Ready for another installment of lawyers and judges who say or do ridiculous things. Here are some standouts:
Kids raised by single black moms are bound not to be so smart—unless they're interviewing you. If you've been pondering why African Americans lag behind academically, University of Texas law professor Lino Graglia has the explanation. Recently, Graglia was interviewed on BBC Radio about affirmative action at UT and offered his theories about blacks' academic struggles. The ABA Law Blog reports:
Asked why blacks were underperforming, Graglia said he didn’t know, but acknowledged some speculation. “It is the case that the single parent household, the child born outside of marriage, today is approaching three-quarters in the black population,” he said. “I can hardly imagine a less beneficial or more deleterious experience than to be raised by a single parent, usually a female, uneducated, without a lot of money.”
What was awkward was that the BBC interviewer Gary Younge turned out to be black and raised by a single parent. Here's how Graglia responded when Younge asked the professor about how he was presumably lacking in intelligence, according to the ABA blog:
“Well from listening to you,” Graglia replied, “and knowing what you are and what you’ve done, I suspect you are rather more smart. My guess would be that you are above usual smartness, for whites, to say nothing of blacks.”
Oops—that didn't sound so smart, did it, professor?
