The Politics of Race

“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government; I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1798.

A few days ago Representative Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX) made a statement on the floor of the House that anyone who opposed the raising of the debt ceiling was a racist. She claimed that those who opposed the increase in our debt were just doing so because our president was a black man and they were doing so because they wanted to put down all blacks.

This nonsense has been pushed down our throats by the progressive left for the past 30 years. They, and their minions in the media, constantly play this race card anytime a conservative proposes a plan or bill that will restore adherence to the Constitution or move towards fiscal sanity by reducing the size of government. Bigger government to the progressive means more power by promising greater largess to their power base. they use race as an excuse for all of their big government programs.

Walter Williams, a black professor of economics at George Mason University, has stated many times that in the past 30 years Blacks have gone backwards as they depend more and more on government programs. They are less educated; they have higher unemployment rates and commit more crime. Williams writes in a February 2, 2011 column:

“In my "Black Education Disaster" column (12/22/10), I presented National Assessment of Educational Progress test data that demonstrated that an average black high school graduate had a level of reading, writing and math proficiency of a white seventh- or eighth-grader. The public education establishment bears part of the responsibility for this disaster, but a greater portion is borne by black students and their parents, many of whom who are alien and hostile to the education process.

Let's look at the education environment in many schools and ask how conducive it is to the education process. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nationally during 2007-2008, more than 145,000 teachers were physically attacked. Six percent of big-city schools report verbal abuse of teachers and 18 percent report non-verbal disrespect for teachers.

An earlier NCES study found that 18 percent of the nation's schools accounted for 75 percent of the reported incidents of violence, and 6.6 percent accounted for 50 percent. So far as serious violence, murder and rapes, 1.9 percent of schools reported 50 percent of the incidents. The preponderance of school violence occurs in big-city schools attended by black students.

What's the solution? Violence, weapons-carrying, gang activity and student or teacher intimidation should not be tolerated. Students engaging in such activity should be summarily expelled.

Some might worry about the plight of expelled students. I think we should have greater concern for those students whose education is made impossible by thugs and the impossible learning environment they create.

Another part of the black education disaster has to do with the home environment. More than 70 percent of black children are born to unwedded mothers, who are often themselves born to unwedded mothers. Today's level of female-headed households is new in black history. Until the 1950s, almost 80 percent of black children lived in two-parent households, as opposed to today's 35 percent.

Often, these unwedded mothers have poor parenting skills and are indifferent, and sometimes hostile, to their children's education. The resulting poorly behaving students should not be permitted to sabotage the education of students whose parents are supportive of the education process.

At the minimum, a mechanism such as tuition tax credit or educational voucher ought to be available to allow parents and children who care to opt out of failing schools. Some people take the position that we should repair not abandon failing schools. That's a vision that differs little from one that says that no black child's education should be improved unless we can improve the education of all black children.

What needs to be done is not rocket science. Our black ancestors, just two, three, four generations out of slavery, would not have tolerated school behavior that's all but routine today. The fact that the behavior of many black students has become acceptable and made excuses for is no less than a gross betrayal of sacrifices our ancestors made to create today's opportunities.

Some of today's black political leadership is around my age, 75, such as Reps. Maxine Waters, Charles Rangel, John Conyers, former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, Jesse Jackson and many others. Forget that they are liberal Democrats but ask them whether their parents, kin or neighbors would have tolerated children cursing to, or in the presence of, teachers and other adults. Ask them what their parents would have done had they assaulted an adult or teacher. Ask whether their parents would have accepted the grossly disrespectful behavior seen among many black youngsters on the streets and other public places using foul language and racial epithets. Then ask why should today's blacks tolerate something our ancestors would not.

The sorry and tragic state of black education is not going to be turned around until there's a change in what's acceptable and unacceptable behavior by young people. The bulk of that change has to come from within the black community.”

Williams is absolutely correct in his assessments. Williams, as a black conservative, has even been called a racists or “Uncle Tom” by his left-wing critics. Williams, as a black man, can speak with authority to the current plight of the black as can others like Larry Elder, Star Parker, David Web, Deneen Borelli and Roy Innis of Project 21 and Herman Cain. These black leaders and spokespersons are diametrically opposed to the race baiters like Jackson lee, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who have made a career of using race to advance their own power while doing nothing for the Black except make him a ward of the state.

My next door neighbor, Bruce, is a black man who owns his own home and contracting business. He works had, is a good neighbor, keeps his property in good repair and did not vote for Obama. Is Bruce a racist? No, he is an American who wants to live his life in freedom and take advantage of the opportunities this country offers him. Bruce is a neighbor and friend.

But, Bruce is beginning to become the recipient of distrust from whites and Asians due to the increasing push by the progressives in jamming the charges of racism down our throats every time we criticize President Obama. Whites who were once advocates of civil rights in the 60s, like me and many of my friends, are turning against Blacks due to the policies of the progressives and the deterioration of black culture caused by these government policies and handouts. We are getting sick and tired of being called intolerant racists because we can see that these government programs are costing us billions of dollars and not helping Blacks out of poverty and getting them off the largess of the state. This hardening of hearts is not a good thing for our country or culture and it is definitely not good for the black community.

