Are Blacks Too Dumb To Take IQ Tests?

The state of California thinks so. In a 1979 case, Larry P. v. Riles, substantially upheld by (you guessed it) the Ninth Circuit, I.Q. tests were held to be a legitimate tool to be used in assigning students to special education classes … except for black students. Now comes a black mother of five who is incensed that the state refused to give her six year old an I.Q. test. (Link thanks to Kimberly Swygert)

“It’s discrimination, it’s a violation of my son’s civil rights and it’s racism,” Lewis said. “We’re fighting this all the way.”

….

Lewis doesn’t deny that the test may have been discriminatory toward African-American children in the past. She’s just convinced that the educational playing field is more level today.

“This is closet racism within the school district and the courts,” she said. “Basically they’re saying if you’re black, you’re dumb.”

….

“Some African-American parents may want their child to take the test, and some may not,” she said. “As a parent, I know what’s best for my child — not the courts or the school district.”

And, adding insult to injury:

Lewis said district officials told her that if she really wanted her son to take the test, she should mark him down as a Caucasian because he is biracial. She refused.

Say What? (19)

  1. KRM June 28, 2004 at 5:07 pm | | Reply

    Ahh, but it is only conservatives that are ever labeled racist.

  2. mac June 29, 2004 at 1:25 am | | Reply

    The state isn’t saying “if you’re black, you’re dumb”. It’s saying – we know that IQ tests will show a disproportionately high number of black children qualify for special ed, and we know that this will get us in all sorts of trouble. So, we will avoid this trouble by not giving IQ tests to black children. It is an irrational policy necessitated by irrational fear of the truth about group average IQ differences. Actually, I am surprised that they haven’t managed to do away with IQ tests altogether.

  3. mac June 29, 2004 at 1:26 am | | Reply

    The state isn’t saying “if you’re black, you’re dumb”. It’s saying – we know that IQ tests will show a disproportionately high number of black children qualify for special ed, and we know that this will get us in all sorts of trouble. So, we will avoid this trouble by not giving IQ tests to black children. It is an irrational policy necessitated by irrational fear of the truth about group average IQ differences. Actually, I am surprised that they haven’t managed to do away with IQ tests altogether.

  4. Wolf July 7, 2004 at 3:49 pm | | Reply

    here is why i agree. i believe that there must be something as intelligence, and i believe that some intelligence can be inherited … but i do not think iq tests provide a valid measure for it. not among “white” people, and certainly not across different cultures. – wolf schweitzer.

  5. David D July 30, 2004 at 10:32 pm | | Reply

    “Biracial”? What does that mean? Her son is part of the Human race, and part of some other race?

    It’s all rather stupid, promulgated by racists. Mulatto, quadroon, octoon – idiots.

  6. not an ape November 2, 2004 at 8:29 pm | | Reply

    So the question is are apes too dumb to focus for a test? 88

  7. Joanna Clarkesus November 13, 2004 at 11:24 am | | Reply

    Sad truth is. Blacks score low in all aspects of life. No matter what part of the world they are from. And always have. It’s not skin color. It’s brain size.

    BLACKS HAVE DESTROYED OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS!

    I think you have done enough damage.

  8. mandie December 7, 2004 at 10:58 am | | Reply

    I just have to say that don’t disrespect the blacks by saying they have done enough damage, that is just rude. Blacks might have all low test scores but maybe a couple will have high tests scores. There are some dumb white people too. There shouldn’t even be intelligence tests anyways.

  9. smart black dude January 20, 2005 at 5:24 pm | | Reply

    Johanna Clarkesus is a dumb white woman. Last time i checked it was white kids in little redneck towns with no diversity that were shooting up schools because kids “made fun of them” for all racists people’s retoric about how we are animals white people wrote the book on senseless murder. heres a thought you stupid whore: whats killing our public education system is senseless teacher unions that collect insane amounts of money and keep shitty teachers from being fired, insane mismanagement of resources, rich community= rich school ; poor community=hellhole. Your inability to see the faults of your own ethnic group astounds me. trash like you is whats holding the human race back from reaching its genetic destiny. looking forward to your retort about how diversity fucks the world up while bakcing up your points that go against modern science especially in the field of genetics. BTW its not how big your brain the leading theory is its how densely packed neurons are.

