By Tom Kando
Patrick
Buchanan’s famous/notorious statement about
“The White Side of the Story of Negroes” is a couple of years old, but
it is being discussed (and supported, I am afraid) on the Internet a great deal
at this time.
I don’t want to rehash too many details of this screed, except to say that we see frequent statements like this, coming from various “white men’s rights” groups, organizations like the KKK, the John Birch Society, etc.
Here are some highlights of Buchanan’s ugly and racist piece, titled “Buchanan to Obama”:
Barack says we need to
have a conversation about race in America. Fair enough. But this time, it needs
to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just
lectured to.... The Silent Majority needs to have its... grievances and demands
heard. And among them are these:
America has been the
best country on earth for black folks....(They)....reached the greatest levels
of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
No people anywhere has
done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Trillions have been spent
since the '60s on welfare....(and on) poverty programs designed to bring the
African-American community into the mainstream.
Governments,
businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks --
with affirmative action....
(Institutions and)
individuals all over America have donated their time and money to support soup
kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.
....Where is the
gratitude?
Is white America
really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for
African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white
America's fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70
percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached
50 percent?
Is that the fault of
white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?
As for racism, its
ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial
crimes of violence....Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times
more common than the reverse?....
Ugly and racist, indeed. Is a refutation even necessary?
Notice
the disgusting, patronizing attitude: America, which Buchanan considers to be a
white country, deigns to lift up the blacks, who then must show gratitude and
humility!
Yes,
half of the 2.5 million US prison population is black. And yes, this is a
racist scandal. Of course, the lower
classes always commit a
disproportionate number of street crimes. This has nothing to do with skin
color. If you hold income constant, the difference between the black and white
crime rates evaporates.
It
is well known that per capita black income
hovers at 50% of average white income, and sadly, this is not improving.
The figure was actually closer to 60% in the 1960s. Bad enough.
But here is a much more mind-boggling statistic: Average black net worth is about 10% of white per capita net worth! Pause for a moment to digest this unbelievable fact! The average white American is ten times richer than the average black American! I have never understood why this grotesque disparity doesn’t create more revolutionary consciousness among blacks.
And
it’s all black folks’ fault, says Buchanan (“a failure of the black community
itself”).
This is pure and simple Social
Darwinism, or the term - coined by sociologists - “blaming the victim.”
But why do we even continue to categorize by race? Well, we have to, as long as America remains largely a caste society. As long as 90% of marriages and relationships remain intra-racial.
Racists like Buchanan will never understand that dysfunctionality has everything to do with social class and nothing to do with race.
Are African-Americans still 2nd class citizens in the US? That is as clear as black and white. leave comment here
10 comments:
Obama asked for a "conversation about race", not a conversation about "social class". Pat just responded to the question put to him and, using the vernacular, "spoke truth to power"
I am not a fan of Pat Buchanan and like a lot of what he says - these quotes leave a lot out. But because Mr. Buchanan is wrong does not make him a racist. Buchanan is right about the trillions of dollars spent to alleviate poverty in this country. No less a scholar than Daniel Patrick Moynihan argued in "The Negro Family: the Case for National Action" that many of the policies designed to alleviate poverty would indeed perpetuate poverty. Your own numbers suggest that this is true - the Black income proportion before the War On Poverty was actually higher than it is today.
Does that mean we should do nothing? Of course not. But we should not ignore the poverty of many self proclaimed "leaders" in the Black community like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. What have those leaders done that is positive?
Poverty, as the Moynihan report pointed out and has been reinforced in many studies going forward is complex - its root causes and the ways to alleviate it are often obscure. Government programs in many cases have been destructive of key elements of forming community (again pointed out by Moynihan). But throwing around terms like "racist" in reference to either ill informed people like Buchanan or to condemn the entire American society is just as foolish as Buchanan's statements.
Patrick Moynihan's Report could be labeled racist in itself. Who is to say whether the rise in single mother families among blacks is the cause of poverty or a result of it?
Government programs, although often flawed, are the only defence against even more inequality and should be increased, not decreased.
As far as income inequality between blacks and whites: could it be that racism has actually increased and is the actual cause of this disparity and not the War on Poverty?
One of my favorite quotes was from Abba Eban, commenting on the Middle East negotiations: “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”. I used to be a liberal back in the 60’s in college, but after 40 plus years in the corporate world and having observed society, particularly equal opportunity/affirmative action, I’m a cynic. The more money that has been spent, the more opportunities that have been provided, the more the pathologies in black culture grow. It’s up to them, not us, to improve their lot in life. Until I see sustained mass effort on their part to correct the pathologies in their culture, I’m not voting for increased benefits for them. Time for benign neglect. I just don't care about their problems anymore.
Madeline
I can't agree more that government programs should be increased. Here's a case of a poor black guy trying to support 30 children with his 11 baby mamas:
(Knoxville, TN – WREG) Desmond Hatchett is pleading with the state of Tennessee to help him pay for child support.
With 30 kids, who could afford to pay child support? Yes, 30 children by 11 different “baby mamas.”
Desmond explained how it all happened, well you know what we mean, “I had four kids in the same year. Twice.”
The children range in age from toddlers to 14 years old. He was last in court in 2009, at which time he had 21 children.
That means he’s had at least 9 more children in the last 3 years.
Hatchett only has a minimum wage job, which means some of the moms receive as little as… $1.49 a month.
I feel like the arrogance of the western "white male" is that they feel as if they achieved success, why can't the blacks? I "pulled myself up by my bootstraps" and "created a life for myself." But they fail to realize that most people living in poverty in America (both blacks and whites) will have a much harder time trying to find success--they did not have the support groups or opportunities that a suburban white kid might have had.
