#1347: Carol Barnes

We’ve encountered the proponents of magic melanin before, and Carol Barnes is another one. The idea, if you need a reminder, is that high levels of the pigment melanin lower your THAC0 and AC, open your chakras, are “the chemical basis of the soul” and gives you a multitude of special magical abilities; and consequently, people with lower levels of melanin are considered degenerate, albino mutants. Of course, since white people are at least subconsciously aware of their deficiencies, they have instigated all sorts of nefarious conspiracies to subjugate people with higher melanin levels. As Carol Barnes puts it: “Melanin is responsible for the existence of civilization, philosophy, religion, truth, justice, and righteousness. Individuals (whites) containing low levels of Melanin will behave in a barbaric manner.”

Barnes puts the claims forward in Melanin: The Chemical Key to Black Greatness, which, according to the blurb, “is designed to familiarize the Black Human with Melanin and its importance to life, memory processes, ancient African history, sunlight, music, dancing, anti-aging, anti-cancer, religion, electromagnetism, and any other scientific and cultural parameter.” According to one Amazon reviewer, it is “a must have for any Nubians,” since “carol made it clear why being black or reddish brown, to be correct, is the resplendent and etheral and supernal force in the known universe, whenever you see black you see god, melanin is the key to unlock the secrects of the known and unknown universe, a must have for your shelf,hotep,wadu.”

Otherwise, Barnes is best known for his (yes, I’m pretty sure it is a guy) claim that cocaine is part of the racist plot because melanin and cocaine are both alkaloids and have a high affinity for each other. Barnes also claims that blacks can test positive for cocaine up to a year after use, because cocaine co-polymerizes into melanin. However, melanin is not an alkaloid and does not co-polymerize with cocaine in vivo, but hey – that’s reality, and reality is a conspiracy, apparently.

Diagnosis: Pseudoscientific rubbish. Promoting such bullshit is hardly going to help achieve equality for historically oppressed groups, and Barnes must hence be considered a moderate threat to humanity.