Althouse: "A generation that hates racism but chooses colorblindness is a generation that, through its neglect, comes to perpetuate it."

May 19, 2014

"A generation that hates racism but chooses colorblindness is a generation that, through its neglect, comes to perpetuate it."

Another example — this one in Slate, by Jamelle Bouie — of the endless imprecations to talk about race. This one focuses on millennials, and you can see the liberal's fear that the new generation will drift into the conservative's colorblindness approach. What if the young folks are joining the John Roberts camp and not opening their hearts to Sonia Sotomayor's call "to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race"?

The downside of saying the wrong thing is in their face day to day, and the upside of freedom of speech is more of a vague societal interest than something you might actually want to whip out and use with abandon. One wrong word and your life could be ruined. It's an age of repression, and maybe if we repress it enough, the idea of race could be obliterated.

No, that's absurd, but no more absurd than the come-on-everybody-we-need-to-talk-about-race rallying cries.

84 comments:

Sorun said...: "One wrong word and your life could be ruined."

That's possible but unlikely for most people.

OTOH, there's a 54% chance of committing a perceived micro-aggression if you make small talk with a non-white person.; 5/19/14, 12:11 PM
Nonapod said...: What's so bad about not caring about race? What's so bad about treating people as they come?; 5/19/14, 12:14 PM
Sorun said...: Eventually the scolds die out, e.g. the temperance movement.; 5/19/14, 12:18 PM
Revenant said...: The notion that color-blindness perpetuates and protects racism is one of the more insane ideas held by the modern Left.; 5/19/14, 12:21 PM
Sam L. said...: The race-card dealers are afraid of losing their deck. Mortally afraid, but more walletry afraid--we'll break their rice bowl (TM, The Sand Pebble).; 5/19/14, 12:32 PM
Jaq said...: I am going to just give up on this whole "race dialog" thing. It is impossible to avoid being misunderstood, and it seems like there are people who make a point to do so as a point of honor.; 5/19/14, 12:35 PM
Drago said...: Revenant: "The notion that color-blindness perpetuates and protects racism is one of the more insane ideas held by the modern Left."

Actually, this isn't even close to the one of the more insane ideas held by the modern left.

One of my favorites was how the lefties kept insisting throughout the 70's/80's that "real" freedom was the kind you found in the Soviet Union or Cuba, because you didn't have to worry about your job or health "care", etc.

The leftist views are all upside down.

Which is why they tend to totalitarianism so readily: their ideas are so insane that they must outlaw the ability of a normal person to even notice it.

Hence, hate speech/thought crimes, reeducation camps, etc.

You know the drill.

Oh, as a warning, this posting is probably a "triggering" event for our lefty pals.; 5/19/14, 12:39 PM
traditionalguy said...: The problem of color blindness is seeing lovable humans instead of seeing a hated victims.

Now let's get going and hate some people. That helps politicians.; 5/19/14, 12:42 PM
Jaq said...: "The notion that color-blindness perpetuates and protects racism"

It is a necessary position in terms of politics in a democracy. MLK's view of judging by the content of one's character is hard to convert to numbers of impassioned voters.

One more reason this dialog is pointless.; 5/19/14, 12:44 PM
Bobber Fleck said...: It is difficult to have a dialog when only one point of view is allowed. How did we get from judging men by the content of their character to this?; 5/19/14, 12:46 PM
Anonymous said...: You white people just don't get it. If you'd lived as a Native American has lived, like my wife and children, you'd know.

But you don't know. And yet you continue to talk as if you get it. When will you get it? You won't, but you'll keep talking as if you do.; 5/19/14, 12:47 PM
Mark said...: If racism ceased to be a factor in American life, whole segments of the economy would wither away. If those segments were over-represented by non-oppressors, then ending racisms would be objectively racist.; 5/19/14, 12:51 PM
Brando said...: The racial fetishists want to "keep talking about race" and "have more conversations about race"--from writers like Bouie to Supreme Court Justices like Sotomayor and Attorneys General like Holder--and yet it's pretty clear that saying the wrong thing can ruin your livelihood. So clearly "talk about race" really means "say what has been pre-approved for you to say about race, which is that if you're part of an oppressor race like white or Asian then you should just express your guilt and rend your garments, and if you're black or hispanic you better get in line and accept that you're oppressed."

Heaven knows if you say anything truly controversial about race--like the idea that people's fortunes in life are determined by a host of much more important factors than the color of their skin, such as class or natural abilities--it won't be appreciated for "opening a dialogue." I don't remember Bouie or his ilk talking about how while they may not agree with Clarence Thomas they certainly welcome his perspective on race.

