Chapter Six - The Race IQ Wars

CHAPTER SIX

The Race IQ Wars

EVERY FEW DECADES, it comes back.

The claim.
The data.
The outrage.
The rebuttal.
The silence.
And then eventually, the next wave.

Some version of the same argument always returns: that certain racial or ethnic groups are, on average, less intelligent. And every time it does, it shows just how deeply the idea of IQ has been baked into the myth of meritocracy.

The war started early.

Back in the 1910s and 1920s, psychologists like Goddard and Terman were already declaring certain races “inferior” based on IQ scores. Of course, these tests were written in English, biased toward American culture, and administered in hostile conditions. But the conclusions were treated as gospel.

Then came Carl Brigham, who helped develop the SAT. He explicitly claimed that IQ differences across ethnic groups were evidence of “racial decline” in America.

Later, he admitted he was wrong.

No one cared.

The real explosion came in 1969, when psychologist Arthur Jensen published a paper claiming that differences in academic achievement between white and Black students were mostly due to genetics. Not environment. Not history. Genetics.

The academic world caught fire.

Journals filled with rebuttals. Protesters marched. Colleagues condemned him. But the damage was done. The question was now “open.” It gave cover to politicians, schools, and racists everywhere. The idea that inequality was biological, not structural, had returned.

Then came The Bell Curve.

In 1994, authors Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray published what would become the most controversial book of the decade. Its core claim: intelligence is largely inherited, IQ predicts life outcomes, and racial gaps in IQ are real and persistent.

They said they weren’t racist.
They just followed the data.

But the data was junk.

Their analysis ignored poverty, trauma, segregation, and opportunity. It relied on outdated tests, biased assumptions, and flawed statistics. Leading psychologists, educators, and statisticians tore the book to pieces.

But it didn’t matter.

It hit the bestseller list.
It got TV coverage.
It became a favorite of white supremacist groups.
And it cemented a poisonous idea in the culture:

That maybe inequality is natural.

And once people believe that, they stop trying to fix it.

Never mind that IQ gaps between groups shrink dramatically when you control for income, education, access to healthcare, and social stability. Never mind that environment plays a massive role in test scores. Never mind that intelligence isn’t even a single trait.

The myth persists.

Because it justifies the world as it is.
It lets the powerful keep their thrones.
It lets the test keep sorting.
And it lets people pretend that failure is personal, not systemic.

But the data says otherwise.
Always has.

And slowly, the cracks began to show. Even from inside the field itself.

That’s where we go next.