The surprising relationship between intelligence and racism

My father was one of the most intelligent men I ever met in life. (He had to be. Where do you suppose I got it from? -- sorry, I couldn't resist) Seriously, he was intelligent, very intelligent. Despite a lack of educational opportunities, he worked his way out of abject poverty by learning new skills, mostly self-taught. In his mid-40's he completely schooling while working and supporting a family, then attended night school to earn a degree and a law degree. His went back to school at the urging of neighbors whom he had led in a complex zoning battle affecting our community. He was, in a word, intelligent.

My father was one of the most prejudiced men I ever met in my life. I believe he could have made George Wallace blush. He was indiscriminate in his discrimination. He hated everyone different. Different race. Different ethnicity. Different national origin. Different religion. And, even if you were of the same race, ethnicity, national origin, and religion, you were discriminated against by him if you didn't agree with his politics, choice of car brands, or if you used ketchup on fish.

No, I'm not convinced that intelligence is a reliable indicator of racism

My grandfather was the same way, Captain. Jack
He was Choctaw and Irish. Built a furniture business from scratch, but before that he was a slave owner ! Yes, that's right a slave owner, he had 4 to 6 slaves working his farm down in Ofahoma Mississippi just outside of Jackson. A Hurricane destroyed his farm, and his slaves ran away. So he moved to Detroit and opened up a furniture business. He was a rich tight wad, tighter than bark on a tree ! On his bedroom dresser he has pictures of all the women he's has ever dated and slept with. All are white two were Hollywood actresses and 1 is black. Guess who he ended up marrying? Yep the black woman, my grandmother with a shotgun in his back. No joke, he admitted that he was Prejudice but he wasn't a racist, say what ? And before he died, he told me that I was not black but dark. That I'm Choctaw, Irish with a hint of African. And to my surprise my dad's mom, said the samething. She is Puerto Rican and Cajun, she married a Pawnee Indian and they had my dad his two brothers and my aunt. And my Grandmother would always say that I'm dark skinned but not black African. The only thing missing from her was a couple of slaves picking cotton. She was highly intelligent also, but morally lacking. I've come to the conclusion that Intelligent people spend much of their life ( ever Learning ) but never able to come into the Knowledge of the (Truth ). And the truth is that without God and his Son Jesus Christ in one's life, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

I thought this was going to be an article about racism in the intelligence community. Glad it wasn't.

But it was a pretty stupid article. Supposedly, smart people are less racist than stupid people. So far, so good -- but apparently smart people are no better than stupid people at supporting liberal attempts at social engineering like bussing and affirmative action. Conclusion? Those smart people must be prejudiced and racist.

It's a blatant bias, labeling intelligent people who reject bussing and affirmative action as racist, as if there couldn't possibly be any principled reasons for opposing those programs that don't include racism. Frankly, to me, it indicates that the people pushing that viewpoint are either not nearly as intelligent as they think they are, or they are race-baiting, or both.