Are there differences between the races?

It is the height of political incorrectness to even speculate that there could be any differences among the races. And, of course, the variations between individuals within races are far greater than any possible differences between the races on average. But, still, this is dangerous territory. For example, one is not even allowed to suggest that blacks might be, on average, more physically gifted than whites, for fear that could be viewed as a backhanded suggestion that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites. (As an aside, this never made sense to me. Why should there be an inverse relationship between physical and intellectual prowess?)

Anyway, I’ve been watching the Olympic trials this week and the self-selection of the races is striking. All of the top sprinters are black and all of the top swimmers are white. Okay, once you stretch out to 400 meters white faces start to appear and the one black swimmer I saw managed a couple of third places. But, still . . . The obvious question is – why? I suppose there are more swimming pools and swimming teams in white neighborhoods than in black neighborhoods, but to this extent?

Perhaps even a better question is why, the longer the track and field race, the whiter the field. It takes no more or less equipment or opportunity to run the hundred meters than to run the 5,000. And it’s not as if blacks can’t run distance races. A bunch of Kenyans and other African marathoners amply prove that. So why the self-selection? As usual, I have more questions than answers, but the results could hardly happen by chance. Why are most great basketball players black and most great volleyball players white? Height and jumping ability are just as advantageous in volleyball as in basketball. The whole thing is a complete mystery to me, but something is going on here. Anybody have any idea what?