“Soothly
we have been told that first industrial and manual training should have taught
the Negro to work, then simple schools should have taught him to read and
write, and finally, after years, high and normal schools could have completed
the system, as intelligence and wealth demanded.” (The Souls of Black Folk 1903,
VI, 12)
This
is how W.E.B Du Bois connects biological determinism with the social
discrimination African American people in the USA. Biodeterminism alleges that race is “fixed,
unchangeable and hierarchical” (Gould pp. 51–61). However,
society determines it as a “social weapon” to secure social positions and impose a vicious cycle
on its victims.
First, African Americans were enslaved, deculturalized and poorly educated.
After the abolition of slavery, racial prejudice portrayed black people as naturally
incapable on the level of education. But how were they supposed to be on the
same level without the same education? Schools and Universities had poorer
provision or did not even exist. Likewise, white people would not be further
advanced without the prestigious Universities. It is easy to determine a group of people of being incapable
of learning by setting the rules in a way, that it becomes extremely difficult
to overcome the obstacles.
The problem is not the child deserving
only a certain provision of education, but it is the education, which should be
provided equally for all children. Biological determinism worked throughout
history like a self-fulfilling prophecy. If a black child is always told, that
his “place“ is being a servant or cook—whether he or she hears it from family at home, from children at school
or from people in society—it would need a very strong mindset to break free
from this supposed naturally fixed setting.
From this perspective, W.E.B. Du Bois illustrates the important role of the “Talented Tenth” as their inherited
power as a leader. But in my understanding by talking about ten percent of
natural leaders, Du Bois neglects the potential of the remaining ninety
percent. Not everybody might be capable of leading groups or nations due to sickness
or other disabilities. However, in most cases it is rather merely the result of
their socialization.
In general, the idea of affirmative
action evokes to be favorable. The sound of equal rights, fair choices and same
possibilities is compelling. Especially, since we still don’t live in a society,
where equal treatment is a given, we might still need policies to ensure it.
But do these policies really work out the way they were planned? One problem
could be the devaluation of achievements of such minority groups. Instead of
being valued for their competence, they might be accepted to a school or job
because of their “race”. It can also be misused to claim more support for having
a high quota of minorities. However, if in the present this is the only way to
access a better education or job as an African American, it is very necessary
to secure these policies.
By Miriam Soltau
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