How to Argue With a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality

by Adam Rutherford

‘Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution’, said the Russian-American scientist Theodosius Dobzhansky, a mantra that should be as widely known as any.

Only in the last few years have researchers begun to study the genetics of African skin, which is somewhat ironic given that five centuries of racism have been almost entirely based on it.

The idea that we are hiding some truth from the public for political reasons is absurd. As with equally mad antiscientific ideas such as creationism, if I could demonstrate that Darwin was wrong or that race is a scientifically valid and useful description of human variation, I would be the most famous biologist in history, and the riches that would follow would surely be magnificent.

Jonathan Swift said in 1721: ‘Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired.’

The American Nazi Party asserts that they are not white supremacists, merely separatists. They also specifically want to ban modern art and rap music. So it goes.