  10. Paul C. March 3, 2005 at 10:33 pm | | Reply

    Of COURSE there are differences in intelligence amongst racial groups!

    50,000 years of evolutionary isolation will do that to a species.

    All breeds of dogs are the same species. Is someone here about argue that there aren’t cognitive distinctions between them???!

  11. KB March 7, 2005 at 7:00 pm | | Reply

    Well, if IQ tests are biased against non-whites, why do Asians tend to score higher? In fact, Europeans are not on the top of the heap, Hong Kong is, with an average IQ of 107. In fact, Europeans make their first mark on the list in the 6th and 7th places with Austria and Germany. The top 5 are Asian countries including Korea, Japan.

    Blacks score 1 standard deviation below whites on IQ tests. This is very strong evidence that there is a difference, and the general consensus is, 60% of IQ is genetic…

    There is also a strong correlation between IQ tests (for those who say it doesn’t measure anything) and the ability to be brilliant in abstract fields like Math and Physics. It must measure something.

    But blacks have among the highest self-esteem scores. So, apparently, everyone wants to just keep cheering them on like disabled people at the Special Olympics, enabling them feel better so they won’t quit school and commit crimes.

    It is not hard to figure why they give up very early on. It’s bad enough if you’re in a white classroom 1 standard deviation (15 points) behind on average. But then when we start throwing Asians in there with mean IQs of 107, the only thing blacks can do is completely and utterly give up.

  12. John July 23, 2005 at 2:18 pm | | Reply

    East-Asians have high, not of 107 but between 103 and 105. Jews have the highest. Despite Asians having a slightly higher average than whites, the majority of brilliant people are white men. Teir IQ’s stray the farthest from average. Asians and white females tend to saty clost to the average.

    As far as blacks go, look at every country run by blacks and tell me IQ’s does’nt mean anything.

    1. Michael G. Gallagher July 4, 2020 at 3:39 am | | Reply

      “The majority of brilliant people are white men.” This may have nothing to do with genetics. It may be due to the fact that for the last few centuries people who just happened to be white developed a culture (the Western Culture) that placed more emphasis on individual freedom, which allowed many people to exercise their talents with fewer restraints (tradition) on how they thought. They also combined this, maybe starting with the Romans, with the idea of the rule of law. Later on, the spread of market economics (much of so-called feudal Europe wasn’t all that feudal) helped to reinforce this tendency towards increased intellectual freedom and the rule of law. Non-Western countries, starting with Japan in the 11860s at least partially adopted this trio of freedom, law, free economics, and eventually started to catch up with the West. Now China has a rover on the far side of the Moon and India has a probe orbiting Mars. Many of the African kingdoms didn’t follow this path and their rulers became predatory towards their own citizens. Everybody should read the utterly great book ‘Why Nations Fail,’ which goes into these ideas in great detail.

  13. Mark November 14, 2006 at 3:35 pm | | Reply

    I am black and the lowest score I have ever received on an IQ test is 135 and the lowest is 140. This makes me intellectually superior to most people black or white. Hypothetically, if we killed everyone in the United States that has an IQ of 85 or less, more whites would die because we only make up 12% of the population. The number of whites with low IQ outnumbers the entire african american population. In essence there are more dumb whites we have to deal with. This is just a point. I love everyone.

    1. Michael G. Gallagher July 4, 2020 at 3:48 am | | Reply

      Yeah, I’ve read Hillbilly Elegy, and I tend to agree with you. But a lot of this isn’t due to genetics. It’s due to a social environment that doesn’t foster learning or good social and work habits, defects which can afflict a society no matter what the skin color of its citizens is.

  14. kevin October 14, 2007 at 4:46 am | | Reply

    Mark, the average African American has about 18% European blood flowing through them. This is the only explanation for your high IQ scores. Take a look in the mirror and I am sure you will see evidence of this European blood. I agree with John’s comments. Jews are indeed at the top, this has allowed them to deceive the rest of the world for thousands of years.

