Dr. Leonard Jeffries, chairman of the Afro-American Studies Department at the City University of New York, came under criticism for some of his statements on race. He theorizes that humanity is divided into two principal groups, "sun people" (Africans, Asians, and natives of Latin America and the Caribbean) and "ice people" (the European-American descendants of northern Ice Age peoples). The two groups have diametrically opposed value systems: ice people are materialistic, egotistical, and exploitative, while sun people are humanistic, communal, and caring.

Jeffries was quoted as saying that the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger should be applauded because it deterred white people from "spreading their filth throughout the universe."

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