Race and Evolution

by Stephen Sanderson

Frost seems to be returning to the discredited view that it was European conquest and colonialism that led to the disparagement of dark skin (although with a new twist). Disdain for blacks is much older than the sixteenth century and has been found in societies that never enslaved them or even had much contact with them. The reason for color prejudice against blacks and other native peoples was that such groups were reliably seen as less intelligent and capable than the groups that disdained them, mainly Europeans and Northeast Asians. Had Europeans encountered groups that proved to be just as talented and capable as themselves it is very likely that color prejudice would never have developed. There is no longer any color prejudice or racism against Northeast Asians living in the United States today, or at least not much to speak of, for the simple reason that they have shown that they are just as intelligent as, or even more intelligent than, the host population. The hierarchy of color among American blacks, and the similar pigmentocratic hierarchies in the Caribbean and Latin America, are primarily hierarchies of ability. Lighter-skinned people are regarded more highly because they are more talented. In an imaginary world, had human evolution occurred differently such that it was dark skin rather than light skin that was associated with greater ability, then color prejudice would have been directed toward light skin.357 Ten Racism and Stereotypes Then and Now RACISM IN C...

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