In Europe and Asia, the people who were alive many thousands of years ago had to put up with extreme climatic conditions. They had no control over these conditions - they were forces of nature. During winter, when food was scarce and conditions became less hospitable, these very ancient Europeans and Asians had to figure out ways to survive. How? They had to gather extra food during the summer and store them to live through the winter. They had to discard their summer outfits and come up with clothing that enabled better resistance to the severe cold. Their housing had to be better built to withstand the severe changes in the weather. Overtime, their intellect and brains were exercised to the point that a much higher level of intellectual creativity developed than would have otherwise have. In other words, their brains developed much faster because their environment demanded it.

We black people, on the other hand, did not have such extreme conditions. Our very distant ancestors had only one weather condition to put up with - summer. This enabled their environment to remain tropical all year round. This may have seemed like a big plus to our very distant ancestors, but it was in fact a big negative.

The permanent tropical conditions may have given these black people secured food all the time, but it also denied them the need to come up with innovative ways of storing and preserving that food. All they had to do was to do what they have been doing for all eternity - go out and collect the food. Also, as they were building their houses from mud and twigs - ideal for the hot climate, they did not have to build these homes any other way. There was no need - the climate was always tropical. The mud and twigs were always there and they will always be there. The same is true with most aspects of their lives.

Now, seeing that they had no need to be intellectually innovative, overtime, they lost most of their ability to be intellectually innovative. Sounds ridiculous?

The human body is a very advanced and incredible system. One of its most astonishing characteristics is its ability to adapt to its environment - to evolve overtime to suit its surroundings. This is also true of the human brain. For example, Europeans, on average, have a much higher level of tolerance for alcohol than East Asians. For many years scientists have been trying to figure out why. Now, with the rapid advance in technology, they understand the reason.

Hundreds of years ago, Europeans were living, to a very large extent, on alcohol. Now, the human body normally rejects alcohol, but over time, Europeans have adapted to it. Their genes developed the means that permitted their bodies to accept it. East Asians, however, did not indulge in so much alcohol centuries ago. Their bodies did not adapt to it. Of course, there is a negative side effect for the Europeans to being adaptive to alcohol - they are more likely to be alcoholics. However, on average, today, as a result of this habit, the body of the European will be able to absorb alcohol, but that of the East Asian will not. For many East Asians, an intake of alcohol exceeding a certain amount will result in very severe reactions. Their systems can’t take it.

I put it to you that the same is true of the human brain. Overtime, the brains of the Europeans and Asians have been so exercised that they have become a much more intellectually advanced human, more advanced than the brains of black people. That is why they are superior, when it comes to science and technology. The maxim “if you don’t use it, you’ll loose it” is very true when trying to understand our intellectual evolution and our inferiority. As we had no need to use our brains, we effectively lost that ability, over time that would (or could) make us an intellectually innovative people. This, it would seem to me, is the primary reason why we as black people have not made any impression in those areas that demand great intellectually innovative and creative abilities - like technological innovations and the sciences. In other words, inferior brains are only good at entertainment.

Some people will say that the reason why black people are intellectually inferior today is because of slavery. During slavery, our communities were destroyed and our best were ripped away and placed in alien lands. However, this is not true. Slavery did not make us inferior - it only exposed our inferiority.

Unfortunately, what is happening today is not doing much to help reverse our inferiority. The advances in science and technology are many, however, there is virtually no input from the blackman. The blackman is not doing anything to get into innovations in science and technology. As such, he is not developing his brain - his intellectual ability. What does this mean? Simple, we are now totally dependent on others for the technologies that we need to exist and as we are not developing our intellectual abilities, we will remain dependent. In this highly technological age our inferior brains will ensure that the gap between the superior races and us will only get wider.

This evolving condition of intellectual inferiority eventually helped to build and sustain a culture that is further perpetuating our inferiority. It is no accident that while the Europeans and Asians generally have cultures of learning, we blacks have one of stagnation. We see the results today - blacks being backward, deprived and dependent.

I, for one, am convinced that this is the reason why we blacks are so inferior. Whether we have to remain so in the future is another matter. However, based on our current trends and habits, I really wouldn’t hold out much hope.

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Numerous efforts were made to have the United States reduce the tariff - to no avail. The countries are still suffering - the banana industry in some of them has been wiped out. The question isn’t when the relationship will improve. It won’t under this republican regime in Washington, at least not in the foreseeable future. It is how will the region save itself from certain economic ruin. We should also ask, retrospectively, why have we become so dependent on the United States; If only to help us in becoming less dependent in the future.

The immediate need is to have the congress rescind the travel amendment; and this is proper, for left to itself, it will bring untold hardship. But we need to do more; Mr. Bush and Mr. Hugo Chavez will still be in power, at least for two more years, and God forbid there should be another terrorist act- tourism in the region, would dry up.