Editor’s note: Recently, Scientific American viciously smeared all critics of Darwinian theory with an article titled, “Denial of Evolution Is a Form of White Supremacy,” by Allison Hopper. As promised, we are presenting some of our extensive past coverage of the tight links between racism and evolution. This article was originally published on January 10, 2020.
A glance at the Wikipedia article on “scientific racism” makes it sound like the phenomenon is basically something out of the past: “Historically, scientific racism received credence throughout the scientific community, but it is no longer considered scientific.” But four African American high school students in Suffolk County, NY, might beg to differ.
They are suing their school district for $12 million after the teacher of their advanced zoology class showed slides of them juxtaposed with a gorilla with the caption “Monkey see, monkey do.” The photo of the four was taken on a field trip with their class to the Bronx Zoo, a place with a dismal history. There, in 1906, the African pygmy Ota Benga was displayed in a cage in the zoo’s Monkey House to educate the public about the insights of Darwinian theory. …
Let’s be fair. The instructor likely did not act from a specific intent to hurt black students.
David Klinghoffer, “Students Sue School District for $12 Million Over “Monkey See” Photos” at Evolution News and Science Today (July 28, 2021)
One rather hopes the students’ suit is settled by now and they can get on with their lives. Unfortunately, Benga never really got over his own experience and ended up committing suicide.
But we’ve been saying this practically forever: Quit teaching Darwinism in the public school system. There are ways of addressing evolution sensitively that don’t include teaching Darwinism.
Maybe insurance companies should quit insuring schools where Darwinism is taught against these specific types of incidents.
If I (O’Leary for News) were an insurance actuary, I’d be looking at that story with an eagle eye… I’d be thinking, we cost out our premiums based on stuff like: What happens if gym equipment collapses and a bunch of students are injured… What are we on the hook for? We can cost that out… there’s a big medical database on that kind of thing…
But now this stuff…? Look, it raises lots of issues and most of them are not even actuarial… Maybe a number of our insured school systems are charter schools that don’t even teach Darwinism. Why should every institutional policyholder be on the hook for raised costs due to this type of thing?
Possibly, Darwinism is becoming more vulnerable now.
See also: At Scientific American: “Denial of Evolution Is a Form of White Supremacy” Wow. Has the Darwin lobby hired itself a PR firm that recommended getting someone on board to accuse everyone who doubts Darwin of being a “white supremacist”? Quite simply, Charles Darwin’s Descent of Man is surely by far the most racist iconic document ever to be lauded by all the Right People! And getting someone to holler about “white supremacy” among Darwin doubters is, ahem, just a cheap shot, not a response to the stark raving racism in print of the actual document. Guys, try another one.