That's pretty much the sum of it, isn't it? I'll forgive millenials for not wanting any part of that sorry display. Maybe to their credit they're too busy judging one another as individuals to get into this race fetishism.; 5/19/14, 12:53 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: What's so bad about not caring about race? What's so bad about treating people as they come?

Because Democratic/Progressive power is based to a large extent on institutionalized racism, the pitting of one demographic group against another. If they had to campaign on ideas, instead of scaring Blacks that the Kochs are supporting the Klan (or some such), or scaring women that the evil Republicans are going to steal their precious lady parts, they would cease winning elections, and lose much of the power that they so crave.; 5/19/14, 1:01 PM
SJ said...: @Revenant,

there is a power-structure and moral impulse in society that was/is focused on racism. It was created/encouraged in order to destroy the perceived evil of laws and customs that treated people as inferior if the color of their skin was wrong.

That power-structure still exists, even if the evil fought has mostly disappeared.

The people who want to keep the authority of that power-structure have to keep on finding racist-style problems that need fixing.

It kind of reminds me of Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy.

The Iron Law states that large bureaucracies set up to solve a problem end up dominated by people who want to maintain/extend the bureaucracy, instead of by people who want to solve the problem.

I guess the same is possible with large social causes: the movement is dominated by people who want to keep the movement alive/influential, rather than by people who want to solve the problem that generated the movement.; 5/19/14, 1:02 PM
Anonymous said...: There are too many undefined pronouns in that sentence. One could read the sentence to mean:

"...a generation that, through racism's neglect, comes to perpetuate colorblindness."

This would be a fantastic result, but not one which the author probably intended.; 5/19/14, 1:08 PM
garage mahal said...: and you can see the liberal's fear that the new generation will drift into the conservative's colorblindness approach.

Conservatives are color blind?; 5/19/14, 1:20 PM
Sigivald said...: Choosing colorblindness perpetuates racism?

That is barking mad.; 5/19/14, 1:25 PM
Anonymous said...: These conversations, writ large, usually end in violence.; 5/19/14, 1:29 PM
Original Mike said...: "and you can see the liberal's fear that the new generation will drift into the conservative's colorblindness approach."

Drift? They're being driven into it:

"The downside of saying the wrong thing is in their face day to day,"; 5/19/14, 1:33 PM
Lucien said...: Bouie's approach is rooted in the black/white paradigm of race issues, and younger people know a lot more friends, classmates and colleagues who are Indian, East-Asian, South-Asian, or African; and figure that recently arrived Armenians are not enjoying a white privilege based on colonialism or slavery either.

The very way Bouie defines racism is out of date, but without hanging on to it, the race-grievance industry will be out of business. That is why people in that industry (they like to call themselves civil rights leaders) who are Asian-American never oppose race preferences in admissions that actually limit the numbers of Asian-American students admitted. Without preference programs and affirmative action, they'd have to make an honest living.; 5/19/14, 1:36 PM
Mark said...: Conservatives are color blind?

No, We're the Evil Other You're Allowed to Hate!™; 5/19/14, 1:38 PM
wildswan said...: It isn't only the modern left that thinks colorblindness is the new racism. It's also people high up at NIH. Race Decoded: the Genomic Fight for Social Justice by Catherine Bliss explains this development. It's worth reading the 17 page preface to the Racism Decoded which is online at Amazon preview (and then of course buy the book) in order to understand how these people are presenting themselves.

But the PowerPoint doesn't matter, only the end result and the end result will be a revival of racism.

Basically these people think that research in genetics by men like LL Cavalli Sforza and Kenneth Kidd has shown that the different races occupied different continents at different times after the exodus of some from Africa. In animals such as separation in space and time would result in significant genetic differences. And so they think that the same must be true of human beings. (Ignore that animal species separated in space and time would not be able to breed together whereas members of the human species insist on being allowed to marry each other). The Human Genome Project showed that genetic differences among different continental groups have individually slight effects but - and here comes Old Mister Racism - but the argument is that when you add up ALL the continental genetic differences then you (probably, maybe, research ought to show) have significant behavior pattern differences. Differences in educability, differences in criminal behavior.

Your basic regular old maggoty racism wrapped up pretty - that is what this attack on color blindness is, trust me. It does not matter who supports prettified racism right now, the attack on colorblind is the new racism. This new racism is fueled by eugenics as always and it stinks as eugenics always does. Don't YOU be fooled just because this racism looks good at the start and has fooled others.; 5/19/14, 1:41 PM
mccullough said...: Upper class whites scold and sneer at middle class whites about their racism. Middle class whites don't like the condescension and hypocrisy. Upper class whites sponsor groups of blacks and Latinos and their self-appointed leaders to excoriate the middle class whites, especially the men. The middle class whites sponsor a handful of blacks and Latinos, mostly men, to defend against and strike back at the self-appointed black and Latino leaders and their groups. So most minority activists are pawns in the struggle between upper and middle class whites. This is what constitutes 3/4 of the public racial discussions.; 5/19/14, 1:48 PM
Sorun said...: Conservatives are color blind?