  15. clint November 14, 2007 at 9:35 am | | Reply

    Came across this thread doing an internet search for the topic, verbatim. I won’t question the viewpoints of this forum’s members, but I will try and add to the discussion at hand. SAT and IQ tests do correlate with success, progressive thinking, etc. Anyone who sympathizes with the mission of this forum is undoubtebly in no place to discuss intelligence. I don’t care how well you scored on standardized tests at all, agreeing with the abovesaid assertion is wholly ignorant because NO study has evaluted the intelligence of races in the same culture.

    The last of what may be considered my ad homiems: Only unintelligent people would believe the assertion the topic makes: thereafter, the ignorant commit argumentum ad populum (bandwagon) and an appeal to tradition based on traditional misconceptions. Notice that “intelligent” people (who are majorly caucasian) would disregard any such theory without phenominally convincing evidence, as they do with all unsupported propositions. Anecdotal evidence is not evidence; I’ll go on to theorize why the evidence that suggests smartness discriminates by race is anecdotal.

    My theory is the following: Europeans are white because of the (to Africa) European tundra enviroment. Africans are black because of the equitorial enviroment. (To add, the most widely accepted theory is that Europeans were Africans who migrated northward, consider this with the following) The biological differences end there.

    Thereafter is a parabolic curve on the advancement of socities (which is the cause of higher scores on IQ and SAT test) peaking at the Mediteranean(sp?) and tundra climates, and declining towards the polar and equitorial climates.

    How does this correlate with the advancement of societies?

    Persons in equitorial climates had no necessity for sophisticated shelters and methods to get food because it is so plentiful. They were well able to achieve the ultimate goal (reproduction) without being inhibited by the weather. Thus, equitorial peoples are less likely to use the one advantage humans have over animals – the brain.

    NOTE to consider: After civilizations were formed, survival of the fittest (evolution) was no longer a concern. Consider how the least “intelligent” and poorest peoples reproduce more often despite their circumstances. (Yes, this is allowed by intelligent folk who put systems in place to uplift the lazy and therefore poor; and because they can survive, there is little incentive for them to better themselves)

    The northernmost climates are so incredibly harsh that man is focused intently on day to day survival and has no time to consider alternate societal existences, thus remains primitive (and fat ).

    Moderate climates, such as those in the Medditeranean(sp!) and Europe, have sufficient natural resources that their inhabitants aren’t desperate for food, but food is not as apparent as it is in equitorial enviroments. Thus, the European was not constrained by survival but nor was he blessed with an abundance of food. Because of this happy medium, the Europeans had time and reason to excersize their minds so they may live in more comfortably. Once a man discovers the power of the brain and the curiosity it brings forth, he only seeks to further his understanding of his environment: advancement snowballs.

    When advancement led to exploration, the more advanced civilizations instantly viewed the less advanced as inferior savages unfit for education and conceptual understanding (which alone results in mid-range IQ/SAT scores; brilliance is necessary for higher scores, and retardation for lower – but both must be coupled with an equal opportunity education for a comparison to have any merit)

    The smart and learned few are realizing the wrongness in the percieved biological inferiority of non-caucasian rights. Unfortunantly, the problem is so embedded in society that programs like AA have to act as temporary band-aids to millenia old prejudices.

  16. Julie October 25, 2009 at 7:38 am | | Reply

    I agree with Mark. Anyone so ignorant as to agree with the thread topic has no business discussing intelligence. IQ tests or not, anyone thinking this supports racial superiority is mentally disabled –not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  17. Sperry September 28, 2019 at 6:41 pm | | Reply

    Intelligence is reasoning and understanding . It’s the only thing you take when you die. The spirit form is reincarnated with a new body and new personality. The reincarnation cycle lasts for millions of years. Each lifetime advances a persons consciousness. Maybe a little, maybe more. You are on your own. Religion sidetracks/stunts the evolution of a persons consciousness because it is a belief system = no individual thinking to find the real truth. All human life forms are equal except in their consciousness . It is your free will to start thinking and to learn how to recognize the real truth. Everyone is on the same path. There are human life forms all over our universe. There are varied life forms existing on earth. Some have travelled from other planets. Some are indigenous and some are terrestrially created by mutations between simians and humans. All are human life forms.
    The biggest problem today is overpopulation. Nature will take care of that.

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