This post is very much politically incorrect, read at your own risk. You were warned.
Four time gold medalist Michael Johnson is not afraid to speak his mind, with him being one of the few in the unique position to do so. He is the self-proclaimed, unintended beneficiary of a past wrong.
He makes a hypothesis about slavery inadvertently creating better atheletes through selective pressure, which is a politically sensitive and polarizing statement to say the least. There is some level of plausibility and evidence for the argument, such as:
- Disproportionate ratio of African-American/Caribbean descendants at the top level of the game
- Initial selective pressure prior to transportation
- Ongoing selective pressure during enslavement
- Alleged eugenics
There is also plenty of confounding factors and arguments against it (politically incorrect translation in parentheses):
- Better overall training environment (Nikes on indoor, air conditioned PU track easier on the feet than running barefoot over egg sized gravel hot enough to fry lizards)
- Better participation and awareness (Going for the gold on an obstacle course actually means dodging bullets to steal gold from Kony)
- Initial selective pressure not significant (Well they chose the better ones from the batch, but the really fast ones got away)
- Ongoing selective pressure not significant nor long enough (Couple of hundred years is nothing)
- Unusual specificity (What makes Caribbean/North American slaves better than Brazilian slaves?)
Just to list a few.
I predict that no one will touch this subject with a 10 foot pole. Even if someone did spend the effort to seriously research this out of intellectual curiosity (which often is good enough), what would it accomplish? If his views are found correct, it is not like we can start enslaving people of any race or subgroup again. Either way it goes, there is little you can say to not offend. “No pain, no gain” is an equally bad conclusion as “No harm done”.
Ilana Yurkiewicz has an eloquent blog post in a somewhat similar situation, regarding a controversial social study by Mark Regnerus.
Sometimes, it’s best to keep your mouth shut. Just like in marriage.