The systematic misuse of science

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides information useful for effectively confronting the negative stereotypes within the halls of higher education that distribute assertions of inadequacy and also declarations of entitlement. The ultimate goal is to shed light on this climate, the infrastructure that currently exists, and to ultimately show that this infrastructure is a major contributor to the lack of participation by African Americans in scientific fields. This chapter traces historically the idea of perceived racial inferiority in regard to African Americans and how that label has inhibited the full participation or inclusion of African Americans in science and other human endeavors. This chapter focuses on the historical and political underpinnings of the misuse of science and how that misuse has influenced modern conceptions of African Americans, specifically, the discriminatory ideologies that framed science in regard to African Americans, the conceptions that resulted from these foundational ideologies, and the subtleties embedded within the present infrastructure of society that are the residuals of these ideologies.