Here is my take on nature and nurture. I got my BA in American History, and I believe the idea of slave breeding was pretty much a myth. Slaves had families, not stud farms. There is one aspect of American slave history that impacts strength, though - the weakest slaves died on slave ships bringing them to America. Only the strongest survived; I believe that experience must have impacted the genetic makeup of African Americans. As to nurture, I know what it is like to grow up poor, and to grow up believing that your ticket out is sports. My ticket out was track, and it got me scholarship offers. Being poor can make you work harder. I think it helps you in sports if your dad was an athlete (mine wasn’t, but my grandfather was a champion boxer and soldier). It can help you in sports if you fail so miserably, and it hurts so much, that you make up your mind you will be the best or die trying (that was me). These things have nothing to do with race. I think genetic makeup counts somewhat, but you need to get competitive fire somewhere, whether it comes from family pride, a way out of poverty, or a desire to prove yourself. If you don’t get that competitive fire or “killer instinct” somewhere, your genetic makeup won’t do you any good at all.
That’s a really good post, some very good insights, well explained.
