Occasionally we’re exhorted by the left to have a “national conversation on race.” But more often this “conversation,” when described, resembles the kind of conversation you might have with your wife when you forget her birthday. It’s always a one-sided affair, a catharsis, an extension of the kind of self-flagellation we’ve undertaken among America’s traditional elites since the watershed social revolutions of the 1960s. I’ve written about this before, at length, here and here.
Eric Holder, the first black attorney general serving under the first black president had this to say regarding the likely contents of such a conversation: “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards. Though race related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race. It is an issue we have never been at ease with and given our nation’s history this is in some ways understandable”
We’re cowardly all right, but not quite how Holder says. Holder does not hint at a single black failing or shortcoming. Nor does the media. Nor do our college professors, HR “professionals,” movies, books, jokes, comedians, or anyone else. In Holder, there’s not hint of Bill Cosby’s atypical call for black Americans to find some pride in their earlier, austere morality emulating the best in the broader American society, a more proud example that we see in such varied figures as Booker T. Washington, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Jackie Robinson, or the many distinguished success stories of blacks in the American military and business. For Holder, that history and the present-day conversation are all one long J’Accuse, and he won’t be happy until every white knee has bowed.
I”m reminded of Tocqueville’s remarks on why times of progress–such as the material and legal progress of black Americans since the 1960s–often do not create greater comity and social solidarity, but rather increased resentments and friction by the erstwhile oppressed:
Going from bad to worse does not always mean a slide into revolution. More often than not, it occurs when a nation which has endured without complaint–almost without feeling them–the most burdensome laws rejects them with violence the moment the weight of them lightens. The regime destroyed by a revolution is almost always better than the one that immediately preceded it and experience teaches us that hte most hazardous moment for a bad government is normally when it is beginning to reform. Only a great genius can save a rule who is setting out to relieve his subjects’ suffering after a long period of oppression. The evils, patiently endured as inevitable, seem unbearable asa soon as the ide aof excaping them is conceived.
So, conservatives should not be so terribly surprised at the anger, venom, ingratitude, and general demandingness of the Michelle Obamas, Eric Holders, and Al Sharptons of the world. They are angry that they are not on top of the world, that their half-accomplishments are not given the same respect in the real world as they had from brain-dead, indoctrinated educators, inclined towards projection in the case of their less successful coethnics, and fueled by a one-sided tribal storytelling that is enabled by various parties among the majority. Obama’s words and life until becoming president suggest that he offers the healing of surrender, which is bad enough, though his true agenda is shifting, unclear, and wrapped up with his incredible ego and will to power. It could be worse or better, but hopes for saccharine healing seem highly unlikely, not least because the one group of supporters he can’t stand up to will always accuse him of selling out, which is a very painful charge to level against this sometimes insecure and thoughtful man.
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Holder’s a phoney, re-introducing the Jesse Jackson tired narrative of why the black community is forever a dump-i.e., because the white guys never let the brothers into the game.
Uh, huh. Ok. Let’s stipulate that the Crow laws, slavery, and “The Man” set back blacks for generations. Point conceded. Let me repeat the point so he hears it.
Except it’s 2009, Holder, not 1809 or 1909. And, arguably, the two most powerful legal positions in the world are now held by blacks.
So can he now explain, in the spirit of candid racial conversation, why 1)blacks commit most of the crimes 2) have the most fatherless families 3) leave their neighborhoods looking like toxic waste dumps and 4) continue to glorify the violence and drug meme?
Of course not. He wants to recite the handy leftist code, to “converse” on his terms. It’s so much easier and mindless. To quote Wilde, the truth is rarely pure and never simple.
[...] snippet of Mr. Roach’s comments: We’re cowardly all right, but not quite how Holder says. Holder does not hint at a single [...]
I don’t understand how good is it to clasify humans based on their race, I beleive it is just wastage of time .
I think obama’s strong words are essential at this point of time, in order to walk through this difficult time of economic crisis.
People in fact are divided into different groups, including race, and just notice how 90% of his fellow blacks voted for Obama. You can’t pretend it’s not a real category of human difference, affection, loyalty, etc. It need not be a source of hatred, but it is real. As for Obama’s “strong words” those are the words of Eric Holder above, who will likely be one of the lamest and most partisan attorney generals ever.
Speaking of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder:
Eric Holder is a racial-minority individual, and in his heart and mind he inevitably does not endorse hate crimes committed by George W. Bush.
George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog).
George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes.
And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention.
Many people know what Bush did.
And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world.
Bush was absolute evil.
Bush is now like a fugitive from justice.
Bush is a psychological prisoner.
Bush has a lot to worry about.
Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time.
In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
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I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it is a linguistically excellent statement, and it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think the quotation came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.
Posts like Andrew’s frighten me.
People who repeat the same thing over and over again are invariably self-righteous idiots. In the 2nd-4th statements of his post, he states the exact same thing three times over.
Then, 8 times in a row he makes vague, unsubstantiated claims about Bush. I don’t like what Bush did myself, but this guy obviously has some irrational hatred/fear and equates Bush to some kind of Hitler-type figure.
I am afraid that this is what we’ve let the country get to. Rational thought and respectful debate have been replaced by uninformed fanaticism and nonspecific rhetoric. Both parties have realized that it’s easier to tell people “I’m your friend, vote for me” than “I stand for this, and this is good”.
We elected a president who promised nothing but “change”, so can anyone really be surprised that this country is being rapidly changed from a capitalist democracy to a communist dictatorship? McCain was far from an ideal candidate, but it’s hard to believe that he would have rewritten the rules as quickly and thoroughly as Obama has.