This is the latest episode of Homegoings, a podcast that features fearless conversations about race, and YOU are welcome here. Follow the series here.
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Here on Homegoings, we’re three weeks into our special series on stereotypes, and the people who have managed to escape their harmful effects. We’ve talked about “The Myth of the deadbeat dad,” and “The myth of the Scary Black man,” but today’s stereotype is particularly scary because for the longest time —- it wasn’t a myth. It was a medical, scientific fact that Black people were stupid.
James Watson, the 1962 Nobel laureate, once said that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours whereas all the testing says not really.”
Dr. Watson’s remarks were at least controversial enough during this time to raise some … questions. Harvard, Berkeley, psychologists and more dove right in to find out if there were indeed differences in the Black and white brain: both in size and intelligence.
Surprise surprise, there wasn’t. There isn’t. And if there is any evidence concerning an I.Q difference between Black and white people, it’s proven to be environmental. (You know, that thing that also includes things like privilege, legacy and other forms of advantage? So, not genetic. Take that, racism!)
But, it didn’t matter. By the early 20th century, the cultural and medical landscape of the U.S. was swimming in racist waters, and horrific concepts about race and science began trickling down to the way average everyday Americans perceived Black people. Into the ways they were stereotyped, and, as it was for Tino Rutanhira, into the ways they were denied the American dream.
“It's not a zero sum game. We don't have to be winners and losers all the time. And I think that's the myth that America as a whole has perpetuated: Successful Black people must come at the expense of white people. And that's not true. The American pie is big enough for all of us.” - Tinotenda Charles Rutanhira
Deep listen
On the show, we do our best to save time for a deep listen. Today, we’re sharing Tino’s answer to Myra’s last question from their interview together.
Myra Flynn : How do we stop this narrative that all Black people are stupid? It's stuck around. It's lingered for such a long time, it seems, no matter how many degrees we get, or you know what we do, it still lingers. How do we stop this?
Tino: That's a tough question, Myra, because I don't know why racism exists to begin with. Why you would see yourself as better than somebody else, because that person has a different complexion to you, it's baffling to me, because, like everything else in society, we've shown that like Black people are capable. We've had Black presidents, Black vice presidents, Black CEOs. And yet this thing that started happening 400 years ago, where people thought, at that time were able to cross seas and go and barter for people's bodies, that 400 years later, people still think that you're better than another race just because of something that happened 400 years ago. Like — that was then. Now, people should be informed enough to know that there's no difference, to know that we should all coexist, and we're all part of a single human race. I don't know, like it's a difficult thing for me to answer, because I don't know why anybody would be racist to begin with. And I know people have benefited from racist systems, and I know individually, people may benefit, but I think it's the systems that exist that make it so complicated to unravel and undo, and by virtue of participating in those things, I think white people have potentially perpetuated racism because they've benefited. And there's not a whole lot that a lot of people can do to say: “No, I don't want to benefit from that.” And I think at the end of the day, them creating equity is something that I think challenges them, because it feels like they'd be losing, and yet they've been benefiting for 400 years.
It's like the example of a parent that has two kids, one used to get four cookies, the other used to get zero cookies. And then somebody says to the parent, like, “Why would you do that? You should be a lot more fair.” So, the parent decides, “OK, well, I'll give this other kid three cookies. And I'll give the other kid one cookie.” And I think what's happening with white people, when they start getting three cookies instead of four, they feel like this isn't fair. It's like, why am I losing out? And yet, it's not losing out. You're trying to balance things, and it's not a zero sum game. We don't have to be winners and losers all the time. And I think that's the myth that America as a whole has perpetuated: Successful Black people must come at the expense of white people. And that's not true. The American pie is big enough for all of us. And there shouldn't be this us versus them syndrome that exists today.
Myra Flynn: The American sandwich is big enough for all of us.
Tino: (laughs) The American sandwich, yes!
Credits
This episode was reported and mixed by Myra Flynn with help from our associate producer James Stewart. Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. edited this episode and Myra Flynn composed the theme music. All other music is from Blue Dot Sessions. Zoe McDonald is the graphic artist behind this episode’s Homegoings artist portrait.
See you next week for part four of “Stereo-anti-types”, a special series from Homegoings.
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