Gould & Jensen Racist Argument and IQ?

Question

I am trying to read a bit from Ever Since Darwin [Racist Arguments and IQ] for a paper I need to write but I don't think I am understanding what it says.

Gould wrote:

"He [Jensen] assumes that the black 'deficit' is largely genetic in origin because IQ is so highly heritable. This is a non sequitur of the worst possible kind - for there is no necessary relationship between heritability within a group and differences in mean values of two separate groups."

Can anyone put into different words what Gould means by this?

Answer 1

Gould disagrees with Jensen's conclusions because he (Gould) embraces the concept that average differences between large groups are not due to genetic heritability.

I think that Gould is supposing that environmental forces may tip the scales one way or another when it comes to comparing intelligence between two divers groups.

We inherit a propensity to have a maximum cognitive skill level.  This propensity can be enhanced or degraded by our environment.  And, these environmental forces are sometimes stronger than the genetic forces for specific individuals.