Why Don’t We Just Retire the Word “Racism” | Eastern North Carolina Now

    These past few weeks, I've heard all kinds of people, celebrities, groups, and even animals (ie, the New Black Panther Party) label the TEA Party as "racist." The TEA Party is the only truly patriotic group to have emerged in recent memory and it angers me to hear ridiculous claims leveled against them. If "racist" is used synonymously with "intelligent" and "patriotic," and "honorable" and "respectable," then I guess I won't mind. But hearing liberals and Democratic leaders and black activists, and the NAACP level the charge, I'm thinking they just want to distract ordinary Americans from the real strength of the party - which is a patriotic duty to return the country to one that our Founders created and the one that millions of Americans died to defend. And now we learn that Michelle Obama tacitly endorses the NAACP's message. Michelle Obama has been race-obsessed almost her entire life, so to hear that she has taken this position only reminds me of something that Ronald Reagan said many years ago: "There he goes again." I can't keep hearing about 'racism.' It's one of those things now that brings mockery to the speaker rather than genuine concern. I think the only people who take it seriously are the ones who unintelligently and recklessly use the term and civil rights attorneys (namely the ACLU, the organization dedicated to the destruction of this country). How does a white person take a charge of "racism" seriously when 94% of the 12 million blacks in this country voted for a man because he looks like them and a good segment of the white population voted for him because, although he doesn't look like them, they respected him and were mesmerized by his charisma.

    This country has always stood up and tried to do the right thing by black people. There may be lapses in judgment at times, but in our current atmosphere when the opposing side of any story touching on potential injustices to blacks CANNOT be discussed robustly in the media (again because of further cries of 'racism'), most people fail to take them seriously. That sounds harsh, but that is the truth. When you effectively shut down meaningful discourse, then people see things for what they are... bullying and ranting. They see it as the only alternative they have because they can't articulate issues on a meaningful level. We've all heard these arguments. We've all felt the growing level of disgust.

    Let's not forget what this country has done to help end racism - The Civil Rights Acts of 1865, the Civil Rights Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th) which gave citizenship rights and full rights and liberties thereof and made sure that states would not try to deny these rights and liberties to blacks (although the 14th was well intentioned, that single amendment has ended up deconstructing this country more effectively than anything else in our history), Brown v. Board of Education (an unconstitutional ruling, by the way, but a way to effect social change by psychologically empowering black children), the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" which was designed to free blacks from poverty, help fight racial injustice (especially in public and private accommodations), help them get out of the ghettos, and help fight urban decay [LBJ addressed black poverty by giving them a temporary "leg up" through the welfare system (the "Aid to Families with Dependent Children") which has now become a generational entitlement and way of life supplanting the need for education and ambition], bussing (another unconstitutional policy), affirmative action (another unconstitutional policy), racial justice acts (making sure race isn't a factor in sentencing), and the acceptance of the insane claim of "black rage." Oh, and let's not forget how strongly rap and hip-hop has been embraced. There are BET stations, black awards, black magazines, etc.

    In 2004, conservative economist Thomas Sowell noted that while the Great Society programs achieved modest gains in overcoming poverty, there was not the kind of movement out of decaying urban areas as LBJ expected, and instead, the programs only contributed to the destruction of African American families. Sowell wrote: "The black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life." Issues involving race invariably are rooted in the inability of a segment of the black population to escape the destructive conduct and mentality that has kept them dependent on social programs, to show successes in education (ie, standardized testing scores and drop-out rates), to articulate grievances other than to cry "racism" and call Al Sharpton, to break from a dependence on crime and drugs, to end the cycle of teenage pregnancies, to commit to stable family structures, and to free themselves from their own 'racial' thoughts, attitudes, and conduct. Every ethnic group has their own population that gives the rest a bad name, so this isn't about singling one group out. My group has the mob and the Jersey Shore gang. [At one point towards the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 2oth century, there were more Italians living in north Jersey and the NYC area than in Rome. Italians were discriminated against and singled out by police. There is case law to prove it. In fact, in order to make a living, many turned to the type of crime that locals engaged in in Sicily - thuggery, extortion, illegality, violent crime. There has not been a time in my entire life when someone hasn't asked me if there are mobsters in my family. I've had Italian friends who were interrogated about any possible connections to mobsters in job interviews. But you know how my family was finally accepted in the 1930's, and in the years that followed? They refused to label themselves as "Italians" first, they were respected because of their hard work and patriotism, and they were hired because they took education seriously and they spoke well and conducted themselves with class and integrity. I am immensely proud of my family and how the reflection they cast on the Italian race].

