Even if Barr and Lott are given the benefit of the doubt, even if they can be forgiven their inattention to the ideology of people whose hospitality they accepted, their very presence at key CCC events gilds ugly racism with the patina of power from the highest echelons of the U.S. government. Similarly, Florida State University Psychology Professor Glayde Whitney provides the Council of Conservative Citizens with quasi-scientific cover. Whitney, a former president of the Behavior Genetics Association, is well-respected for his research on the genetics of taste. But his articles and reviews in American Renaissance, a sort of house journal for the CCC and its fellow travelers, go very much against the grain of mainstream science. He claims that scientific evidence shows blacks are inferior to whites in intelligence.
Most biologists reject such determinism.
Race in humans is a misnomer. It's just a word to describe humans based on the simplest criteria. Robert Patterson, a charter member of the old Citizens Council, is a stalwart of the new-look CCC and a frequent contributor to its newsletter. He recently called for the repeal of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It used to be that only groups like the Klan spoke of affirmative action as bad policy.