But yet people like Buchanan seem to believe that these conditions are the best that blacks will ever get--that its their own fault that they are living in poverty, a sort of fundamental deficiency in black society. Yet they forget that the western world screwed over the African people in the first place. Africa had been home to numerous proud, flourishing cultures and nations before the Europeans arrived. Benin, Ethiopia, the Swahili states were some among many African countries that built themselves from the ground up, created magnificent cultures, art and literature that is largely forgotten by the western world.
Most forget that Ethiopia converted to Christianity way before most European countries. They created giant churches carved out of a single slab of rock and an amazing, original writing system (an abugida; Indian cultures developed a similar system) that may be more efficient than an alphabet. Yet, after nearly a century of abuse by many western countries, the once self-sufficient Ethiopia fell victim to coups, wide-spread famine and declining literacy rates. The Ethiopia that we know today--the archetypal struggling African country--was born out of struggle and conflict.
This does not indicate that there is something fundamentally wrong with the African people, rather it illustrates that the western world has been doing something wrong. We have always lived by the philosophy to serve our own narrow-minded, short-term self interests without considering the over reaching effects across the globe. We have never just been Americans or Europeans or Africans. We are people, people that should protect each other and look out for each other. Until we realize that there is no "us" and "them", we will never solve the problems that we face today. We are one family, floating aimlessly on this spaceship earth, so we better start acting like one.
The latest Anonymous may be right: “This does not indicate that there is something fundamentally wrong with the African people”, but there is something fundamentally wrong with African-American culture.
I was out of town for several weeks. An iPhone doesn’t lend itself to satisfactory exchange. So here is my belated reaction:
To anonymous #1: Let me spell it out: when President Obama asks for a conversation about race, he implies that we should discuss why so many blacks remain second-class citizens, and what to do to remedy this. Buchanan’s answer: it’s their own damn fault. My answer to Buchanan: not it’s not. It’s the result of discrimination against people whose skin pigmentation is darker, which tends to relegate such people to a lower social class.
***
To Dr. Tax:
(1) I do not condemn the entire American society, but our society can do better.
(2) It is difficult to ascertain a person’s degree of racism. You are a racist if you believe that someone’s race (the color of his skin) determines his behavior, aptitudes, etc., and that he therefore shares these inherent aptitudes with other members of his race. It is difficult to be totally immune to such stereotyping and prejudice. Racism is a continuum. When Buchanan argues so vociferously that blacks have no one to blame for their plight but themselves, I suspect him of racist motives, but I can’t prove this.
(3) The arguments that “welfare policies create dependency, undermine the work ethic, etc,” are well-known, as is Buchanan’s central argument that America has already been extremely generous in its attempts to raise the (black) underclass.
But the evidence? For one thing, the American welfare state has always been stingier than those of foreign social democracies (Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, etc.).
As to the dis-incentive argument, I’ll go against my own rule and argue anecdotally: My mother raised her 3 children by herself, in abject poverty, but receiving at least some public assistance, thank God. Did it make us lazy and dependent? To the contrary. The moment we got the slightest chance - scholarships, food stamps, child support payments - this motivated us like the devil to take advantage of the opportunity, to buckle up and to advance.
Contrary to the theory that public assistance creates dependency and laziness, it is more likely that people, when they get jump-started and are given half a chance, will do their utmost best to build solid and dignified lives. The conservative theory is a rationalization for callousness.
***
Anonymous #2 is a perfect example of what I just wrote. Without a shred of evidence, he re-iterates the “black dependency and pathology” cliche.
***
Anonymous #3: same sort of stuff. Also, argument through anecdote is irrelevant. Fox News milked this story of a guy with 30 kids for all its worth. But I’m sure that we could find some white guy (maybe a Mormon polygamist) who has fathered 30 children.
***
Anonymous #4:
An excellent analysis of the historical relationship between the West and Africa.
***
But then, anonymous #5 reacts to that analysis with the absurd generalization that there is “something fundamentally wrong with African-American culture.”
Shall I list the innumerable areas in which African Americans excel? From many forms of art and culture to many sports? And the innumerable high achievers among blacks?
The “dysfunctional African-American family and culture” argument is old wine in a new bottle. It is the new way to negatively evaluate blacks as a group. It’s a euphemism. It’s an attempt at couching racism in more acceptable terms, by saying that black poverty and crime are due to culture (nurture) rather than nature.
So here we have it, folks, brave bloggers who don’t even dare put down their first name as they spout off nasty pseudo-sociology.
Just goes to show: race remains a potently divisive topic. It would be nice if skin pigmentation were as (ir)relevant as the color of your eyes or your hair, but I doubt that people will soon let this happen...
To our author-With all due respect - your mother proves the case I was making. No one seriously suggests that the government does not have a role in equity but as the Moynihan report suggested (it is by the way ludicrous to claim it is racist) there are limits to effective policies.
I would argue that the most pronounced effects of the War on Poverty was a diminished role for families and the creation of a near permanent underclass. Ultimately we need to find the balance between assistance and dependency.
I agree that Moynihan was probably not a racist. His famous "black matriarchy" thesis made some sense to me at the time. But it no longer does. Again, income seems to be more important than whether or not a boy has a father who contributes to his socialization. The rate of "illegitimacy" (children born to and raised by unwed mothers) is as high in some other parts of the world (e.g. Scandinavia) as it is among African-Americans, yet teen-age crime and pathology are at a minimum over there, because the level of "want" is low.
And historically, many upper-class boys were raised by women (not even their own mothers, often governesses, etc), with no consequent harm.
I also favor a balance between assistance and dependency.
Post a Comment
Please limit your comment to 300 words at the most!