    So please don't give me the 'racism" argument.

    As ex-Colorado Governor Dick Lamn spoke in 2004 in addressing what's happening to our population: "I have a plan to destroy America...

    “I have a secret plan to destroy America. If you believe, as many do, that America is too smug, too white bread, too self-satisfied, too rich, lets destroy America. It is not that hard to do. History shows that nations are more fragile than their citizens think. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and they all fall, and that "an autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide." here is my plan:

    I would encourage all minorities to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with a salad bowl metaphor. It is important to insure that we have various cultural sub-groups living in America reinforcing their differences rather than Americans, emphasizing their similarities.
    
    I would also make our fastest growing demographic groups the least educated - I would add a second underclass, un-assimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% drop out rate from school.

    Then I would then get the big foundations and big business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of Victimology. I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was all the fault of the majority - I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.

    I would "Celebrate diversity." "Diversity” is a wonderfully seductive word. It stresses differences rather than commonalities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other-that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse,” peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together.

    If we can put the emphasis on the “pluribus,” instead of the “unum,” we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.

    Finally, I would place all these subjects off limits - make it taboo to talk about. I would find a word similar to “heretic” in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. I would make certain topics "politically incorrect" and therefore targets for civil rights violations. Words like “racist”, “xenophobe” that halts argument and conversation. I would make it impossible for the majority group to present their side."
    
    [Dick Lamn was originally talking about immigration, but you can see how the policies that we have adopted to fight racism are the same as the ones Mr. Lamn has discussed as being destructive to our national integrity].
This country has risked a lot to do the right thing to end racism. The very policies it has engaged in or adopted to address this problem have violated our Constitution, have weakened our country, have grown our government to the point that it reaches too heavily into our pockets and intrudes too heavily in our lives, have burdened all our fundamental liberties, undermined our security, have destroyed many of our schools, cities, and communities, and have led to social decay. The policies have touched on every single American, and if you want to ask which group in particular has been most horribly burdened, it isn't going to be the group crying "racism."

    When studying the development of how religion and religious principles were removed from school and how they eroded from society, I came across several arguments by various liberal judges. And I do mean "liberal" (and worthless, legally). In cases addressing the teaching of sexuality. homosexuality, and birth control in school, judges wanted to throw out the teaching of "morality" because "morality is associated with religion and the government cannot support religion in schools" (Wall of separation). Similarly, schools can't teach "intelligent design" in the origin of species because that also "touches on religion." Complete and utter nonsense. Not everything is defined by whether it is 'religious' or not. Maybe topics should just be allowed because it is pertinent and makes good common sense and it offers tremendous benefits and grounds for robust intellectual discussion. And that's the way I feel about the current topic. Too many people are too quick to label things as "black" and "white," when that is counterproductive. Issues aren't necessarily "black" and "white." Maybe they are just important issues. Maybe they are just "American" issues.

    So please let's retire this counterproductive term "racism." Let's stop drawing attention to race and get back to building a color-blind society based on "character." Whether those who cry racism want to believe it or not, those you criticize truly don't have the feelings you accuse them of.
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( July 21st, 2010 @ 12:25 am )
 
Thank-you Diane for your insightful opinion piece on one of the ugliest, and most virile afflictions to ever besiege mankind - racism. This is such a serious issue that it saddens me greatly that there are those, who have diluted its harsh reality by their disingenuousness use of the word.



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