Since my first attempt to address this issue was four pages in length, I’ve decided to try again to develop a cogent essay in abbreviated form. With that in mind, please do not assume that I’ve purposely left out any important issue.
I want to write about the race card because Barack Obama recently announced his intention to move America into the post-racial period — whatever that means. If he honestly wanted to do that, I think he failed the task for these four reasons: (1) Mr. Obama, like too many black Americans, incorrectly (if not dishonestly) portrays racial issues from an historic perspective. (2) Mr. Obama did not altogether repudiate the views of his kind old uncle; he rather enabled him to stay the course of racist politics. (3) Typical of most politicians, Obama did not provide any meaningful insight to racial discord, nor offer solutions. This is not surprising to me, but it was disappointing. (4) I am getting really tired of listening to the black community’s depressing attempt to justify social disaffection based on slavery and racial oppression. I will only address two of these.
I want to write about the race card because Barack Obama recently announced his intention to move America into the post-racial period — whatever that means. If he honestly wanted to do that, I think he failed the task for these four reasons: (1) Mr. Obama, like too many black Americans, incorrectly (if not dishonestly) portrays racial issues from an historic perspective. (2) Mr. Obama did not altogether repudiate the views of his kind old uncle; he rather enabled him to stay the course of racist politics. (3) Typical of most politicians, Obama did not provide any meaningful insight to racial discord, nor offer solutions. This is not surprising to me, but it was disappointing. (4) I am getting really tired of listening to the black community’s depressing attempt to justify social disaffection based on slavery and racial oppression. I will only address two of these.
The historic perspective is not a matter of interpretation, as revisionists are wont to do; it is a matter of fact. In bullet form, the reality is:
o Slavery is not unique to the American experience. It has existed from the beginning of the human history, and in some instances, it continues to exist today.
o Slavery never confined itself to one race of people, as evidenced by the fact that millions more people of white skin were enslaved than the total of black people, transported to the Americas over a period of 300 years.
o The enslavement of Europeans continued to exist long after the end of the American Civil War. Today, the enslavement of women and young girls continues as part of global prostitution.
o The modern word slave originates from “Slav,” a Balkan people who were the primary target of Islamic traders for hundreds of years.
Mr. Obama would have us “understand” the attitudes of racists like Uncle Jeremiah, owing to the profoundly sad fact that Africans were brought to the Americas and suffered in bondage. Indeed, it is a despicable chain of circumstances; it had nothing to do with my parents, my grandparents, their parents, or me. It also has nothing to do with any black citizen of the United States who is alive today. The entire ploy is not only fraught with a long list of false premises, it is insulting to people who have lived several decades on principles of human decency and compassion for those less fortunate.
It is true that for many years, black Americans suffered the oppressive nature of so-called Jim Crow laws, designed to perpetuate the myth of separate but equal access to social institutions. It is amazing that Mr. Obama belongs to the party who was most culpable for such oppression. For the past 54 years, Americans have made substantial gains in race relations, and this is because both white and black people worked hard to correct social injustice. Progress is never easy, however, and this is particularly true when new democrats offer the same oppressive programs they always have to garner votes from within the black community. Imagine millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars spent on programs that have accomplished little more than to produce reliance upon the government’s (political) good graces. Imagine the psychological impact of having convinced millions of black citizens that they are somehow less capable than their white neighbors; that they needed affirmative action or generational welfare programs.
And white voters are equally guilty, because they have stood by for nearly three generations and accepted the guilt of slavery and oppression, even when they had nothing to do with it. Should any American who understands the importance of inclusion allow such programs to continue? Apparently, Obama thinks so — it is why he wants to spend more on social programs, even when he knows many of these programs are a waste of money.
The truth is that communities and taxpayers have long provided the one key element to a successful, productive life: education. Having spent billions to provide schools and colleges, who must take responsibility for not using them to full advantage? Who is responsible for individual sloth, involvement in criminal activity, for making babies with teenaged girls and then leaving them and their newborn babies fatherless? So the point is that our history does reflect periods of slavery and racial oppression, catering to black Americans so that they can develop serious neuroses and perpetuate the myth of slavery, but how does that move us forward? If we want to move forward, we can. We must first repudiate racists like Uncle Jeremiah, and the race baiters in our society who make millions from divisive racial politics. Next, we must concentrate on programs that make black families self-sufficient, proud of their accomplishments, and proud of the country that gave them opportunities they’ll never find anywhere else in the world. We can do that by throwing away the race card.
How do you see it?
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