Awhile back, I kinda went off on David Adewumi for this post in which he looks at, what he sees as, a paucity of "black nerds." I probably could have been more charitable in my disagreement. What can I say? That one hit close to home. Anyway, upon further reading, I still find his perspective extremely problematic, and the utterly racist aspect of a couple of his posters disturbing, but that's beside the point. David responded in comments, and his rebuttal doesn't deserve to get lost in the archives. Here it is:
Ta-Nehisi,
I'm sorry that you took my thoughts completely out of context. It's meant as a personal anecdote to the essay by Paul Graham, 'Why Nerds are Unpopular' taken from my admittedly limited life experience.
The fact that I am responding to someone else's essay while stating that I am from central, PA should be the first tip off this is not meant to paint a broad brush against all black people in the US -- it's simply a statement of fact when I say that I haven't met that many super-smart black people. I'm currently in an area that is predominantly black and have been a number of places, like Camden, NJ, and my statement holds true -- I just haven't met that many super intelligent black people.
It's a far stretch of the imagination to say that because I am first-generation American -- a black African -- that I am sitting atop any 'perch' and looking down at black people. I have black best friends, I have white best friends, I have Latino best friends, I am simply telling a personal story as a reflection on what I felt was a great essay.
I think if you read Paul Graham's essay, you will realize that most of the context I am writing from deals specifically with middle and high school years, written from someone who admittedly grew up in a high school similar to Paul's, which he calls 'suburbia.'
That being said, this post obviously struck a chord, I'm sure to follow up later.
Also, I think you might want to try taking more than choice quotes out of an essay/post -- it really does a disservice to the reader who loses what that entire article is grasping for.
"In the new racism, as in the old, somebody always has to be the nigger."
See: illegal immigrants.
This is why it's funny when you say I look down from a perch on anybody ...first all because you don't know me, and second, according to the article you provided, someone has got to be the nigger.
Also, I've been to the worst places in Africa (Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya -- look it up on Wikipedia) and some of the top high schools in the entire country were in that horrible slums. The difference between most every other country's value on education and America's is very palpable, and that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with color. Those kids from the slums were very, very intelligent -- and here in the US my high school was supposed to have been alright.
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The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Where I grew up (Teaneck, NJ in the 80s/90s) there were Black nerds. Maybe not a plethora of them, but they were there, some right at the top of their class with their nerdy White, Asian and Latino counterparts, going to Ivy League schools and becoming "well rounded" with an occasional extra-curricular, and *gasp* maybe even a varsity sport!
Seems to me David Adewumi and Paul Graham just aren't looking hard enough!
"Also, I've been to the worst places in Africa (Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya -- look it up on Wikipedia) and some of the top high schools in the entire country were in that horrible slums. The difference between most every other country's value on education and America's is very palpable, and that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with color. Those kids from the slums were very, very intelligent -- and here in the US my high school was supposed to have been alright."
That is bullshit.
No, seriously, it's bullshit. I say it as an African who grew up in Africa. The idea that African slums or villages are full of super-smart children who want nothing more than becoming neurosurgeons and have no interest in sports, girls, party is simply a myth. Don't let idiots who probably believe their father when those say "they were the smartest in their school" fool you.
After reading your orignal post on this, his come-back only reinforced his absurd position. He makes it seem as though I can just drop-in on any given street in an African country and there are these highly intellectual poor people walking around. Give me a break. That is as unbelievable as his observation of black people in New Jersey. I guess all of his black friends are stupid too. He clearly just hasn't had much life experience. As far as immigrants go, I've met many smart black ones as well as idiots. Yet, he was raised here in america and he can't even say that about black americans?
"I just haven't met that many super intelligent black people." Niether have I, and you know what, I haven't met that many super intelligent white people either. Or Asians for that matter. Maybe they aren't all the common.
I will agree that certain cultures value serious intellectual endeavor more than others -- typically grounded in serious attachment to religious studies; Harvard and Yale were both founded to turn out an adequate supply of Protestant ministers for the new colonies -- but intellectual or academic isn't the same as smart. Google "Douglas Feith" if you want to know what I mean.
