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PSYCHOLOGY
Why "Low IQ" is a Popular Insult Targeting Black People
The myth of black inferiority is a legitimizing myth
If you peek at a landscape through a smudged lens, your observations will be based on a distorted image. In the same light, those who endorse racial stereotypes develop a skewed perception of minorities. They do not see them for who they are—dynamic, diverse individuals—but rather as society has framed them. Consider the misguided belief that White people are more intelligent than Black people. This trope, which presents the group in a negative light, stems from the chattel slavery era when enslavers sought to justify the racial hierarchy from which they profited. Unfortunately, this belief continues to endure in the modern era. Claiming Black people have a "low IQ" is a popular insult, one founded on misconceptions about race and intelligence. Let's unpack this.
Race is a social construct initially created to categorize people into groups based on phenotypic characteristics and region. In 1749, the "French philosopher-scientist Georges L.L. de Buffon" coined the term race, which Johan Friedrich Blumenbach expanded upon in his 1775 book, Histoire Naturelle. Both scholars "recognized that all human beings belonged to a single species." Today, racial categorization has harmful connotations. What…
