We live in a society that historically set out to undermine and devalue black accomplishments as much as possible in order to uphold a system of white supremacy. What has always seemed even more dangerous than that was that this society set out to create a narrative that minimized black intellect and mind power as a whole. It even went as far as using pseudoscience and eugenics to further this agenda—which has long since been debunked. But what is intelligence...... exactly? And what ways does society have it wrong when it comes to black folks in America? Let’s probe.
These thoughts first began to cross my mind in my first semester at college. I came upon the theory of multiple intelligences in a book entitled Life Studies. Howard Gardner introduced his theory in Frames of Mind: Multiple Intelligences (Gardner, 1983). His theory examines the idea that intelligence does not exist as a singular general ability, but as several different sensory modes. His premise was that traditional IQ testing didn’t take into account that different people learn in different ways. Interesting enough, Gardner identified as many as eight different strengths most people utilize to learn and those include, but are not limited to: Logical-mathematical, musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, bodily- kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. It was a breakthrough that broke down barriers in our perception of what truly constitutes intelligence, acknowledging the subject is vast and multidimensional. It considers more than test scores, vocabulary, degrees, computations, or quotes. The mode that I found the most fascinating was bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Gardner stated some people learn better through movement, like participating in sports, dance, or other rhythmic movement. It’s setting a clear goal through physical action and training the body to respond to physical cues. I am not particularly athletic in any way shape or form, but find this fascinating. The traditional perception of people with athletic or physical prowess does not often include being intelligent.
The topic came up one night. I was going to a party with my friend and a couple of her boys came by to pick us up. They were pretentious, but I found one of them particularly irritating. He was talking about his experience in school and the athletes on the football team. He mocked them by calling them ‘run and jump monkeys’. I was alarmed and immediately put off. Not only by his harshness and bold insensitivity, but that it was being said by one young black man about other young black men. Why were we as black people falling for the okie doke? Calling each other monkeys and assuming that football was a game that anyone could play sounded like some antiquated shit. Not to mention he sounded like a massive hater. I took it all in and just simply asked him why he felt the need to degrade them. His response, “Anybody can play football,” and tried to defend the point by saying the sport can be mastered through practice. In turn, I offered some facts I learned from Gardner’s theory. Football, or any other sport, requires more than just running after a ball. There’s strategy, calculation, and knowing and understanding how to use your body while having the grace and ability to do so to play well or win. The mind is constantly at work, always thinking while the body is in motion. Having mastery over this is, in fact, a singular intelligence and should be treated and respected as such. I used Michael Jackson as an example. His dance innovations, performance skills, and the legendary moonwalk can all be attributed to kinesthetic intelligence.
I’ll never understand why most athletes are are reduced to ‘run and jump monkeys’ while MJ is heralded as a genius—a fact I am in no way disputing. I felt his comments unfair and a by-product of conditioning, racism, and an attempt to undermine the greatness of urban youth, since a majority of football players are black. A lot of these athletes are not scholarly, yet are successful solely based on their athletic abilities.
Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson and many other athletes were publicly mocked and regarded as ignorant men because of their obvious lack of education coupled with their socioeconomic backgrounds. Tyson’s lisp itself has been a running joke for decades in many comedy sketches that were created to depict him as a moron. 50 Cent once challenged Floyd Mayweather to read a page from a Harry Potter book in exchange for a charitable donation. Most people just thought it was funny, but it was right on par with how much of the world saw these men.
Get them in the ring and their minds work like Einstein’s. Their intellect cannot be expressed verbally, but it’s certainly evident in their skillful strategy used to beat their opponents. It’s damn sure evident in the gains!
It’s a comprehension of the sport that naturally surpasses anything that can just be taught or practiced through repetition, yet society still has difficulty labeling men like these geniuses.
People enjoy sports and respect the pursuit of a winning season, but most don’t respect athletics as much as mathematics, literature, or science. Pursuits in those fields are encouraged and adulated.
The Last Dance documentary worked at further triggering this for me. Michael Jordan is probably one of the few athletes that I have heard referred to as a genius. He set an undeniable standard on and off the court. He flew through the air and, to many, his skill seemed to break the laws of physics. It was magic. He used his obvious athletic prowess and his business acumen to create a marketing empire, breaking the stereotype of the dumb jock. The Last Dance documentary definitely took us there. It was made to take us there! But we can just as easily apply this template to other athletes as well. Or athlete power as a whole.
Science, literature, and mathematics aren’t entertainment and are standard by which we gauge education. It is great that Gardner set the standard revolutionizing what teachers do in their classroom. Today, many teachers build in exercises that touch on each intelligence module. It’s important that we acknowledge not everyone learns from sitting and reading. While the standard subjects are the foundation of every developed industrial and civilized nation it important to remember kinesthetic intelligence built America through the 400 years of free labor and 200 pounds of cotton picked daily in the blazing sun. I make mention of this in my book, in my Lightworker essay. Hands, muscles, bodies, and movement. The reason why many black people are stronger in all the kinesthetic arenas is probably attributed to the fact that we had to use our bodies more. Makes sense to me.
It’s forced us to take advantage of the many years we were forced into slavery here or being and building in Africa. Succeeding in spite of it all while laughing all the way to the bank.
I think it’s important to make note of the value of this modality as well while we are out here praising thought leaders. I think it’s important that we open our minds and call it what it is and stand by it.
Changing the game altogether and seeing how in these times athletes power can be magnified into social change! Way past the sport. Colin Kaepernick strategically created an entire play in itself OUTSIDE of the field. One of the greatest plays ever! An open play that can be duplicated in many ways for countless wins in the future.
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