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You're right to say that it is still a scientifically-open question whether intergroup IQ differences are genetically-based or not. However, there is research that suggests it is, including research that shows that there are still differences between middle class blacks from “enriched” environments and similarly-situated middle class whites.

So, what accounts for the perceived differences? Some days, I ponder the question, and I think, yep, there's at least some genetic component.

Intellect results from a combination of genetics and environment. Some studies have shown that it takes about 3 or 4 generations for the kids from an originally disadvantaged family to catch up to where they fully express (in the genetic sense) their full intelligence potential.

The problem with many blacks is a culture that ostracizes intelligence, coupled with nutritional factors that probably don't go away in a single generation. So, while a black person might be able to lift him or herself from the ghetto, he or she still carries that ghetto culture within. He or she does not magically learn how to raise the children in a way to maximize their potential.

There is no reason to think that, on the population level, the distribution of "intelligence genes" is particularly different between different racial groups. On the individual level, however, genes do have a large contribution to intelligence--although it still takes the right environment to maximize their effect.

I have the experience of being a gifted child from a poor family. I was not given any particular early intellectual stimulation or enrolled in any special programs in school. My IQ is somewhere in the Einsteinian range. This is all genetics; my environment was not one that maximized their effect (in other words, I could have been a lot smarter). But just because I was lucky enough to get the combination of genes that made me smart does not mean I passed those genes on. My sons are both average. That was hard to adjust to; I had expected that any child I had would be gifted, and that was not the case. Well--the genes must still be there--I have bright grandchildren.

On days when I think of those differences that seem more about culture, I think, no, it's not genetic, it's cultural.

But then I wonder from where culture comes. Do better adapted cultures emerge from populations with higher average intelligence?

It would be nice if folks did the science to answer these sorts of questions. But as the author of the article points out, even wondering aloud about the topic can ruin one’s career.

Culture is a huge factor. We know that Asians have the stereotype of having higher intelligence as a group. (Although we only see the "cream"--the Asians of more modest intelligence tend not to emigrate from their home countries.) I have read that their higher academic achievement, however, disappears after a generation or two. Asians raised by parents who were born and raised in the US are not, on average, any smarter than the white population.

There are plenty of studies on intellect and the factors that contribute to it. They are not based on race; they just look at the various factors.