It's an ideal, like ending poverty. But liberals want perpetual race consciousness -- it's their bread and butter.; 5/19/14, 1:53 PM
ddh said...: The left used to profess a belief in free speech before it started touting censorship (or should we spell it censureship?). The left used to agree with Martin Luther King, Jr., that people should "not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," before it embraced race-conscious policies.

Fashions change, but principles abide. The race-conscious anti-racists at some point will move on to other issues to demonstrate their exquisite moral sensitivity.; 5/19/14, 2:09 PM
Henry said...: "A generation that hates racism but chooses colorblindness is a generation that, through its neglect, comes to perpetuate it."

Shouldn't that be "comes to microperpetuate it."; 5/19/14, 2:20 PM
Paco Wové said...: You speak in riddles, eric. Please elaborate.; 5/19/14, 2:22 PM
hombre said...: "Conservatives are color blind?"

Pretty much, but probably not to liberal propagandists. Whiners pretty much look alike regardless of color. Doers pretty much look alike regardless of color.

"... the come-on-everybody-we-need-to-talk-about-race rallying cries."

The rallying cry is actually: "Come on everybody we need to talk about race (but not honestly)."; 5/19/14, 2:28 PM
Michael said...: One of the many problems that have been created by the media is the portrayal of all blacks and gays on television as being nice, normal, funny, happy folks, as our president would say, folks you would like to know and be friends with. And so, lo, the young who watch this stuff have come to see blacks and gays as like you or me. Same. Not different at all. Now, it seems, coming to believe that we are all the same underneath is undermining the urgency of being different. But it is too late. Pretty funny, really.; 5/19/14, 2:42 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: "One wrong word and your life could be ruined. "

Come on, Ann. Neither Cliven Bundy or Donald Sterling was busted for one wrong word. Quentin Tarantino says nigger to his heart's content and, with few exceptions, not a black person in America cares - so what gives?

It's that Cliven Bundy, Donald Sterling, Quentin Tarantino, and everybody else, are given extensive time to air their views so - just as I do to many conservatives, here, for holding the same positions as Bundy, especially - people understand they are (or, in my and Tarantino's case, aren't) contemporary racists.

And what's "repressive" about stopping the idiotic racism that's permeated this country for so long? I hear the pleading from privacy advocates, like racist Rand Paul, wondering what will happen when they no longer have a safe place to say some are, and should be treated, as inferiors. They really should stop "playing the victim" here, because it won't wash and makes them obvious hypocrites.

The problem isn't "saying the wrong thing" - I (and many others) risk that, every day, without fear or shame - but actually believing lies that have a harmful effect on the innocent and historically oppressed. THAT's what the racists are paying for - and it's about time, in whatever capacity, because it has to stop.

Not "should" or "I wish it would" OR "I hope it could" but IT HAS TO STOP.

Revenant,

"The notion that color-blindness perpetuates and protects racism is one of the more insane ideas held by the modern Left."

Why stick it on the Left? Blacks are saying it, and even white liberals had to get the memo, so your - and every other conservative's - knee-jerk reaction to blame liberals paints you as just as crazy as they are.

But I didn't need proof.

BTW - when even the fucking KKK is claiming they aren't racist, I think whites need to stop with the colorblind nonsense, because:

A) MLK had more than one line, about character, in his "I Have A Dream" speech - ALL the rest of which whites regularly and callously ignore - so nobody's buying their bullshit.

B) actions speak louder than words, and whites are always trying to get out of racism, rather than deal with it, so that's bullshit, too. And:

C) Based on their words, and actions, conservative whites ARE our classic American racists. Those people they claim died off, oh so long ago. They are just an unfair, just as stubborn and stuck in their ways - and just as hateful - though they're learning to couch it all in the abstract, as Lee Atwater famously said. It's colorblind racism or Passive-Aggresive racism, take your pick.

When it comes to the charge of racism, most conservatives are the worst reference they can give for themselves, but it's their first and only line of defense.

And that's why no one's listening and they're losing.

Nothing "insane" about it.

Whites should be glad no one's gloating as they would.

That would be un-American,...; 5/19/14, 2:49 PM
Jaq said...: Jim Bowie weighs in on racism.; 5/19/14, 2:50 PM
Rumpletweezer said...: "Conservatives are color blind?"

Compared to today's liberals? Absolutely!; 5/19/14, 2:54 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: "Racism is better understood as white supremacy." This is the left's new battle cry.

