In the 1950s, nearly 100 white Southern politicians signed the Southern Manifesto to oppose the Brown v. Board decision. They claimed that Black people had lower I.Q.s than white people. But one Black educator had a hard lesson for them.
Horace Mann Bond was an expert on racism and intelligence tests. Boy, did racists hate to see him coming ‘cause he knew how to turn their own prejudices against them.
Bond knew racism was illogical, but just for fun, he went along with the argument in the Southern Manifesto. In his response, "Racially Stuffed Shirts and Other Enemies of Mankind," he took the low I.Q. narrative and used it to run circles around those racists.
Bond had a list of all the manifesto-supporting senators hailing from states with the lowest I.Q. scores. He didn't know who was naughty or nice but he sure knew who was dumb as bags of ice. Bond proposed giving those senators "remedial attention to make up for their basic deficiencies." That'll teach them not to insult our intelligence.
Horace Mann Bond didn't let anyone – especially white supremacists – insult our intelligence. Like Bond, we should clap back and refuse to let them get away with it. We know the truth.