If Blacks could wean off of the welfare state and take advantage of the education opportunities offered them they would be able to stand on their own and I am sure they would see how they have been used by the progressives and race baiters to gain and hold power. If they would give up their ghetto culture and worship of the black entertainers who exploit them they might see how they have been taken advantage of.

One of my favorite bloggers on American Thinker, Robin of Berkley writes about the exploitation of “white collective guilt” in our culture and media and how this has shaped our political climate and allowed the progressive left to advance their welfare state agenda. She writes:

“But guilt because of the color of my skin? Guilt because some white person in 1960s Selma, Alabama refused to allow a black person into his restaurant? Guilt because while my relatives were being raped and pillaged in Russia, a small minority of white people owned slaves (as did, by the way, some free slaves)? I might as well feel guilty about the train wreck that is Casey Anthony simply because she and I share the same race, gender, and sexual orientation.

The idea of collective guilt is not just absurd; it's evil. It's saying that all Jews were bad because some may have committed some injustice in Germany, circa l940. It's saying that all Israelis are responsible if someone injures a Palestinian. Or that all whites are culpable for the actions of others 50 or 150 years ago. Collective guilt is a notion that is so laser-focused on race, it is actually racist.

It's also anti-God because no legitimate religion preaches culpability based on race or gender. According to Hinduism and Buddhism, we each reap what we sow karmically. Christians and Jews believe in individual accountability for sins on Judgment Day.

Of course, many religions have twisted things around, with liberal churches and synagogues promoting the notion of white guilt. There's a reason for this: it's safer to hide behind the behavior of an entire race than stand naked before God. I sure wouldn't want to be Bill Ayers or Bernadine Dohrn the day they arrive at the Pearly Gates (if they make it there at all).”

Collective guilt is nonsense. Were all Germans responsible for the actions of the Nazis? Were all Russians responsible for the actions of Stalin? Of course not. Many of those Germans and Russians were victims of the government policies of Hitler and Stalin. 646 thousand Union soldiers died or were wounded during the Civil War. According to the 1860 census the population of the United States was 31 million and of that which means that 71% or 22 million were in the Union States. That amounts to 3% of the population of the Union States sacrificing for the end of slavery. That would amount to 930 thousand people today. Just imagine if almost one million were killed or wounded in any war today.

Robin of Berkley continues:

“But if this age is all about guilt and confession, I have a burning question. Why isn't everyone required to confess their political sins? If I'm supposed to sit in a room, and tearfully confess, Oprah-style, about every judgmental thought I've ever had, why aren't people of color required to do the same?

Frankly, I wouldn't mind an apology from the black kids in middle school who taunted and threatened me because of the color of my skin. I'd like a big "I'm sorry" from the gangs of black girls in high school who, enraged by forced busing, mowed me down in the hallway. And for when I went to the Arab Market in Israel as a teenager and seven different Arab men, in seven separate incidents, grabbed my private parts, I'm more than ready to hear an apology.

And I'm also waiting with bated breath for apologies from the following: the black dude in pre-Giuliani Manhattan who fondled me in a similar way; the black man in Berkeley who mugged me, leaving me with a black eye and broken nose to die (I didn't) in the middle of the street; and the countless black men in Berkeley who have called me a "f___g white b___" when I didn't give them spare change.

But I don't want an apology because of white privilege or black privilege, or any such nonsense -- but because it is wrong to molest, mug, or otherwise violate another human being -- no exceptions! This has nothing to do with race but everything to do with about human decency and consideration.

But in Obama's America, there's little human decency to be found. The rules have changed, and they consist of the new three Rs: rage, revenge, and reparations. And this malignant game of Blaming Whitey will go on and on until we call it what it is (hate), walk away from the table, and refuse to play.”

This is the way our politics and culture works today. The whites owe the blacks everything and the recipient class within the black community is owed everything. The progressive left has turned the black community into another form of slavery with their government programs. This economic serfdom has created a class of people According to an AP report on June 29, 2011 the Black unemployment is at 16.2 percent, while Black male joblessness is at 17.5 percent. High school dropout rates in the black community are increasing. According to a report released by the Schott Foundation only 47% of Blacks graduate from high school. The report states:

“The American educational system is systematically failing black male students. According to the Schott report, 47 percent of African-American males graduate from high school. (New York City 28 percent, Philadelphia 28 percent, Broward County Florida 39 percent, Washington D.C., Chicago 44 percent, Nashville 47 percent).

John H. Jackson expressed that he was shocked when saw these numbers and stated “we are going in the wrong direction with these numbers.” As a result of African-American males not graduating, in New York City, over 50 percent of Black males are unemployed and in Chicago, 5000 Black males are lost each year. “They are not in school, they are not employed and no one can say that that doesn’t impact the crime that is happening across the city.”

While the numbers in the Schott Foundation report may be accurate the reason is not a failure of the education system, but a failure of the black community itself. We spend more and more each year on education yet the number of dropouts and under educated Blacks continue to grow. This is creating a permanent underclass created by the programs of the progressive left. It’s this serfdom that builds their base of voters to insure their power and create a society where class warfare rules.