"Are Blacks and Whites Really Equal?" aka "The Black 'I.Q.'" in Courage to Grow by Hyde founder Joe Gauld. Warning: Racism
Posted for informational/FAIR USE purposes only. We do NOT agree with this “column,” and we support racial justice, dismantling systemic racism, and the Black Lives Matter movement.
We hope Joe Gauld’s views and opinions about racial oppression and equality have evolved significantly since he wrote this, and we hope the opinions of his son Malcolm Gauld, and daughter in law Laura Gauld, who currently run and profit from Hyde School, are far more evolved. As far as we know, he has never issued a redaction, update, or apology. He still references this column as something he is proud of in his books and on the Biggest Job website.
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Are Blacks and Whites Really Equal?
Maine Sunday Telegram column "Courage to Grow" October 21, 1973 by Joe Gauld, Hyde School Founder and then-headmaster.
Entry later renamed "The Black IQ" for the Courage to Grow, the book.
It’s hard to write a column on a subject that has been a battlefield for 200 years. But it’s time to stop fighting and have the courage to deal with the truth. I say there are definite inequalities on both sides, but blacks and whites need each other to complement their strengths.
My judgment is based upon experience. In my lifetime I have worked deeply with the potential of 5000 kids to have confidence in what I have found: whites more developed in intellectual areas, particularly academics: and blacks more developed in some physical and emotional areas, particularly in understanding people.
This should be clear even to the people fighting on the battleground. The “Northern Liberal” out to prove equality, is determined to show that blacks will perform exactly like whites given the opportunity. Yet with this approach, why does he make very little dent in the sub-par academic achievement of predominantly black schools?
The “Southern hardnose “insists that he knows blacks are inferior because he has lived with them. Yet, in spite of his efforts to segregate, why do blacks taken into such white homes keep becoming an integral part of their families?
I think I understand why. My family lived in Washington DC in the 30s . The depression afforded us a black maid who would become part of our family. Victoria was my favorite. Victoria may have had to ride in the back of the bus outside the home but she drove the bus in our home. I still see her pushing my mother aside when a handyman tried to overcharge mother for yardwork saying: “Listen N*****, who you think you messin’ with? You ain’t telling Miz Gauld how much you get because you ain’t done nothin’ yet.” That ended the discussion. The handyman meekly accepted the money Victoria decided to give him (one black man may call another N*****, but my brother Tom got mad at Victoria once and learn the hard way it was a no no for whites.)
Later, when Victoria‘s sister, Stella, came for help unwed and pregnant for the second time, Victoria refused. Mother took Stella in over Victoria’s objections: “Miz Gauld, that girl ain’t never gonna listen if she don’t pay. Ah can’t stop you but I ain’t lifting a finger to help.”
The baby came sooner than expected, but Victoria remained true to her words. Mother and the cab driver ended up delivering the baby in the cab on the way to the hospital.
As I grew older, I realized Victoria fit into our family because she was so often the most emotionally mature person in the house.
So before we worry about why blacks don’t seem to hold their own in intellectual fields like science and medicine, we have cause to consider the domination of the black in fields of expression like music and sports. Before we assume that the world measures the greatness of the American side society by its scientific developments, let us remember that some universal American legends have names like Jesse Owens and Louis Armstrong.
Recently a “rhubarb“ was caused by studies that the black “I.Q.“ is inferior to white. Beyond the fact that experience taught me “I.Q..“ only partially deals with true intelligence, why should the black man have the same “I.Q..“ as a white? What is the kind of intelligence men needed to cope with Africa for the past 2000 years the same needed by our white ancestors in Europe? Satchel Paige may not have the “I.Q.” required to be a professor or an engineer but he managed with the following philosophy to pitch baseball better in about 30 years longer than any white man:
“Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
“If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacifier with cool thoughts.
“Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
“Go very lightly on the vices, such as carrying on in society – the social ramble ain’t restful.
“Avoid running at all times.
“And don’t you look back some thing might be gaining on you.“
That flunks for “I.Q.“, but passes for “soul“. Maybe a Satchel Einstein could not only have put a man on the moon but could also have anticipated the problems that lead to pollution as well!
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