Refuting Ray Smith's
The Black Man's Gift to Portugal
Most of what this fanatic wrote has already been refuted in my "Refuting Arthur Kemp" and "Refuting Anon" sections of this site. I will therefore address only those issues that might have not been made totally clear. Anon exposed the extent of his own stupidity by linking his site to Ray Smith's.
Ray Smith writes
The typical Portuguese Mulatto [see picture]
The truth
That picture was probably taken in Lisbon (I can recognise the trash can, as well as the uniform of the police officer in the back). By the way the man is dressed, the photo was probably taken during the summer. This man does not look like a mulatto nor are there any reasons to assume that he might have non-negligible non-white ancestry. There are simply no visible Negroid traits. 
Note: A North American reader of Portuguese ancestry recently emailed me complaining that this individual was not a typical Portuguese, and that he did not agree with the way I had answered Ray Smith on this particular topic. I never said that this man was a typical looking Portuguese. He obviously isn't. This man resembles more a Brazilian than a Portuguese. I simply said that from what I could see of his face (which isn't much to begin with due to the poor quality of the picture), there was nothing in him that could lead me to believe that he had significant Negroid ancestry. He has a strong tan (judging from his clothes, the picture was taken in the summer), he appears to have straight hair (check the sides), he does not have prognathism, he has a medium sized forehead, he has a Mediterranean chin, and his nose is not out of proportion for a Caucasoid. His lips are not clearly visible, but they do not seem to be thick. I am sorry, but I cannot see any clearly Negroid traits in this individual - not in this picture. Anyway, even if  anyone could spot Negroid traits in him, we would still have no proof whatsoever that he was indeed Portuguese and not a Brazilian immigrant. Brazilian or Portuguese, this man shows no clear signs of non-Caucasoid admixture.
Ray Smith writes
The Lesson of History
In view of the fact that we are now being forced to integrate with the Negroes and grant them equal participation, it might be instructive to look at other countries which have integrated with Negroes in the past to see what the Negroes gave them. What is the historical evidence?
There is a wealth of material here for study in such places as Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, etc., but the nearest parallel to the United States today is Portugal in the 16th century.
The truth
This is obviously untrue. There is no relation whatsoever with the situation Portugal was facing in the XV and XVI century and the present-day American reality.
Ray Smith writes
It may come as a surprise to hear of the Negroes' role in the history of Portugal, for in spite of all the emphasis on "Black studies" in our schools, no one seems to talk about the Blacks' contribution to Portugal - neither the Portuguese, the Blacks, nor our modern historians who are rewriting our history books to make the Negroes look good. It takes considerable digging in books written before our modern era of forced integration to uncover the story of Portugal.
The truth
There is a reason why all those "sources" wrote in the 19th or early 20th century and why all of them came either from Britain, France or Germany, at a time when all of those countries were colonial powers. I already addressed this issue.
Ray Smith writes
Poets and Explorers
By the middle of the 16th century, Portugal had risen to a position analogous to that of the United States today. Portugal was the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world, with a large empire and colonies in Asia, Africa and America.
The Portuguese people were, like the Elizabethans in England, poets and explorers, a race of highly civilized, imaginative, intelligent, and daring people. They showed great potential and had already made important contributions to the Renaissance. But, unlike England and other European countries, Portugal had a large and rapidly growing Negro population and, at the same time, its white population was declining.
Portugal began the Negro slave trade after encountering Negroes in its explorations and forays into Africa. Portugal brought the first Black slaves to Lisbon in 1441, and they continued to be imported in such numbers that by 1550, the population of Portugal was 10 percent Negro (the U.S. is 13-14 percent Negro today).
The truth
I am sorry to break this down to Ray Smith, but the Portuguese were as civilised as any other European country in medieval Europe. I am happy to know that Ray Smith appreciates Portuguese poetry from the XV and XVI centuries. I should therefore inform him that Portugal produced his greatest poet in the late XVI century, therefore AFTER that imaginary race mixing frenzy: Luiz Vaz de Cam�es. The father of Portuguese theatre, Gil Vicente, did most of his work in the 1530s. Portugal continued producing throughout the centuries great names in the field of Literature like Fern�o Mendes Pinto, Bocage, Marquesa de Alorna, Almeida Garrett, Camilo Castelo Branco, J�lio Diniz, Antero de Quental, Florbela Espanca, E�a de Queiroz, Fernando Pessoa, and many many others. I wouldn't be surprised if Ray Smith never heard anything about any of them. Considering the detail that Portugal deserves in the American History books, I don't know why on Earth would he ever expect to read about the Portuguese mixing with slaves as some sort of world event.
Of course, the Portuguese population was never 10% black. Genetics proves it.
Ray Smith writes
Defilement of the Blood
There was no taboo or injunction against sexual relations with the Negroes, and the Negroes blood soon became assimilated into the general population through miscegenation, so that today there are no Negroes, as such, in Portugal.
The present-day population of Portugal is described by the New York Times Encyclopedic Almanac, 1971, as follows: "Ethnic Composition: The people are a mixture of various ethnic strains, including Celtic, Arab, Berber, Phoenician, Carthaginian, Lusitanian, and other racial influences. The present population is one of the most homogeneous in Europe, with no national minorities." (Note that the Negro strain is not listed by the New York Times).