In academic conference after conference, we will hear the phrase "white supremacy" repeated over and over again. And before long, a link will be found between this new understanding of "white supremacy" and nazism.

And just wait until these progressives trot out their public policy ideas on how to destroy it once and for all.; 5/19/14, 2:58 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: tim in vermont,

"MLK's view of judging by the content of one's character is hard to convert to numbers of impassioned voters."

See there? One line from one speech - that's all you know. Name another. As a matter of fact, start quoting them all and let's see how long it'll take before you're forced to admit Martin Luther KIng never supported your positions on race or other aspects of politics.

You're just liars, playing a cowardly game - and we're onto you as the slaves, here, have always been.

You've missed the Civil Rights Movement - and eliminated Martin Luther KIng's point entirely - to hide behind that one line, in an effort to add whatever credibility you can steal from it to justify your own callousness. And it won't work.

You're not colorblind - you're still just a bunch of Uncle Tom-loving liars who hate niggers and want to keep things as they are - with you on top forever.

What's the matter? Is saying that showing the kind of "character" whites won't hire for a job?

Racists.

Martin Luther King died calling out liars like y'all,...; 5/19/14, 2:58 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Bobber Fleck,

"It is difficult to have a dialog when only one point of view is allowed. How did we get from judging men by the content of their character to this?"

That's THREE whites, on one thread, who have read ONE LINE of a Martin Luther KIng speech and - incredibly, beyond all comprehension - he thinks it's EVERYBODY ELSE who is missing something.

It's insanity, run amok.

Is there four out there? Let's keep scrolling down - this may be a sickness of some kind, that deliberately makes racists not see what they don't understand,...; 5/19/14, 3:02 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Mark,

"If racism ceased to be a factor in American life, whole segments of the economy would wither away. If those segments were over-represented by non-oppressors, then ending racisms would be objectively racist."

Another great argument for maintaining the status quo of white supremacy and white racism over others.

White people are brilliant at that,...; 5/19/14, 3:04 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Brando,

The racial fetishists want to "keep talking about race" and "have more conversations about race"--from writers like Bouie to Supreme Court Justices like Sotomayor and Attorneys General like Holder--and yet it's pretty clear that saying the wrong thing can ruin your livelihood.

If you're a racist. Why are so many of you afraid?

Because you're racists is why.

Sorry but, as the old saying goes, only your friends will tell you.

And I've been telling you for a long, long time,...; 5/19/14, 3:06 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Bruce Hayden,

"Democratic/Progressive power is based to a large extent on institutionalized racism, the pitting of one demographic group against another."

And the Religious Right is waiting with open arms - as long as you love Jesus.

Man, you guys love revealing yourselves as hypocrites and fools,...; 5/19/14, 3:08 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: SJ,

"The people who want to keep the authority of that power-structure have to keep on finding racist-style problems that need fixing."

BWAAAA-HAHAHAHAHA!!!

That's right, WE invented Sterling and Bundy, and the entire history of this country, just to get power over whites - because that's always been the goal of the Civil Rights Movement.

Liars. Evil liars at that.

Disgusting.; 5/19/14, 3:11 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Lucien,

"Bouie's approach is rooted in the black/white paradigm of race issues, and younger people know a lot more friends, classmates and colleagues who are Indian, East-Asian, South-Asian, or African; and figure that recently arrived Armenians are not enjoying a white privilege based on colonialism or slavery either."

And then they grow up - and the obvious differences in the jobs they get, and other opportunities, plus enduring all the police hassles and lies the whites start telling about the past - and then it becomes clear NOTHING is as they thought, before the racists set in to attack them for noticing.

Your wishful thinking knows nothing about it.; 5/19/14, 3:15 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Mark,

"We're the Evil Other You're Allowed to Hate!™"

See, there you go! Now doesn't that feel better?

No more hiding,…

(ROTFLMAO!); 5/19/14, 3:16 PM
CWJ said...: Jamelle Bouie has the sads.

Millennials have a leg up towards moving forward. Not perfect (what is) but on its way. This will not do.; 5/19/14, 3:20 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Rumpletweezer,

"Conservatives are color blind?"

Compared to today's liberals? Absolutely!

You just can't get more than a handful of Uncle Toms to agree with you.

But you've convinced yourself, so that's saying something,...; 5/19/14, 3:22 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: mtrobertsattorney,

"Before long, a link will be found between this new understanding of "white supremacy" and nazism."

Shit, I started thinking whites are trying to be Nazi supermen ever since they took up yoga (used by Nazis in concentration camps) organics (encouraged by Nazis) alternative medicine (popularized by nazis) and jogging.

