there's a lot of ugly historical baggage where science has met race in the past.
There is indeed:
http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/meta/gould-morton-lewis-2...
If that isn't ugly, what is?
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal....
Here's how a slightly more partisan biologist (Peter Frost) responds to the same material:
http://evoandproud.blogspot.com/2011/07/arroseur-arrose.html
Here's the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/science/14skull.html
To be honest, your comment reads strongly as though you are projecting.
there's a lot of ugly historical baggage where science has met race in the past.
There is indeed:
http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/meta/gould-morton-lewis-2...
If that isn't ugly, what is?