The American Racist’s Statistical Speedball
Like adrenaline junkies, America’s racists are hooked on numbers that provide them the euphoria of racial superiority
White supremacist Arthur Jones came to national prominence on June 1, during NBC’s The Today Show segment “Race and Races.” Running for Congress on the Republican ticket out of Chicago’s Third District, Jones was all too happy to grant an interview espousing his view that “most White people want a White neighborhood.” When NBC reporter Morgan Radford confronted Jones about his segregationist views, Jones responded, “[t]he average IQ of a black person is about 20 points lower than the average IQ of a white person.”
Aside from the fact that Jones’ numbers are incorrect, there’s a larger issue, for me, and for statistics-obsessed Americans. Part of me wonders if the news media’s attempts to expose racism through racial and socioeconomic disparities data ever really opens the eyes and changes the racist thoughts of the Americans reading and hearing them. More often, I believe that exposure to these numbers merely serves to confirm the racial stereotypes that White Americans hold so dear, and Americans of color know all too well. The use of such data is but one way in which American narcissism rears its ugly head in the context of American racism. It’s as…