I dunno, I'm a kinda white (half-Arab) person who grew up in The New South under integration. That would be Greensboro, NC. I was friends with all kinds of black nerds. How about smart black nerd who plays the viola and discussed all of the works of Malcolm X with me at summer camp when we were fourteen? (He's one of the nation's top violists today). How about flaming gay black nerd orchestra conductor, and I won't say more for fear of tipping you off to who he is? How about all those black nerd children, female and male, of NC A&T professors (traditionally Black college), who went off to Duke and Yale because they didn't *HAVE* to go to Howard and Spelman as their parents did?
Then there were all the black nerds I worked for in NYC - top lawyers, bankers, finance people. Looking back on it later, I think I got "steered" as a temp to the offices of black nerds because my funny Arab name made me a problematic fit for less.... diverse workplaces.
Now I live in Oakland, CA. We have Black jazz musicians who support themselves with high tech jobs; Black doctors, insurance agents, karate dojo founders, meditation teachers, librarians, bicycling enthusiasts, park rangers, poets. Nerd paradise. How about this hetero 50-something PBS arts commentator in my neighborhood who compares himself to Martha Stewart and grows wine grapes in his newly renovated showplace home?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/16/HOR711C8B1.DTL
Anyway. That commenter just doesn't get out much, or he's playing to the same old "Africans from Africa or the Caribbean are better than you native-born Black people" stereotype. Tell him to come out to Oakland and see us sometime.
As a Black nerd, I take offense. I know a lot of Black nerds.
I am an African-American nerd currently in grad school who has never had trouble finding other black nerds or intelligent people either in or out of school. And I grew up in the s--t part of West Baltimore and went to public school, so its not like I'm dealing only with rich "elite" AAs.
He's full of s--t, taking his limited experiences and (by implication) extrapolating them to the African-America population as a whole. "Well, I'm not saying there AREN'T any, just that I haven't met ANY in my travels." Please. He can't speak without reeking of that classic, "Africans looking down on African-American" arrogance.
I don't think you were hard ENOUGH on him, Ta-Nehisi. You should have ripped him a new one for Great African-American Justice.
I will just accept that many are going to misunderstand what I'm trying to say, but thanks for the re-post.
BTW, I've taken a break writing for VentureBeat and am working at a startup. Any of you very bright developers (black, white, brown, yellow or red) feel free to contact me.
Ta-Nehisi will let you know how if you're interested.
Thanks,
David
BTW, this might be an interesting post for some of your readers: http://davidadewumi.com/2008/07/16/to-be-black-dont-miss-the-forest-for-the-trees/ .
It's titled: 'To be Black: Don't Miss the Forest for the Trees
Shoot me an email some time Ta-Nehisi
Adewumi? you a Yoruba desecndant? lol, Nigerians are arrogant as hell.
Ta-Nehisi,
I work for a government agency (that shall remain un-named) which requires that I arrive at work at 0545 AM. It is brutal, however I make sure that the second thing I do after completing my first writing product of the day is read your blog. Most of your commenters make me proud that I am a Black female nerd. Keep up the good work!
I will just accept that many are going to misunderstand what I'm trying to say, but thanks for the re-post.
I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but the reply as written is pretty insulting. Maybe it's just poorly worded, but I'd say don't blame the readers if you can't convey your point.
More Black nerd sightings - Oakland hills this morning, science daycamp in the redwoods. You ought to see all the African-American folk with kids dressed in medieval wizards costumes, parents in the full REI fleece-shorts-sandals gear necessary for foggy July weather around here. Everybody at this science camp is a granola nerd (as opposed to a strictly academics nerd). These kids of whatever ethnicity are all headed for UC Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Davis or San Diego (or Stanford, Cal Poly or MIT) where they will research cutting-edge science while playing drums and reciting poetry (or rap or whatever is cool in college ten years from now).
I posit that medieval costumes combined with science camp (they made battering rams and catapults all week) combined with REI fleece and sandals in July = Bay Area Nerd.
Yes, if David A can't find any Black nerds it's because he's not looking in the right places.
Queer white nerd here. I've probably slept with more nerdy black guys than he's prepared to acknowledge exist.
It's worth noting that the nerd stereotype is not some generic pan-ethnic assemblage of traits smart people share - it's an anti-semitic stereotype that dates back to an era when blacks and other minorities were kept out of academia and the middle class (the classic nerd breeding grounds), and that it wasn't particularly accurate in its own time. At heart, it's a mouth-breather's dismissal of academics as weak, immature, Jewish, asocial eunuchs.
If fewer black nerds fit that stereotype, it's because fewer black nerds grew up in the environment that bred it.