We all probably wanted to forget James Watson. Actually, you might have already forgotten him. Here's a refresher: He's a Nobel Laureate and one of the co-discoverers of DNA. He made headlines last fall when he made some very special comments about blacks
"inferior intelligence" to London's Sunday Times. It goes without saying that he was quite mistaken. Now, Henry Louis Gates has pulled Dr. Watson out of hiding for an interview on The Root. Watson told Gates that he had no recollection of making those statements, agreeing that they were wrong and offensive. But then most of what he says in the interview renders that denial and apology pretty unconvincing. Skip Gates concludes that the guy's not a racist, but he is a racialist, which pretty much boils down to "scientific racist." Check out a sports-themed excerpt from the interview after the jump.

CONTINUED »

In a year that saw a young black girl being held captive, raped, and forced to eat animal feces while being pelted with racial slurs, the guys that follow certainly don't even come close to representing the most egregious or violent racism that occurred in the last 12 months. Instead, these high profile white guys represent a new era in American race relations, which are somehow ever-evolving and completely static at the same time. The veil of political correctness has been lifted to show that racial ignorance, ugly stereotypes, and, in some cases, hate, are alive, well, sometimes subtle, and, scariest of all, thriving.

CONTINUED »

• Remember James Watson, the Nobel prize-winning scientist who believes black people are genetically less intelligent than whites? Well, 16 percent of his genes likely came from a black ancestor. [Ind]

• Ah, microaggression. It actually seems to be going out of style these days. [WS]

• Nooses are less microaggression, more passive aggression. [KNBC]

• The city of Chicago is out $20 million. Taxpayers can blame the cops who thought it was a good idea to torture four black suspects into a confession. [UPI]

• Fisk University is in major trouble, and local churches are stepping in to help. [WKRN]

James Watson is nearly 80 and looks it — his skin is dotted with liver spots, a shock of wispy white hair (half) covers his head, wrinkles surround his blue eyes, and his teeth… Well, don't get me started on his teeth. But it's the Chicago-born Nobel laureate's ideas, not his physical appearance, that age him the most. Lauded almost 50 years ago for determining, with the help of an unrewarded female researcher named Rosalind Franklin and others, the structure of DNA, it seems like his mission since has been to sully his notable scientific works with off-color comments.

From CNN:

In 1997, Britain's Sunday Telegraph quoted Watson as saying that if a gene for homosexuality were isolated, women who find that their unborn child has the gene should be allowed to have an abortion.

During a lecture tour in 2000, he suggested there might be links between skin color and sexual prowess and between a person's weight and their level of ambition.

And in a British TV documentary that aired in 2003, Watson suggested that stupidity was a genetic disease that should be treated.

Watson's latest comments, about a link between race and intelligence, may have destroyed his reputation in the scientific community and his legacy for good. Stereohyped spoke to Dr. Joseph L. Graves, Dean of University Studies at North Carolina A&T University and the author of The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium and The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America about James Watson, scientific racism, and the need for more scientific literacy.

CONTINUED »

• Sean Combs just got his version of 50's Vitamin water deal. [IHT]

• An Iowa high school principal pulled copies of a student newspaper that featured a student poll showing that 13 percent of the school was racist. How could the principal deprive the black kids of that valuable information? [E&P]

• Poor blacks in DC are getting more destitute as the rich get a lot rich. And the world keeps spinning on its axis. [Reuters]

• James Watson canceled a planned appearance next month in Louisville, KY, and I'm mad they hadn't already revoked their invitation. [AP]

• Oh, if only having your bodyguards smack the papers you just got served to the ground would make the lawsuit actually go away… [TMZ]

• Forbes' list of the top 10 highest earning comedians does not include one single black performer. Dave Chappelle goes all "conscious" on us, and now we've got no one making the big bucks. Seriously, Larry the Cable Guy made more than Chris Rock last year. [Forbes]

• Alicia Keys claims she can "understand" the lesbian rumors. If that's true, then why did she say this? [SP]

• Is James Watson working for the New Jersey Department of Education? [NJ]

• For all of you critics who think black people always want to blame white people and never work to solve problems in the community. [MSNBC]

The ever-growing blogosphere has not only given the millions of people who write blogs an outlet for their opinions, it's opened up a forum for anonymous people to tell the world how they really feel in the comments section with no personal consequences. Unfortunately, not all blog commentators are as smart and thoughtful and funny as Stereohyped's.

Take this post on Wired.com's blog, for instance. The writer was clearly denouncing the recent statements from James Watson that painted Africans as intellectually inferior people. But take a glance at the comments, filled with people who are celebrating Watson's "courage." In theory, we can shrug away Watson's statements as the racist ramblings of an aging scientist. But the truth is, his ridiculous words provide just the "proof" that racists have been looking for.

Thanks, Racialicious!

• Ten questions with Julian Bond, civil rights pioneer. [CBS]

• In a twist, a Canadian judge says a white woman was wrongly fired for making a statement her employers perceived to be racist. [CP]

• Not that we really need it, but here's some scientific evidence refuting James Watson's research. [PF]

• Oh! But now Watson's taking it all back. Sort of. [USAT]

• The Mississippi governor seeks black votes for his second term. A novel idea. [AP]

• African American medical school enrollment increased this year, as did the number of proud, braggy black grandmas. [DFP]

• BET will air the story of Frank Lucas, the man who inspired the movie American Gangster. But, uh, kids? Don't try this in your home town. [PR]

• Damn, C-Murder must regret his first choice in rap alias every single day. [AP]

• I wrote about this yesterday, but I detected a hints warmth and understanding toward the racist old researcher in this Fox piece. [FOX]

• Let's steer clear of the sugar daddies, ladies. [MNT]

Dr. James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner and a renowned scientific researcher, believes that African minds are inherently inferior to Westerners'. And he seems to feel there is nothing wrong with this research. In fact, he feels very, very right and wants us all to wake up.

The newly formed Equality and Human Rights Commission, successor to the Commission for Racial Equality, said it was studying Dr Watson's remarks " in full". Dr Watson told The Sunday Times that he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really". He said there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal but "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

His views are also reflected in a book published next week, in which he writes: "There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so."

Oh, I know. The plight of people who are actually forced to deal with those black employees with sub par intellects should truly not go unrecognized. I thank, no, I commend Dr. Watson for opening all of our eyes to the superiority of white intellect and the hopelessness of Africa. I'm sure white supremacists and Fox Newsies feel totally vindicated.
[NI]

*Thanks for the tip, BMD!