Racism Resurgent - 1995-01-01

Racism Resurgent January 1, 1995, Jim Naureckas, fair.org

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When the New Republic devoted almost an entire issue (10/31/94) to a debate with the authors of The Bell Curve, editor Andrew Sullivan justified the decision by writing, "The notion that there might be resilient ethnic differences in intelligence is not, we believe, an inherently racist belief."

In fact, the idea that some races are inherently inferior to others is the definition of racism. What the New Republic was saying—along with other media outlets that prominently and respectfully considered the thesis of Charles Murray and the late Richard Herrnstein's book—is that racism is a respectable intellectual position, and has a legitimate place in the national debate on race.

The Bell Curve was accorded attention totally disproportionate to the merits of the book or the novelty of its thesis. The book and its dubious claims set the agenda for discussions on such public affairs programs as Nightline (10/21/94), the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (10/28/94), the McLaughlin Group (10/21/94), Charlie Rose (11/3/94, 11/4/94), Think Tank (10/14/94), PrimeTime Live (10/27/94) and All Things Considered (10/28/94).

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | first = Jim | last = Naureckas | title = Racism Resurgent | url = https://fair.org/home/racism-resurgent/ | work = fair.org | date = January 1, 1995 | accessdate = February 13, 2020 }}