Black Slaves Make better Athletes

[OMEGA]

According to Michail Johnson
He basically is commenting on genetic natural selection during enslavement, but of course the media wont really focus on that despite it being possibly true...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/n...,7290180.story

[MattyH7688]

Just imagine if a white Michael Phelps said this.. he would lose all his sponsors, have Jesse Jackson protesting the pool, and it would make national news easily.

[Curt James]

Michael Johnson competing

[Curt James]

The First Take panel discuss former Olympian Michael Johnson's comments about receiving a genetic benefit from slavery.



Published on Jul 5, 2012 by ESPN

[Hydroshake]

not true imo. native africans have just as good genetics, they just don't have a reason or the resources to take their bodies to the elite athletic level.

[Curt James]

Michael Johnson Survival of the Fastest



Published on Jul 7, 2012 by loungezinger
A documentary examining the extreme athletic success of the descendants of afro-american and afro-caribean slaves. Michael Johnson stars and narrates.

[Curt James]

not true imo. native africans have just as good genetics, they just don't have a reason or the resources to take their bodies to the elite athletic level.

I agree.

The one ESPN reporter also commented that he believes it would be true of all African Americans, clearly not his experience.

[MattyH7688]

The First Take panel discuss former Olympian Michael Johnson's comments about receiving a genetic benefit from slavery.



Published on Jul 5, 2012 by ESPN

Very very ignorant statements from these guys.. Saying its solely hardwork is almost insulting, implying white people don't work as hard as black people. There is a reason in sports like running, football, basketball, etc.. even though blacks are a minority here, they make up a great majority in these leagues. I am not saying its from slavery, nor am I saying they don't work hard, but there is obviously something genetically in multiple african americans that does separate them in certain athletics. It comes down to genetics in MOST pro sports, yea the work needs to be put in there.. but I could KILL myself every single day for the rest of my life and I would NEVER run a 4.2 40 or have a 45inch vertical jump. We all knew kids in high school or college who didn't work hard at all, white or black, that absolutely dominated every thing they did. Genetics make up a MAJOR role in all pro sports, whether you are white, black, asian, etc..Anyone who bodybuilds knows this too.

[GDavis]

According to Michail Johnson
He basically is commenting on genetic natural selection during enslavement, but of course the media wont really focus on that despite it being possibly true...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/occurred/la-na-nn-michael-johnson-slave-descendants-make-better-athletes-20120705,0,7290180.story

This argument is not really viable. Slavery in North America occurred for a very short time period to expect long term genetic alterations. Their is a host of problems with this type of "scientiific/logical" thinking.

[ypmm5]

Very very ignorant statements from these guys.. Saying its solely hardwork is almost insulting, implying white people don't work as hard as black people. There is a reason in sports like running, football, basketball, etc.. even though blacks are a minority here, they make up a great majority in these leagues. I am not saying its from slavery, nor am I saying they don't work hard, but there is obviously something genetically in multiple african americans that does separate them in certain athletics. It comes down to genetics in MOST pro sports, yea the work needs to be put in there.. but I could KILL myself every single day for the rest of my life and I would NEVER run a 4.2 40 or have a 45inch vertical jump. We all knew kids in high school or college who didn't work hard at all, white or black, that absolutely dominated every thing they did. Genetics make up a MAJOR role in all pro sports, whether you are white, black, asian, etc..Anyone who bodybuilds knows this too.

Well said. I'm Black and agree. I can train my calves off and I'll never have calves like Vince Taylor, Chris Dickerson, Mike Matarazo, Dorian Yates, etc. because their genetics. The same goes if an Anglo Male does not have that genetic blue print. Micheal Johnson had some valid points. I think it is his chosen words and phrase that is causing the controversy. I would not like to ever thing any form of slavery as anything positive.

[Waylon]

"White Women Make better Sandwiches"

[CDJack]

This argument is not really viable. Slavery in North America occurred for a very short time period to expect long term genetic alterations. Their is a host of problems with this type of "scientiific/logical" thinking.

Actually, the argument is very viable. I did a paper on this subject in college and spent quite a long time and effort researching this subject. Here are some snippets from the paper that I think may be helpful. I have removed references but can provide them upon request.

"In the studies he cited, blacks were found to be superior for power and speed for a variety of reasons, some of which included longer arms and legs, narrower hips, wider bones, and lower body fat percentages. Some studies even show that black men have higher levels of testosterone than white men. Kane also cited a number of studies that showed black children and boys outperformed whites on a variety of speed, agility, and strength tests. His basic conclusion was that African-Americans’ bodies are better designed for sports requiring short and powerful bursts of speed and energy because of a better power-to-weight ratio."


"According to Snyder and other supporters of this theory, the extremely harsh conditions of the slave trade and slavery in general, combined with selective breeding for big and strong slaves, could very well have caused evolution to occur at an extraordinarily rapid pace through a bottleneck effect. Snyder claimed that this breeding resulted in blacks today having bigger thighs, and thus an advantage is athletics. Strangely enough, he also said white athletes were lazy and practiced less than blacks, which is not quite consistent with any genetic argument. This so called “breeder theory” was articulated quite well in 1939 by a black anthropologist named William Montagne Cobb. According to Cobb, “No other group of Americans in such large numbers has had to pass such rigorous tests of survival as has the Negro. From this standpoint he is the most highly selected stock in America... physically strong, showing great endurance at strenuous labor under severe climactic and nutritional hardships and producing a disproportionately large number of champions in representative fields of athletics.”


"Based on the findings of this paper, it seems that the mystique of the genetically superior black athlete, whether it’s true or not, is channeling a disproportionate number of black youth into athletics and away from other pursuits where the probability of success greater. The effects seem to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, in which the black athlete is much more vulnerable to committing himself to a self few sports and closing doors to other more reasonable opportunities."

[Johnny Bravo]

not true imo. native africans have just as good genetics, they just don't have a reason or the resources to take their bodies to the elite athletic level.

Exactly, genetics takes alot longer to alter than a few hundred years.
What an idiot.

[Matt Meinrod]

I'm not a genius on genetics, but if I'm 6'6'' and have kids with a woman who's 5'11''...our kid likely going to be tall. If that tall kid breeds with another tall person their kid is going to be tall (if not taller). This is taking place in a time span of 25-40 years. I don't see why it's far fetched to think in 200-400 years of slavery that it can't be done.

[CDJack]

Exactly, genetics takes alot longer to alter than a few hundred years.
What an idiot.

Actually, no they don't. That's very myopic, as you are only thinking about evolution by natural selection. However, if you read more into Darwinian evolution, there are plenty of examples of very rapid divergent evolution due to a number of different potential forces, i.e. selective breeding, natural disasters, and other bottlenecking events. Slavery existed for around 200 years in the United States, which could have been anywhere from 3-5 "generations" of people. Though it isn't a massive effect, it very well could be enough to give a statistically significant physical advantage to current day blacks who are descendants of slaves (who obviously survived to reproduce for one reason or another--maybe because of physical ability, maybe because they were smart).