WILLIE LYNCH MEETS WILLIAM SHOCKLEY

Shockley believed that the higher rate of reproduction among the less intelligent was having a dysgenic effect, and that a drop in average intelligence would ultimately lead to a decline in civilization. Shockley advocated that the scientific community should seriously investigate questions of heredity, intelligence and demographic trends, and suggested social policy changes if he was proven right. Although Shockley was concerned about both black and white dysgenic effects, he found the situation among blacks more disastrous. While unskilled whites had 3.7 children on average versus an average of 2.3 children for skilled whites, Shockley found from the 1970 Census Bureau reports that unskilled blacks had 5.4 children versus 1.9 for the skilled blacks. Shockley reasoned that because intelligence (like most traits) is inherited, the black population would, over time, become much less intelligent countering all the gains that had been made by the Civil Rights movement. Sigmund Freud stated "The masses have NEVER thirsted after TRUTH. They DEMAND ILLUSIONS, and CANNOT do without them. They CONSTANTLY WANT what is UNREAL which takes PRECENDENCE over what is REAL; they are almost as strongly INFLUENCED by what is UNTRUE as by what is true. They have an EVIDENT tendency to distinguish between the two. ARE THESE OBSERVATIONS CORRECT? ARE AFRICAN AMERICANS GENETICALLY DISPOSED TOWARDS DYSFUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORS? ARE WE CONCEIVED AT BIRTH MORE PRONE TO BECOME MENACES II SOCIETY?