It's not my fault y'all "don't think about race" - or even the other things you do,...; 5/19/14, 3:25 PM
mccullough said...: Crack,

You give white people far too much credit. I enjoy reading your rants. They make white people seem like the Greek gods. Your fables certainly explain away everything. Keep them coming.; 5/19/14, 3:45 PM
285exp said...: Nice Crack bait Ann.; 5/19/14, 3:45 PM
Fen said...: Hey Crack, any comment on your slave-owning kin in Nigeria? You going to pay reparations to yourself?; 5/19/14, 3:49 PM
wildswan said...: The African-American birth rate has fallen below replacement level. This fact is being ignored - is that because of racism?

The African-American unemployment rate is sky high. If the illegal Hispanics are legalized, how much will that rate go up? No one is asking. No one cares. Is that racism?

Romney offered vouchers to every child in a failing school - everyone in "segregated" Milwaukee schools could have been out of those schools by now. Milwaukee voted against him, Republicans for him.

Do we need some nuance to understand our real true situation? Anyone got a few unused colorblind nuances?; 5/19/14, 4:03 PM
Michael said...: Crack
"Why are so many of you afraid? Because you're racists is why".

If this is something you believe I can see your frustration. Because there is no fear. There is no fear because, absent a few commenters here, very few people are concerned with the topic and almost none threatened by it.

There is nothing to be afraid of, Crack. Absolutely nothing.

Now if the black community was made up entirely of Uncle Toms there might be something to be worried about. But it isn't and there isn't.; 5/19/14, 4:15 PM
hombre said...: Crack: "You just can't get more than a handful of Uncle Toms to agree with you. But you've convinced yourself, so that's saying something,..."

Absolutely, Crack. The only reliable confirmation would come from perennial bellyachers like Al Sharpton, the Obama's, AG Holder and the Crack MC. LOL.

So, if we can't rely on the "Uncle Toms" or the professional blacks, I guess we'll have to decide for ourselves if we're racist or colorblind.; 5/19/14, 4:25 PM
David said...: "It's an age of repression, and maybe if we repress it enough, the idea of race could be obliterated."

Absurd?

In an age of repression, the absurd is logical.

And this is an age of repression. Which is really absurd, because the group that has been most repressed, the blacks, is struggling to get anyone to take their issues seriously. Part of the unserious responses includes you, lefties, with your recurrently failing solutions and self satisfied preening. The most persistent aspect of the repression, unequal educational opportunity, you will not touch with a 10 foot union pole.; 5/19/14, 4:32 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Fen,

"Hey Crack, any comment on your slave-owning kin in Nigeria? You going to pay reparations to yourself?"

Translation:

Don't look at us - your fellow citizens who screw you - but look at Africa, a place you've never been to, aren't going to, and know nothing about.

That'll stop our racism,...; 5/19/14, 4:41 PM
hombre said...: Crack: "The problem isn't 'saying the wrong thing' - I (and many others) risk that, every day, without fear or shame ...."

Oh, bullshit. You (figuratively) run off at the mouth with your racist, insulting, illogical diatribes here and elsewhere on a regular basis. You can do that without shame because you are shameless and without fear because that is part of the freedom that good men of all colors have fought to provide you, however ungrateful you are for your lot.; 5/19/14, 4:41 PM
Jaq said...: "One wrong word"

See, exactly. Quote MLK and get called a racist. Proves the point that dialog with the embittered is useless.; 5/19/14, 4:42 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: mccullough,

"Crack,

You give white people far too much credit. I enjoy reading your rants. They make white people seem like the Greek gods. Your fables certainly explain away everything. Keep them coming."

How whites got their reputation for terrorizing blacks, I don't know. I guess I made it up.

Poor delusional me.

Oh - and thank you for your passive-aggressive racism:

It was fun!; 5/19/14, 4:44 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: wildswan,

"The African-American birth rate has fallen below replacement level. This fact is being ignored - is that because of racism?"

Yes.; 5/19/14, 4:45 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Hombre,

"Absolutely, Crack. The only reliable confirmation would come from perennial bellyachers like Al Sharpton, the Obama's, AG Holder and the Crack MC. LOL."

Dude, I'm a Republican and you can't even get me to agree with you.

97% of blacks disagree with you.

You're a racist….; 5/19/14, 4:47 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: David,

"This is an age of repression. Which is really absurd, because the group that has been most repressed, the blacks, is struggling to get anyone to take their issues seriously. Part of the unserious responses includes you, lefties, with your recurrently failing solutions and self satisfied preening."

Well said - except you left out the other part of the problem:

The racists, and racism, that permeates the Right.

It's the bigger problem, BTW,...; 5/19/14, 4:49 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: hombre,

"You can do that without shame because you are shameless and without fear because that is part of the freedom that good men of all colors have fought to provide you, however ungrateful you are for your lot."