The truth
The few black Africans that were brought to Portugal were assimilated. There are black Africans in Portugal (they arrived from our former colonies in the last 30 years). The New York Times Encyclopaedia (that was the first time I heard of a New York Times Encyclopaedia, but alas...) is inaccurate. The Lusitanians were part Celtic and neither the Phoenicians or the Carthaginians had any importance (the Phoenicians only built trade posts, and the Carthaginians were present for a few decades only). The modern Portuguese are mostly native Iberian stock with some Celtic, Berber and Germanic. The African admixture was quite negligible, even in Southern Portugal where it was probably higher.  
Ray Smith writes
What you can see in Portugal today is the product of uniform, non-selective mixing of the 10 percent Negroes and 90 percent Whites into one homogeneous whole. In effect, it is a new race - a race that has stagnated in apathy and produced virtually nothing in the last 400 years.
The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911, in its article on Portugal states, "The Portuguese intermarried freely with their slaves, and this infusion of alien blood profoundly modified the character and physique of the nation. It may be said without exaggeration that the Portuguese of the 'age of discoveries' and the Portuguese of the 17th and later centuries were two different races."
The truth
As I already mentioned, 10% of Lisbon and �vora mustn't be confused with 10% of the country. I know that people with a limited brain capacity like the sort of Neo-Nazi trash I am dealing with have a hard time with this sort of stuff, but maybe they could ask a six year old to explain it to them, I don't have the patience.
Ray Smith writes
Portugal has a huge "Gay" population. [see picture]
The trut
I don't really understand what does homosexuality have to do with racial mixing. Considering that Portugal is a Catholic conservative country, I can assure Ray Smith that the number of homosexuals in Portugal is no larger than in the rest of Europe (probably smaller) and the number of "queers" is actually much smaller. If Ray doubts my words, he should pay a visit to San Francisco or Amsterdam.
Ray Smith write
People Without a Future
The contribution of this new race to civilization in terms of literature, art, music, philosophy, science, etc. has been practically nothing. Portugal today is the most backward country in Europe. The illiteracy rate is 38 % (U.S., 2.2%, Japan, 1.0%). The infant mortality rate in Portugal is 59.2 per 1000 births (Sweden, 12.9, U.S., 20.7, France, 20.4). The workers wages are the lowest in Western Europe, the equivalent of a little more than $2.00 a day.
Portugal is a forgotten land - bypassed by tourists and shunned by scholars. It is a sad country, known mainly for its plaintive, mournful fado music - nostalgic music that looks to the past and sees no future.
The truth
The Portuguese gave plenty of contributions in the field of Astronomy, Botanics, Zoology, Navegation, Flight, Medicine, Literature, Invention, and even Law. Portugal was the first country to abolish the enslavement of Native Americans (1570s), the first country to abolish all slavery in Portugal (1770s) and the first country to abolish the death penalty (1840s).
The illiteracy rate is 9% (2001) and it is still dropping, according to the World Health Organisation the child mortality was 6 per 1000 births (females) and 7 per 1000 births (males), the workers wages may be in some cases the lowest in Western Europe, but they are a lot higher than $2.00 a day. Just to give you an idea, a  Big-Mac costs about $3.00 and a CD costs about $18.00. The Portuguese minimum wage for 2003 was �356,35 which is only almost 6 times more than Ray Smith's estimate for the average wage.
As to tourism, the number of visitors is constantly increasing. In 1998 for instance, 11,2 million tourists and 15,4 million backpackers (making a total of 26,6 million visitors) crossed the Portuguese borders. 26,6 million visitors is almost three times the total Portuguese population.
As to Portugal being shunned by scholars: A team of Portuguese physicians led by Dr. Jos� Pratas Vital made a groundbreaking discovery announced last week (April 2003) that restores sensitivity to paraplegic patients by an auto-transplant of nasal cells.
The Portuguese Egas Moniz Hospital signed a protocol with the Detroit Medical Centre, according to which American paraplegic patients are going to undergo through surgery in Portugal, while Portuguese patients operated in Portugal are going to use the therapy facilities of the American institution.
As to fado, I could name Am�lia Rodrigues but I won't even bother. I will just mention that the Portuguese fado singer Mariza (this one actually has recent African admixture) recently won the BBC World Music Award. Apparently they don't share Ray Smith's musical tastes.
Ray Smith writes
Most of the Negro slaves brought to Portugal were adult males. The population was thus unbalanced - an excess of White women and Negro males, and a shortage of White men. Chronicles of the era relate that Portuguese women kept Negro slaves as "pets". They also married them.
The truth
Only Carvalho-Silva's study was able to find one sub-Saharan Y chromosome in a Portuguese sample (and from Gonzalez et al. we can assume that it is probably Neolithic). Only one individual, out of several studies. That pretty much shows that there was no Negroid paternal contribution due to the slave trade, and that the Negroid paternal contribution in the Portuguese is close to zero. It is quite obvious that no white woman would marry a black slave.
The rest is even more paranoid, irrational, and unworthy of my time.
Refuting Kemp
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