Hi Billy, I was initially put off by the first part of the article, which felt like a litany of misbehavior by black politicians, but deeply impressed by the second half. A very thoughtful and, in the end, surprisingly balanced critique.
But here's the thing: I actually believe BOTH of the narratives he outlines at the end (below) -- which claims are fundamentally incompatible. Both are true, or at least equally true. This is an issue where a genuine Radical Centrist synthesis is sorely needed. Where's a post-racial Hegel when you need one? -- Ernie P. On Apr 17, 2012, at 6:47 AM, [email protected] wrote: > What Is It All About? > > Two racial narratives without much hope of a compromise seem behind these > different views: > > A) The current black leadership believes in the following narrative: Due to > the wages of past American racism and well over a century of Southern chattel > slavery, blacks have been damaged in ways still underappreciated by whites. > Thus, true equal opportunity and justice will take decades more of > instruction, recompense, affirmative action, and set-asides to achieve real > fairness. Whites say that they are not racist, but daily they do or say > things that to others seem very racist. One can be destructively racist > without the overtness of Jim Crow. > > When blacks employ the N-word, or a Rev. Wright uses racist language, or the > Black Caucus (or Black Panther Party) employs incendiary vocabulary that > would earn their white counterparts ostracism, all that is a false > equivalence. One must see this apparent asymmetry as a faux-asymmetry, given > the hurt in the black community that suddenly in 2012 cannot quite be held to > the same standards as the inheritors and present beneficiaries of privilege. > If 50% of the black community has achieved near parity in the half-century > since the civil rights reforms, 50% have not, largely due to the > unwillingness of the majority culture to invest the necessary resources and > alter attitudes to finish the job of racial parity. Therefore continued > federal reparatory action is necessary until 100% parity is achieved, to > paraphrase Eric Holder. If black crime is inordinately high, it is largely > because of either present racism or the legacy of racism or both, and > continues on due to the general neglect of the white majority, who objects > only when the violence spills into their own enclaves. As for other > minorities, they have suffered from white racism and may have transcended it, > but slavery was a special case and left an imprint on the American psyche > that explains the sensitivity of black/white relations in ways unlike other > racial and ethnic polarities. > > Versus > > B) The counter-narrative is just as uncompromising. It runs I think as this: > We live in a multi-racial society now, where almost every minority group has > genuine claims on past exploitation, from the Holocaust to the frontier wars > to the internment. But after a half-century of hyphenation and racial > identity politics, and a trillion dollars spent on federal race-based > programs, it is time to move beyond race and evaluate Americans on their > behaviors and talents, without worry whether any particular group > statistically does better than another–especially given that race itself in > the 21st century is problematic with intermarriage and the waves of new > immigrants. If we do not, our future is Rwanda,the Middle East, or the > Balkans. > > Millions of so-called whites are now adults who grew up in the age of > affirmative action, and have no memory of systemic discrimination. To the > degree some avoid certain schools, neighborhoods, or environments, they do so > only on the basis of statistics, not profiling, that suggest a higher > incidence of inner-city violence and crime. Most in this generation assume > that a B+ white student in state college has none of the chances to get into > law school, medical school, or graduate programs that a B- African-American > student enjoys. If the black leadership were to preach a more balanced > message of both monitoring race-based discrimination while addressing more > vigorously endemic pathologies in the inner cities (such as illegitimacy, > absentee fatherhood, drug use, crime, violence, misogyny, and > anti-intellectualism), most racism would eventually disappear—as black crime > rates, graduation rates, or illegitimacy rates matched those of the general > public. Liberal whites and black elites profile as much as anyone (consider > where they live, where they put their children in schools, and the fact that > they associate with those quite distant from the inner city). > > The phenomenal success of Asians, Punjabis, Armenians, Arabs, Latin > Americans, and other supposedly non Anglo-Saxon groups is proof that the > majority culture holds no one back on the basis of skin color. The crux for > every group is culture, not skin color. Unfortunately, “racism” has become a > careerist tool that leads to political and professional advantage when the > charge is leveled; if there are indeed two black Americas, then the elite > often uses the plight of the non-elite as arguments for its own claim to > exemptions from criticism and often advantages in admissions and hiring. > > Those two narrative don’t match and won’t, and so race relations have gotten > only worse—as Barack Obama and Eric Holder well know. They do not seem to > care or feel there is advantage to be had in the new polarity. > > > -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
