In order to help fill in the void that traditional history leaves, Dr. Henry Parker spoke in a packed UC Legislative Chambers on the topic of "The Myth of White Superiority" on Tuesday.

Parker was quick to point out that the purpose of his presentation was to inform, not indict. He said that he wants to encourage whites and blacks to work together to keep America strong after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

His plan for the evening was to define this myth, describe its impact, admit some of its convincing points and then deconstruct it.

The myth of white superiority is actually the culmination of several different myths. Parker had sources for every myth that he mentioned. He said he did this so the audience wouldn't think he was a radical looking for attention.

The first myth mentioned was there are four races of mankind, and white are the original race. Parker explained how it's believed that white brunettes were the stem of mankind. The first race was very blond, the second race was copper, the third race was black and the fourth race was olive-yellow. This myth was brought up by Immanuel Kant in On the Different Races of Man. To deconstruct this myth, Parker said that there are no separate races. The DNA that people are made of is 99 percent the same; the difference in color in people is only one percent of what they're made of.

The second myth also comes from Kant. The myth says "humanity exists in its greatest perfection in the white race, Negroes are lower, Native Americans are the lowest." To destroy this myth, Parker said that today's most distinguished geneticists have traced all DNA back to one woman. This woman, called Black Eve, lived in Africa over 150,000 years ago. The third myth is that whites are the most beautiful race on earth. This theory comes from John Blumenback, who was the father of the scientific theory of race. In response to this one, Parker had one reply: "Close your eyes, and fantasize about Halle Berry."

Kant and David Hume brought up the fourth myth, which says that no black person has ever presented anything great in art or science or any other praiseworthy quality. Parker responded by reminding the audience that black nubians were pharaohs of Egypt, the greatest country on earth at that time.

Myth five, which is described by Southern historian Ulrich Phillips, says that slavery was a wonderful thing because it was a "benign, paternalistic institution in which Christian slaveholders cared for largely content slaves," and "slavery rescued members of an inferior race from African barbarism, and permitted them to rise, as far as they could, toward civilization." If this is true, Parker asked, then why were there slave revolts? It's because the slaves were abused and mistreated by their owners.

The theory of Manifest Destiny is the sixth myth, and it comes from Paul Kivel in his essay, "How Whites Can Work for Racial Justice." It says "it is the white man's manifest destiny, i.e. God-given command, to control and dominate the continent of America. This continent was intended by providence as a vast theater on which to work out the grand experiment of republican government under the auspices of the Anglo-Saxon race." This idea is false, Parker said, because God is good and just. He would not command the slaughter of 8-10 million Native Americans. He said that Manifest Destiny is just another name for greed.

The next myth is that blacks are genetically inferior in intelligence. An English anatomist, Robert Knox, wrote 'the darker races have always been slaves of those lighter-skinned. There must be a physical and psychological inferiority in the dark races in general, not size but lack of quality in the brain." A more updated version of this myth was delivered by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, whose book refers to blacks as a "cognitive underclass" who don't have the intelligence to succeed in life or school. Parker said that Knox is ignorant of history because recorded history began in 3150 BCE with non-whites who lived in Egypt.

The last myth that Parker mentioned was one that claims that blacks are beasts, cursed by God and condemned to serve white people. This myth came from Rev. Charles Carroll's book, The Negro a Beast. Parker reminded the audience that the orthodox view of Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths is found in Acts 17:26, which says that all people are God's children.

After presenting the different myths, Parker asked why shouldn't we believe this myth? He said that whites are the richest, most scientifically advanced and most powerful people on earth.

He also pointed out that the average IQ of whites is 100, while it's only 85 for blacks, and the average ACT score for whites is 21, while it's only 17 for blacks.

Parker also brought up the question of whether black behavior indicates inferiority. He said that each year blacks kill more of their own than the KKK killed in its entire history. He mentioned a couple of statistics like blacks are 12-13 percent of the general population, but they make up more than 50 percent of the prison population and 70 percent of all black babies are born out of wedlock.

The major impact of these myths is that some, but not all, white people believe they are superior to blacks. Another impact is the large number of hate groups that exists. Parker said that there are 706 hate groups, 624 of which are white.

Another impact is hate crimes. Parker said that 1 out of every 4 minority students are victims of hate crimes each year.

To enhance the things that he had to say, Parker had three students give short presentations. These students talked about the accomplishments of African civilization hundreds of years before this country began, among other things.

Parker ended his presentation by saying that the universe has a beginning and an end, and at that end, people will have to answer to God. And when God asks if they followed the two most important commandments given to them. These are to love God with all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.

His final statement was that "we're just one race."