Yeah - just like Sterling and Bundy - didn't "good men of all colors" fight for them, too? Or are they racists, like you?

You are such a good liar, you've now convinced yourself,...; 5/19/14, 4:52 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: tim in vermont,

"See, exactly. Quote ONE LINE OF MLK'S, AD NAUSEUM, LIKE HE NEVER UTTERED ANOTHER WORD ON THE SUBJECT - AND THEN TWIST THAT MESSAGE TO YOUR OWN ENDS TO FIGHT BLACKS - WHICH KING WOULD NEVER DO OR SUPPORT - and get called a racist."

FIFY

By the way - I dare you to prove this wrong:

1) The quote by King was the entirety of his message - if it isn't, why are you stuck on that single one? Where's the rest?

Wouldn't a racist leave all that out?

2) Trying to force blacks to accept that single definition of King's message - and doing so as a weapon against our ambitions.

Wouldn't a racist do that?

3) The idea that King would side with you - whites - over blacks is absurd.

Wouldn't ONLY a racist suggest that's the truth?

So what does that make you ?; 5/19/14, 5:04 PM
wildswan said...: Wild Swan said:
"The African-American birth rate has fallen below replacement level. This fact is being ignored - is that because of racism?"
Crack said:
"Yes."

The data reports that show the birthrate at below replacement level are online at the US Census website beginning with 2006. So if you start bringing up the issue and people start contradicting you, that's the place to go for the facts. And it should be brought up - early and often. Anything else is racism once you know the facts.; 5/19/14, 5:16 PM
Drago said...: Now now.

Take it easy on Crack.

He had to fight his way to his very own keyboard over the objections of "The Man" and "The Other Man" and "Those Men Over There" and "That Guy Right There Who Didn't Give Us A Harrumph!!"

The courage Crack shows each and every day just coming to this forum and taking his life in his hands defending blacks against the "White Power" is inspirational.

But mostly just easy.

Yep. Just easy.; 5/19/14, 5:34 PM
Drago said...: Crack the certifiable: "2) Trying to force blacks to accept that single definition of King's message..."

Hey, remember that time that Tim from Vermont kidnapped all those blacks and forced them to accept that single definition of King's message?

Yeah.

Me neither.; 5/19/14, 5:35 PM
Jaq said...: "The quote by King was the entirety of his message - if it isn't, why are you stuck on that single one?"

Maybe some people would say, "Look, we found an area of agreement, let's work from that."

You wouldn't though, would you Crack? You say RAACIST RAAACIST RACIIST!

That is why dialog is impossible.; 5/19/14, 5:57 PM
Njall said...: I haven't been to Althouse for several years, after having spent many years lurking here daily. I won't get into why I left, but today I decided to come back and see what was going on, and how many of my favorite commenters were still here.

I see that Crack MC has gone stark raving mad. The fact of his lunacy doesn't surprise me, I always worried about him. But the manner in which his lunacy manifests itself - in the guise of a rabid black nationalist - does indeed surprise me.; 5/19/14, 6:06 PM
Njall said...: Unless it's a put-on, like that guy, Alex I believe his name was, who used to alternate arguing the conservative or the progressive point of view, presumably chortling at his own cleverness.; 5/19/14, 6:11 PM
Njall said...: Dust Bunny Queen? Synova? Maybee? Hell, I'll take the always-eloquent Robert Cook.; 5/19/14, 6:16 PM
Jaq said...: "in the guise of a rabid black nationalist - does indeed surprise me."

I made the same mistake. It looks to me that logically, there is no alternative for somebody who honestly believes what Crack spouts, but Crack assures me that that is my RAACISMMMM talking, and that 400 years of slavery, 1609 to 2009, for those of you doing the math, proves that white people never change and all he wants is for us to embrace a system of economics that most recently has failed in Venezuela. Then we will prove that we are not racists.

Nobody will show up at your door to collect the reparations he demands either. In fact they won't cost us anything.

He is fascinating, I tell you, fascinating. And best of all, he is a Republican, just like Clarence Thomas.; 5/19/14, 6:16 PM
Michael said...: "endless imprecations to talk about race"

Race is essentially all we have talked about for the last 50 years. I can't help but think we'd make a lot more progress, with respect to race and other things as well, if we talked about something else for a while.; 5/19/14, 6:24 PM
Drago said...: Njall: "I see that Crack MC has gone stark raving mad. The fact of his lunacy doesn't surprise me, I always worried about him. But the manner in which his lunacy manifests itself - in the guise of a rabid black nationalist - does indeed surprise me."

