The Difference between Racism and Acceptable Debate

This thread is devoted to a more in-depth discussion of what can be considered racist and what can be considered legitimate debate when discussing a controversial topic. The running example for this thread shall be that of African-American test scores (which has already been brought up in the Forum Rules)

Example text:

Studies have consistently shown that African-Americans perform lower on achievement tests than do White Americans.

This is not racist in any way. These results have been verified by both official United States educational bodies and third-party researchers.

Generally speaking, if something is supported by credible scientific evidence, mention of it is not racist.

Example text:

Studies have consistently shown that African-Americans perform lower on achievement tests than do White Americans. Therefore, black people are naturally stupider than white people.

Clear racism - the idea that "black people are naturally stupider than white people" is both prejudiced and unsupported by the provided evidence.

Example text:

Studies have consistently shown that African-Americans perform lower on achievement tests than do White Americans. Studies also show a similar gap in IQ between the two races. If IQ is partly genetic, this implies that the gap in IQ and the gap in achievement (as the two are linked) may be partly explained by race-based genetic differences. In my opinion, evidence X, Y, Z, etc. suggests the difference is mostly genetic ...

Although there is no scientific consensus on how much genetics influence IQ, this example text, since it is not making sweeping generalizations about race, and is not using poor language to describe black people, is not racist unto itself. Obviously, somebody may write something to this effect and be using it to support racist beliefs, but that is a separate issue.

However, if the example text was modified to include a statement to the effect that "on average, black people are stupider than white people" this would be racist. The crucial factors when it comes to something controversial such as this are the language used, and one's body of supporting evidence.

In a nutshell:

Bad evidence + bad 'language' = racist
Good evidence + bad 'language' = racist
Bad evidence + good 'language' = not racist (the user might be inexperienced, etc.)
Good evidence + good 'language' = not racist.