Black and Proud
The big story this month was that of a scientist who has declared that black people are less intelligent than white folks. A celebrated (now infamous) scientist was ridiculed and widely condemned for comments he made about the black man’s intelligence. James Watson who is a winner of the Nobel Prize for his part in the unravelling of DNA claimed that black people were less intelligent than white people and added that the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared across racial groups was a delusion. Although his claims were dismissed by most, this is not the first time I have heard of such claims. Some people (read white) claim that a black man would not have survived and developed the northern hemisphere with its adverse weather patterns because he does not have the brains to make the best of the situation. There are all kinds of stereotypes about black people and I wonder why this man was vilified, he is just taking the stereotyping to the next level. It is up to us to prove those propagating these stereotypes wrong by shaking off the images that are so associated with us.
I am a 37 year old black man, I live in South London with my wife (who is also a career woman) and 2 kids, I am a qualified architect with a reasonably good job, I am a Rotarian, my kids go to a private school, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and yes I don’t do drugs. I dress smarter than your average white man on the street and I am average sized. If I were white, I would be your typical middle income earner that is acceptable to every body in society. Yet I am called all sorts of names, I am treated suspiciously, women cross to the other side of the street when they see me walking towards them and some won’t sit next to me on a train. But still I insist on breaking the stereotypical bubble. I refuse to accept that black people are less intelligent, that we cannot be educated and are incapable of bringing up a family.
This is not to say that black people have done nothing wrong, so often black people have been caught on the wrong side of the law, our leaders back in Africa behave like savages, they loot and stash away big amounts of money, as their people are dying. Their children fly first class and study in world renowned schools and universities as the kids of their constituents are fed on substandard education or die from preventable diseases. Yet it is our responsibility to stop the stereotype. It is no longer permissible for us to blame our ills on slavery or the injustices of a system.
I am a 37 year old black man, I live in South London with my wife (who is also a career woman) and 2 kids, I am a qualified architect with a reasonably good job, I am a Rotarian, my kids go to a private school, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and yes I don’t do drugs. I dress smarter than your average white man on the street and I am average sized. If I were white, I would be your typical middle income earner that is acceptable to every body in society. Yet I am called all sorts of names, I am treated suspiciously, women cross to the other side of the street when they see me walking towards them and some won’t sit next to me on a train. But still I insist on breaking the stereotypical bubble. I refuse to accept that black people are less intelligent, that we cannot be educated and are incapable of bringing up a family.
This is not to say that black people have done nothing wrong, so often black people have been caught on the wrong side of the law, our leaders back in Africa behave like savages, they loot and stash away big amounts of money, as their people are dying. Their children fly first class and study in world renowned schools and universities as the kids of their constituents are fed on substandard education or die from preventable diseases. Yet it is our responsibility to stop the stereotype. It is no longer permissible for us to blame our ills on slavery or the injustices of a system.
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