Asking The Wrong Question

Some may find this view cynical or paranoid. But the focus on the link between race and intelligence is highly telling. Most people aren’t particularly interested the link between intelligence and genetically-linked traits such as brown eyes or red hair. Why, then, do people care about the connection between race – a social construct only loosely defined around a collection of physical markers – and intelligence? The answer is that race is intrinsically tied to status in our society, and so people care about the race-intelligence question because they care whether one race is superior and another inferior.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that the purely academic debate over the racial intelligence question draws attention away from all-too-real issues of racial justice that affect millions of people every single day. The problem with Stephanie Grace’s email, then, isn’t the debate it caused. It’s the debates that it didn’t.

Nancy Leong is an Assistant Professor at the William and Mary School of Law.

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Thea’s Note: This post was updated at 12:00pm EST to fix a draft mixup.

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