, told the Times. "Maybe showing [that] these things are more nuanced than they'd like it to be makes them think about it."
Posted By: Jon C.
Thursday, December 13th 2007 at 5:11PM
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