In Memoriam: Reggie White

Sad news, former NFL great Reggie White has died. You may recall the late Rev. White was vilified for daring to broach the subject of human biodiversity in public. White observed:

Why did God create us differently? Why did God make me black and you white? Why did God make the next guy Korean and the next guy Asian and the other guy Hispanic? Why did God create the Indians?

Well, it's interesting to me to know why now. When you look at the black race, black people are very gifted in what we call worship and celebration. A lot of us like to dance, and if you go to black churches, you see people jumping up and down, because they really get into it.

White people were blessed with the gift of structure and organization. You guys do a good job of building businesses and things of that nature and you know how to tap into money pretty much better than a lot of people do around the world.

Hispanics are gifted in family structure. You can see a Hispanic person and they can put 20 or 30 people in one home. They were gifted in the family structure.

When you look at the Asians, the Asian is very gifted in creation, creativity and inventions. If you go to Japan or any Asian country, they can turn a television into a watch. They're very creative. And you look at the Indians, they have been very gifted in the spirituality.

When you put all of that together, guess what it makes. It forms a complete image of God. God made us different because he was trying to create himself. He was trying to form himself, and then we got kind of knuckleheaded and kind of pushed everything aside.

While some may differ that this reality is not the result of God, but evolution, I fail to see what was objectionable or untrue about his remarks. His detractors were in no position to question the authenticity of the observations of a black minister on what goes on in black churches. The Japanese did turn the televsion into a watch. The only thing I would add is that Hispanics are not just gifted at fitting "20 or 30 people in one home", they apply the same skill to also be the world's greatest car poolers.

One fascinating part of White's speech that went unoticed at the time was his analysis of the reason American slavery was of blacks:

When I look at the history of America, and particularly the history of slavery, one of the main reasons that Africans were enslaved was because of economics and skin color...During the time that the New World was to be built, the Europeans had to make a decision whether they were going to enslave their own. They couldn't enslave their own because their own could assimilate. They couldn't enslave the Indians because the Indians knew the territory, and the Indians knew how to sneak up on people. But the only people they could enslave was the Africans because of their skin color. We couldn't assimilate, and because of our skin color if we escaped, we were sent back to our plantations pretty much.

I first heard this very same and quite logical explanation for the racial basis of American slavery from a professor of economic history (the non-Nobel prize holding co-author of this esteemed book). The Rev. White was either better read than his detractors, or naturally more insightful, or both.