I prefer Betamax3000's characterization of Crack as "Crazy Street Corner Guy Off His Meds".; 5/19/14, 6:41 PM
Paco Wové said...: Hey, Njall. I remember you! Written any good sagas lately?

"a put-on"

When I bother thinking about it, that's usually the conclusion I come to; Crack's persona is such an illogical, repetitive one-trick pony I have to assume he is doing some sort of performance art, badly.

For whatever reason, Althouse & Meade seem to lap it up.

DBQ and Synova don't come around much anymore; they can sometimes be found here. It's a long story.; 5/19/14, 6:44 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: tim in vermont,

"Maybe some people would say, "Look, we found an area of agreement, let's work from that."

You wouldn't though, would you Crack? You say RAACIST RAAACIST RACIIST!"

Two things:

1) If you only found ONE LINE we can agree on - in the greatest speech of our time, which touches too many far-reaching aspects of our country and heritage, racial and otherwise, to mention here - AREN'T you a racist?

2) If you're willing to use and exploit MLK to fight blacks, when you know he was our most beloved champion to carry our standard, using him to advocate for things he never did - including implying that he'd support current GOP political policies when he did not in life - AREN'T you a racist?

3) ARE conservatives saying "Look, we found an area of agreement, let's work from that"? Or are they saying "Fuck you - we're white and we say that was his message - take it or leave it!" in a million ways, including immediately siding against blacks in almost every major racial incident that occurs?

Whites lie to themselves, man,...; 5/19/14, 6:45 PM
hombre said...: Tim: "Proves the point that dialog with the embittered is useless."

It is possible that he is embittered. It is more likely that he has become a race huckster in response to recent demand. His posts haven't always been this illogical or race-based. He used to just be a know-it-all on a variety of subjects - and occasionally interesting.; 5/19/14, 6:49 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: tim in vermont,

"All he wants is for us to embrace a system of economics that most recently has failed in Venezuela."

As Ann would say, show me a quote to substantiate that lie. Anywhere. Prove those are my economic policies with my own words. I dare you.

You're becoming a very bad liar now, tim. The seams are showing.

"Then we will prove that we are not racists."

You have no ambition to prove it - you like the prideful I'll-dig-as-deep-as-I-can-go pose - just like your forefathers. Nothing could make them stop - until they were made to stop. Just like you, they stupidly insisted on doing the wrong thing.

Like the repugnant use of MLK to defend racist policies - and telling lies about individual blacks like the one above - you/they don't/didn't know where the bottom is.

I'm sure you'll find it, though. You seem determined.

"Nobody will show up at your door to collect the reparations he demands either."

Unless you live at the U.S. Treasury. Do you live at the U.S. Treasury, tim? Probably seems like it, compared to how most blacks live. Is that right, with this history?

"In fact they won't cost us anything."

You're losing your dignity now, but nobody's taking it - you're throwing it away. Do I hear a white man advocating "playing the victim"? Say it isn't so!

"He is fascinating, I tell you, fascinating."

Hey, Ann, remember back-in-the-day when I used to ask the conservatives to be colorblind and they took umbrage because their freedom of speech demanded they be able to throw stones at Trayvon's family while making monkey noises?

Oh man, race was so much simpler then, huh? Today they prefer trying new strategies for avoiding personal or national responsibility to doing the right thing.

That's evil.

One day racism was ancient history, then black kids start dying. The white men said all the racists are dead, then Cliven Bundy and Donald Starling popped up. Now they're working on a new line - anything but saying "We're wrong".

They think it makes them attractive to blacks, politically or something.

"And best of all, he is a Republican, just like Clarence Thomas."

Whoa, Champ - I am NOTHING like Clarence Thomas - or you. Or Rand Paul. I'm black - black Americans ain't calling me a Tom - we make chumps like Rand Paul sweat:

"I learned something, that everybody there knows. I was told that in no uncertain terms."

Keep trying to play us for fools and you'll get used to hearing it,....; 5/19/14, 7:21 PM
Anonymous said...: "Why do millennials not understand racism"? Because it's become an unfalsifiable proposition, something whose existence among whites toward other groups is "demonstrated" by varying and inconsistent forms of circular reasoning. Why do blacks or Hispanics have generally worse outcomes (educational, economic, certain health measures, etc.) than whites? They're crippled by racism from whites. How do we know that white racism remains a malignant force in society? The existence of these disparate outcomes.

However, this logic applies only to lower performing groups. Superior outcomes in other non-white groups do not demonstrate lack of white racism toward these groups and certainly does not indicate that whites suffer any disadvantage relative to these groups. That the effect of this subtle, "structural" white racism is capricious and unquantifiable - that it appears, in fact, to cause both one result, and its precise opposite - may be one reason millennials have trouble getting a handle on it.

