Quoted From the New York Times... I think is a very good Article
"George Vecsey's article on Tom Brokaw's program about whether black athletes are better than white athletes (''Motivation Key Factor With Athletes,'' The New York Times, April 27) warrants a response. I thought his review was rather timid. Well, blacks are better from a purely statistical point of view. They make up 12 percent of the population and account for more than 40 percent in all those sports in which they participate fully. I believe that genetically blacks most likely have an edge. Now it doesn't mean that because they are not world champions in high jumping, tennis and golf that they may not excel if they went for those sports in a big way. By the way, the world's best high jumper is a black from Cuba. So the claim made by Anita DeFrantz doesn't hold. It's just that blacks haven't pursued high jumping in an appreciable way.
As an African, I don't understand the hesitation on the part of American blacks to accept that their athletic gifts come from their African genes. Just note that West Africans are good in short distances like black Americans, and East Africans are better in the longer races. The reason is both environmental and genetic. Statistic: in the recent Boston Marathon 5 of the first 10 finishers, including the winner, were from East Africa. It's not just chance or hard work. It's in the genes.
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I can live with that since I don't believe Africans are intellectually inferior to any race. African students in the U.S. do better in their grade-point average. Of course we outperform black Americans at all levels. We also pursue things like economics, engineering, chemistry and physics which black American students run away from. Many, many African students have graduated from M.I.T. and Cal Tech. Check it out with the Institute of International Education at United Nations Plaza. They have the records.
To clinch the genetic case (Africans are just stronger and hardier than whites), compare Cuba and the Soviet Union. Those two countries use the same training methods, yet Cuba produces better boxers, sprinters, etc., than the Soviet Union. And most Cuban athletes are black although blacks are only 30 percent of the Cuban population. Apart from Borzov, why haven't the whites produced a good sprinter in the last 20 years?
Harry Edwards has a big, big complex, looking for excuses where there are none. Sure there has been racial mixture in the U.S., but only 30 percent of the ''black'' population is of mixed origin. Because of the nature of slavery and racial sentiment, most blacks produced offspring only among themselves. It couldn't have been otherwise. Since most slave plantations had more than 40 slaves, quite clearly there were always more African babies born than mixed race babies (the result of rape by slave owners). Quite obviously many blacks in order to get away from the ''Africa thing'' lie about their background claiming mixture when there is none. This is compounded by the fact that many Africans are actually brown or light brown in color (just environment and genetics at work here).
As an African it's O.K. with me that Africans or members of the African race are gifted in athletics. I say bravo to Akeem Olajuwon: he is great not only because of practice but because of his African genes, which allow him to jump high and run quickly.
Blacks in the U.S. are just too sensitive on racial matters. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being African or black. Something special comes with the package. MUSA FOGANA Washington"
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...carry on.
