White Men Can’t Jump, or Run, Some Say

by Special Correspondent Nadra Kareem

Dancing. Singing. Running.

These are just a few of the areas in which blacks are supposed to excel. With the Olympics in session, interest in blacks’ so-called prowess in the last of the trio above has been renewed.

Slate.com is a case in point. In the site’s “Explainer” section, the following question was posed: Why are Jamaicans So Good at Sprinting?

Slate answered the question by citing studies that found that West Africans tend to have higher numbers of muscle fibers responsible for “short, explosive bursts of action” than whites do—an advantage in running competitions. It also included this nugget of information:

“So far, there is no evidence that even extensive training can turn slow-twitch muscles into fast-twitch ones, though moving in the other direction is possible.”

In short, white folks don’t stand a chance against those of West African descent in track and field events. Even if they work hard, they can’t develop the innate skills that blacks have in the sport.

This response is problematic for all sorts of reasons. On one level, it robs track and field Olympians of West African descent of their accomplishments. It insinuates that these athletes didn’t triumph because of hard work but because they have an innate sprinting ability. Underlying this insinuation is the notion that whites are being unfairly disadvantaged. This idea—that blacks are advantaged to whites’ disadvantage—extends far beyond running.

When blacks achieve in the professional or academic world, there is the same sort of outcry. How often have you heard this argument in some form: Successful blacks would not have achieved what they had or been admitted to the university they attended without affirmative action. And that, say disgruntled whites, amounts to “reverse racism.”

Why can’t blacks simply be allowed to enjoy an achievement without having doubt cast on it, without someone protesting that they didn’t do it because of hard work or self-reliance but because they were given a hand-out, be it on the legislative front or from Mother Nature? Moreover, why are black athletes always subjected to such scrutiny? Do blacks demand to know why the best swimmers or hockey players are overwhelmingly white? Do blacks cite studies that identify a European gene that gives whites an advantage in these sports, all the while pouting that they’re being unfairly disadvantaged?

The answer, of course, is no. That’s a good thing, as the field of performance genetics is still considered suspect in the scientific community. A thoughtful Slate reader was kind enough to point this out, as well as the following, in the comments section:

“Athletic performance is determined by a complex mixture of multiple genes and many interacting environmental factors (diet, training, culture, etc.). Although genes are certainly important, ACTN3 alone is not the explanation: this gene predicts only around 2% of the variation in muscle strength and sprint performance in the general European population, and is likely just one of dozens or even hundreds of genes that contribute to athletic prowess.”

Even with these facts pointed out, I wonder how many of Slate’s readers will insist on discounting the achievements of black track and field athletes by arguing that blacks have a biological edge. Whites, you see, aren’t on a level playing field.

To be white is so unfair.

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Latoya’s Note –

The conversation over on Slate about the nature of scientific studies is beneficial in light of some past conversations about the how bias can taint a scientific study. Here are some of the more relevant comments:

Reply to: Why are Jamaicans so good at sprinting?

by windorchard

08/19/2008, 8:45 AM #

Reply

I find it disappointing that Slate has included this story at all. These findings merely indicate a correlation, and they say nothing about causation. We could just as likely attribute greater skill at sprinting to having dark skin rather than having active ACTN3. Or we could argue that the Jamaican diet explains these differences rather than genes (the logic is the same).

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