Debunking Black Supremacy - The Bizarre Claims of Biden’s DOJ Civil Rights Pick

In recent coverage, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson drew attention to the past comments of Joe Biden’s pick to run the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, a woman named Kristen Clarke. As President of the Black Students Association at Harvard, Clarke had written a letter to The Harvard Crimson explaining her views on racial science. 

This article will seek to explain why her bizarre claims are false from the point of view of a psychologist, based on the consensus of the wider scientific community. This is hardly surprising in light of her lack of any scientific background.The analysis that follows will pick out some of the most egregious pseudoscientific claims that she uses to justify her black supremacist bigotry. 

The first of such claims is:

“Dr Richard King reveals that the core of the human brain is the 'locus coeruleus,' which is a structure that is Black, because it contains large amounts of neuro-melanin, which is essential for its operation.”

The locus coeruleus’s main role is in the production of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter - a chemical message which transmits signals across nerve endings in the body. Norepinephrine triggers the stress response, sometimes known as the fight-or-flight response, inducing an elevated heart-rate, increased blood pressure and triggers the release of glucose from energy stores. 

To describe the locus coeruleus as the ‘core of the brain’ is misleading, as it is only a part of the brainstem, which is the core of the brain. The implication of this statement is that this area is somehow the most important, but function can be ceased in this brain area and a human can still function more or less normally. Certain medications that treat a whole host of conditions (clinical depression, panic disorder, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and anxiety) which inhibit the firing of neurons in this area, making it effectively cease function.

There is an observable increase in melanation in the locus coeruleus starting from adolescence and continuing until old age. This is thought to provide a protective role against neurodegeneration that occurs naturally through the ageing process. Degeneration in this brain area is associated with conditions such as Alzheimer’s. 

It is also unreasonable to claim that the locus coeruleus is ‘black’ as it is only slightly darker than the surrounding areas.

Another bizarre interpretation of the scientific literature is the following:

“Black infants sit, crawl and walk sooner than whites,”

Although there are differences in rates of infant development between whites and blacks, there is no evidence to suggest that this provides any long term advantage to one or the other. Research suggests that black infants grow more quickly than their white counterparts, which allows them to sit crawl and walk sooner, but this is no indication of any degree of supremacy.

In an evolutionary state of nature, the neotenic (delaying or slowing of the physiological development of an organism) development of white infants likely reflects the prevalence of water in their original evolutionary environment. As water was more common in Europe than Africa, the danger of drowning was a more pressing issue for the survival of European infants. 

Thus, lighter infants, who are more likely to float, may well be a natural adaptation to this peril. This difference in adaptation of bone density can be observed in fully developed adults too.

Perhaps the most explicit endorsement of black supremacy comes from the following claims:

“human mental processes are controlled by melanin - that same chemical which gives Blacks their superior physical and mental abilities… Melanin endows Blacks with greater mental, physical and spiritual abilities -- something which cannot be measured based on Eurocentric standards."

Melanin does not control mental processes in any way shape or form. This is perhaps her most unreasonable claim. Melanin plays a very limited role in protecting against neurodegeneration associated with age in a couple of specific brain areas. 

Analysis of the role of race and IQ have found no link between the two, explaining: 

“Despite the assertions of some scholars, the most relevant studies provide no evidence for the genetic superiority of either race, but strong evidence for a substantial environmental contribution to the IQ gap between Blacks and Whites [with studies showing whites consistently score higher on IQ tests than blacks].”

The IQ test is one of the most robust psychological metrics in existence and has been widely accepted by scholars around the world, to describe such a measure as “Eurocentric” is an outright falsehood as it has been developed and refined by a worldwide community of scientists.

Her further claims about superior “spiritual abilities” are not scientific claims and therefore cannot be discussed in the same manner as her other claims. 

Her final questionable claim is as follows:

“Some scientists have revealed that most whites are unable to produce melanin because their pineal glands are often calcified or non-functioning. Pineal calcification rates with Africans are five to 15 percent, Asians 15 to 25 percent and Europeans 60 to 80 percent. This is the chemical basis for the cultural differences between blacks and whites,”

A research paper describes the ‘theory’ that neuromelanin varies by race as ‘pseudoscience’ and a ‘distortion of human evolution’:

“A review of the genetics and biochemistry of human pigmentation shows that all humans have similar amounts of neuromelanin (brain melanin), and that its concentration is absolutely independent of skin color.”

The pineal gland does not produce melanin. It produces melatonin, which sounds similar but is a completely different neurochemical involved in the sleep cycle.

Based on these unfounded racially-charged claims, clearly not in line with the idea of equal civil rights, Kristen Clarke is unsuited for her appointed role as the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.