‘Exceptions, shoe-ins, tokenism, appeasement, examples of affirmative action.’
‘They’re still examples.’
‘I deal in averages.’
‘You deal in generalizations, patronizing assumptions.’
‘Everything I teach stands up to academic scrutiny.’
‘What about the black academics who would tend to disagree?’
‘Ah, yes – black academia. Odd that most have circumvented the more demanding, intellectually rigorous aspects of further education – classics, higher mathematics, advanced physics – to concentrate on black consciousness, civil rights studies and African history.’
‘Hardly a crime.’
‘Neither is it wholly laudable. I wouldn’t hold up race relations journeymen, the likes of Reverend Al Azania, as shining scholarly icons.’
‘Somehow I doubt you’d hold up anyone with darker skin-pigmentation as a contributor of any sort.’
Pitt raised a hand. ‘A charge I deny. One only has to watch the Olympiads to appreciate their particular strengths.’
‘Or watch midwives, nurses, teachers, boxing coaches …’
‘Precisely. But, I’m curious.’ His fingers tapped briefly on the desk. ‘Why is it, do you think, that it’s permissible to accept that Kenyan runners excel in long-distance endurance events on account of their uniquely efficient oxygen distribution systems, their different metabolism, small pelvises, the combination of twitch fibres in their thigh muscles, yet discussion concerning race-based differences in mental capacity, cognitive ability, is a no-no? I’d call it double-standards.’
‘I’d call it common sense.’
‘Is it common sense to have an education system in which blacks cannot thrive, which they are ill-equipped to tackle, where standards and thresholds must continually fall across society in order to accommodate them, where they consistently come lowest in all SAT, ACT and NAEP assessments?’
‘They’re not Martians, professor. Over here, they’re third, fourth or fifth generation Britons. They’re here to stay. You forget the level of integration. Some would argue it’s been successful.’
‘And you?’
‘Too early to judge, too late for regrets. I tend not to think about it.’
‘Because it’s painful. The British hate introspection.’
‘While many of them like black culture.’
‘The reason is glaring – it’s easy, effortless, indolent, rhythmic, sexy, drug-based, street-wise, requires no thought, is anti-authority, youth-oriented, appeals to the “something-for-nothing” instincts of any uneducated urban boy.’
‘We all follow the path of least resistance.’
‘Lo, they’re not failing the system, the system’s failing them. Victims of a cruel world, we’re told.’
‘Given the opportunity …’
‘They’d still mess it up,’ Pitt interrupted. ‘You think everyone has innate ability, the same cognitive levels? Bullshit. IQ is an inherited trait.’
‘Few of us go up before the Nobel committee, professor. If they get the breaks, people make the most of what they’ve got.’
‘White trash mates with black trash – it’s why 50 per cent of Caribbean males have white female partners in your country.’
‘That’s a lot of mixed-race offspring, a degree of interaction the USA hasn’t achieved. Must irritate you – muddying the purity of your social waters, messing with your colour-coding.’
‘It certainly messes with the health of society in general, adds to the underclass, furthers state dependency and criminality.’
‘Or vibrancy and diversity.’
‘You apply the semantic palliatives of the far left.’
‘You employ the vocabulary of the extreme right.’
Pitt nudged the bar of chocolate across. ‘Please, take some. I insist.’
Kemp paused to break off a square, knowing that he was participating in a set-piece, a set-up. ‘It’ll help me and my blood-sugar cope with your analogies between black Africa and black Britain or America.’
‘Coincidentally, it also aids me. Fact, check with the UN and historical research: widespread slavery existed in Africa, still exists, regardless of whether white or Arab slavers arrived to tap into it. The cocoa for the product you’ve eaten? It comes from the Ivory Coast where the plantations are almost exclusively reliant on slave labour. And I mean slave. Blood on your hands, Mr Kemp.’
Kemp reached for another piece. ‘It’s okay. My sense of guilt isn’t highly developed.’
‘Fact two, check with the FBI: 90 per cent of interracial crime in the United States involves a black perpetrator and a white victim. Only 1 per cent of total homicides is accounted for by a white killing a black in a race crime. To listen to civil rights leaders, you’d think the Klan were riding around on a murder-spree. Those same leaders stay silent when a black supremacist performs a drive-by on a group of innocent whites.’
‘Your point?’
‘Fact three you can check with the American Psychological Association: blacks have, over a century, regardless of class or wealth, and factoring in educational and social variants, scored routinely lower – on average, fifteen centile points lower – than whites in all major IQ and cognitive areas. Their average IQ remains stubbornly at 85, for whites it stands at 100. It is indisputable, though I confess not popular.’
‘Jews? Asians?’