Furthermore, if non-whites have better outcomes (e.g., Hispanic lifespan and some other health measures, Asian academic and economic achievement), these are summarily removed from the "caused by racism" category and attributed to some superior cultural aspect of the non-white group. (The human universals of us/them thinking, group solidarity, nepotistic practices, etc., which are condemned in whites, will be praised in non-whites.)

All worse outcomes are always attributable to white behavior, and what must absolutely be excluded from "open and candid" discussions of race is the possibility that poor outcomes relative to whites might not have their roots in white racism.

More intelligent white millenials who see this heads-I-win-tails-you-lose irrationality for what it is will "not understand" "racism". Dumber ones may get a bit confused and not be able to articulate their "not understanding", but will get more and more resentful of the the endless, and ever-crazier, piling-on that is the only possible response from people ideologically committed to "disparate impact" theory.; 5/19/14, 7:24 PM
Drago said...: Crack: ""Fuck you - we're white and we say that was his message - take it or leave it!""

wow.

Complete with actual quotation marks!!

Double plus good Crack!!

Now, if it's not too much trouble, perhaps you can provide a link to someone whom you assert actually said that.

Thanks in advance for being "Crazy Street Corner Guy Off His Meds" and not providing any such link.....

..because it doesn't exist.

Or is it racist to notice you are lying?

"Bravely" lying of course.

Always "bravely".; 5/19/14, 7:34 PM
SJ said...: Odd historical tidbit:

Africans were imported in Virginia, mostly as quasi-indentured servants.

Someone else ran across this tidbit of the history of slavery in North America:

A black man named Anthony Johnson of Virginia first introduced permanent black slavery in the 1650s by becoming the first holder in America of permanent black slaves.[116]

Weird.

Apparently, the historical progression may be slightly muddled. Officially, Blacks were under indentured servitude. Unofficially, if they couldn't read, they had a hard time knowing whether their contract was honored, or not.

Then this one court case involving Anthony Johnson and an escaped "indentured servant" ended with the finding that the servant was really a slave.

History has some really odd details hiding in various corners.; 5/19/14, 7:45 PM
B said...: It was relatively easy to read between the lines and apply a little life experience to crack's rants about the Mormons seducing his wife into their cult etc etc a couple of years back. Rather obvious to me that she used the Mormons as a lifeline to get the hell out. This latest crack invention of 'every white owes me' is more of the same. Crack's has to blame the negative events in his failed adult life on anyone/anything but himself. What was every Mormon is now every white.; 5/19/14, 8:17 PM
Fen said...: "Hey Crack, any comment on your slave-owning kin in Nigeria? You going to pay reparations to yourself?"

Translation:

Crack is a hypocrite. Rails against us because of something our ancestors might have done. Completely ignores that his own ancestors (even current kin!) did the same.

Again I ask - are you going to be paying reparations Crack?; 5/19/14, 10:14 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: My son is the product of two generations of interracial marriage. That's all it takes for race to disappear biologically.

He has no choice but to have an interracial marriage.

So who cares?

People think of race as something that's set, irrevocable, unchanging, when in reality it's ephemeral. We're all two generations away from looking the same. There's no meaningful difference, biologically, between any of us if we keep in mind that we all live a very short time and there will be endless generations that will come after we are all dead.

What's actually at stake is nationalism, cultural conflict, historical wrongs, and interest-group politics. None of these things has anything at all to do with race. We'd have them if we all looked exactly the same.; 5/19/14, 10:29 PM
Brando said...: Ah, Crack, the embodiment of the saying that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I guess I'm a racist now because I don't buy into the party line from Bouie or Coates or whichever racial fetishist is leading the sixty second hate today.

Fortunately most people--particularly in the younger, less guilt-ridden generation--are becoming more favorable to judging others as individuals rather than racial representatives in this tired game. One day the history books will refer to the last gasp of race fetishism the same way we read about Orval Faubus and Ross Barnett. At least George Wallace lived to repent; I doubt the likes of the Reverend Al Sharpton will ever do so. A shame that he will likely go to his grave as abominable as he is today.; 5/20/14, 6:13 AM
Jaq said...: Either Crack is trolling or he has gone completely off the rails. I admit to trolling him a little, so I guess I am partly to blame for his response to my posts. I don't let his rhetoric affect my relationships with the actual people in my life who happen to be black. I prefer to live a non racial life and refuse to be drawn into taking sides.; 5/20/14, 6:51 AM
Chris Lopes said...: Some of us are color blind when it comes to race because we know that from a scientific point of view, the concept of race is absurd. The genetic variations within the so called races is actually greater than the variations between them. That means that Crack MC has more genetically in common with Mitt Romney than he does Barack Obama. Make of that what you will.; 6/15/14, 6:18 PM