The Petal paper. [volume] (Petal, Miss.) 1953-19??, 1959-02-26
Reports The Manchester Guardian =
No Basis For Race Prejudice

ly in this way can the dark colour
OF the American Indians be I'M
derstood, for they have only COM
paratively recently infiltrated in
to Central America.
Similarly specific and geneti-
cally simple characteristics of
race such as blood groupings APP
pear to have arisen by equally
random mutations at some point
IN the history of the race, and
their permanence in a population
appears not to be nearly as cer-
tain as the striking nature of their
visual appearances would some-
times suggest. Geneticists have
been, for example, notably i'm
pressed by the rapid decline of
sickle cell haemoglobin among
North American Negroes after
some two centuries of life in a
Habitat where the possession of
this characteristic is not - as in
the malarial regions of West Af-
RIGA - biological advantage.
| The North American Negroes
are fruitful source of informa-
ton on this subject, mainly be-
cause they have been studied
with great care in the last few
decades. One striking fact which
emerged is that some 80 per cent
or 40 per cent Of Negro blood in
North America derives from
white ancestors, mainly, it seems,
because of the illicit marriage of
white men and Negro women.
The rate of admixture of white
blood is said to be of 3 per cent
or 4 per cent generation at pre-
sent, and it has been estimated
that if the process goes on at the
same rate the Negro population
will be genetically in equilibrium
with the white in between thirty
and sixty generations.
In other words, though it may
still be possible to find some very
dark-skinned people and some
whose skins are as white as those
of the Pilgrim Fathers in North
America, the balance of genetic
characteristics in the population
will be as if the flow Of genes
was uninterrupted, and the aver
age American will be of milk
coffee colour.
Unfortunately it appears to be
much more difficult to make ac-
: curate measurements Of the diff
; ferences between the intelligence
of different races. The difficulty
here is that of distinguishing be-
tween native wit Called sintelli-
gence Al. and cultured intelli-
gence ('sintelligence BIZ. North
American data presented by Pro-
fessor P. E. Vernon shows for ex-
ample, marked inferiority in in
telligence Gas measured by stand
ard intelligence tests) of Amer
lean Negroes compared with the
white population; but at least a
very large proportion of this has
been shown to be due to differ
ent cultural backgrounds by
means of comparisons. between
American Negroes in the north
ern and southern states.
Why, then, is there race preiu-
dice? DR.. Marie Jahoda, a psy-
/ chiartrist, put forward a psyche
analytical Interpretation. Race
prejudice, she suggested Con the
basis of series of phycho-analy-
: ses carried out in New York; is
) part of an attempt by insecure
persons (either those going up in
) the world or those going DOWN
) to assure themselves of their own
identity. DR.. Jahoda suggested
5 that there would be racial preju-
i dice Cor more generally some
i form of prejudice against tout
groups" possibly religious in
characteristics as long as there
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