RE EQUALITY MERITOCRACY AND RACE

Let's say a few words about these vexed questions taken together.

The Bell Curve of course set off a fire storm.

 I never read it. I reviewed the executive summary on wikipedia.

The criticisms of The Bell Curve methodology, Graves', at the end of the article, seem to me to sound well founded.

I want to talk briefly about something else along these lines.  It is very obvious to me that certain races have various advantages and disadvantages, of undetermined magnitude, as far as I can see. 

Let me give just one glaring example of a kind of meritocracy not normally alluded to.

IF you study history, you will see that the history of survival of laborers, under various conditions, varies by race.

The most well documented example of the relative survival merits of the negro race over white or Indian races is in connection with the history of slavery in tropical conditions, in Africa, the West Indies, South America, and the Southeastern Seaboard of the United States.

This racial advantage of blacks was recognized fairly early on, and resulted in the relative value of negro, Indian, and white slaves or indentured servants, for work in tropical conditions.  Slaves and indentured servants were valued differently based on their race.

Blacks were worth twice that of whites, and one and a half times the value of Indians, of comparable physical condition at time of purchase. Professor Allison, of Suffolk University in Boston,  makes this point quite well in his video lectures for the Teaching Company, Before 1776.