Re: BELL CURVE CRITIC EXPOSED?

Michael Rogero Brown (jerrybro@uclink2.berkeley.edu)
1 Feb 1995 11:50:30 GMT

pn8886@csc.albany.edu (Phil Nicholls) wrote:

> Racial typologies are not based on the analysis of historical patterns of
> gene flow as you suggest.

Nevertheless, they are based on guesses as to the origins of
individuals. Questions of origins and ancestry have always been
central to the thinking of humans about themselves and each other.

> Racial typology is STILL based on phenotypes and superficial
> phenotypes at that.

Early physical anthropologists in search of a rigorous treatment of
race may have considered that approach to be more reliable
than reckoning about ancestry. However, that was their mistake,
and not the mistake of anyone who thought about race.

> You did it yourself above ("do i come from a
> gene pool significantly different from a BLACK man?").

It's not quite just to charge him with that. An albino black man
is still black, despite having light skin, so the word "black"
should not be considered a description of a superficial
feature.