Democrat Congressman Jamaal Bowman Controversial Tweet: Race Realism Cartoon on Standardized Testing

Democrat goes race realist?

“‘People of certain races are literally incapable of scoring well on certain subjects’ is an interesting progressive take,” — Noam Blum — Technical Mngr. Hudson Public Affairs

On March 29, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Democrat of the 16th District of New York, Tweeted out this Cartoon:

The Congressman included this comment:

“Our education system and the problem with standardized testing.”

Bowman was making the point, one size does not fit all, that Afro-ethnic students may require different learning methods from white children.

The Tweet as of this writing gained 1,095 Retweets and included 1,299 Quote Tweets (Comments in his thread).  They ranged from outright accusations that the Congressman was being “racist,” to many others supporting him on the view that standardized testing is outdated, and needs to be less “white-oriented.”

Here are a few comments of particular interest to readers of Subspecieist.com all in the Jamaal Bowman thread on Twitter:

“Except aren’t we all the same species of animal…?” — Michelle Tandler, 15.4k followers, a “moderate Democrat” from San Francisco

Weird Hiker responded “Sort of.”  To that, vd responded “We’re H. sapiens.”

Weird Hiker replied – “Yeah but there is enough introgression between Denisovan, Neanderthal, and archaic groups to argue Jamaal’s point.”

Another Twitter user with a Russian name remarked:

“But different sub-spicies” (sic)

Balthtazare Greene, Los Angeles:

“Whites, Jews and Asians have higher than average IQs, so they perform better on standardized tests than all other ethnic groups.  Not all races perform on the same level.”

Joseph Backolm, Attorney DFW:

“I’m concerned about the author of the cartoon and those who think it makes a good point.  Children aren’t different species of animals with fundamentally different designs.”

Bowman got some limited national media attention, including Hotair.com and Fox News, national and local affiliates.

Allahpundit, longtime co-editor at Hot Air:

He’s trying to make the point, I assume, that white students are better equipped to pass standardized tests because they go to better funded schools and come from higher-earning households on average than black students do. An underprivileged group can’t be expected to perform as well as a privileged one in the aggregate…

But making that point about racial disparities by borrowing an analogy to animals, which have different innate abilities because they’re literally different species, is … not a good analogy… Imagine how deep in the weeds of racial essentialism you need to be to miss Blum’s point and push a cartoon that would fit comfortably on an alt-right message board. [Emphasis added]

From Fox, local affiliate,

Democrat Rep. Bowman accused of suggesting minorities can’t take standardized tests by sharing cartoon

Bowman, a former middle school principal who earlier this month called testing “a pillar of systemic racism,” shared a political cartoon on Twitter Monday that depicts a row of animals in front of a tree. The animals include a bird, a monkey, a penguin, an elephant, a fish, a seal, and a dog.

Some further reactions as noted by Fox:

“You’re suggesting different students given a standardized test are like … different species? Are you kidding me with this?” Atlantic staff writer Conor Friedersdorf asked.

“The neo-racism (sic) of ‘anti-racism,’” journalist Bari Weiss reacted.

“‘Asking a [B]lack person to pass a test is like asking a goldfish to climb a tree.’ Who said it: David Duke or Jamaal Bowman?” PJ Media columnist Jim Treacher tweeted.