The
sad reality about the entire discussion of racism in this day and age,
almost 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, is
that it would not be occurring had one group of people not devoted
their lives to keeping racism alive.
Barack didn't
mention in his mea culpa speech in Philadelphia that there was early
opposition to slavery that ultimately led to a war that cost over
250,000 white Americans their lives as they fought to end slavery and
give liberty and equality to those in bondage. He doesn't mention that
in 1854 abolitionists left the Democrat party and founded the
Republican party as a civil rights party created specifically for the
purpose of ending slavery and giving equal rights to all those who had
been in bondage.
He needs to read the history of
this battle for equality and realize that the party he embraces today
was the party that voted against the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments,
while the Republicans supported them unanimously. He needs to
acknowledge that the two dozen civil rights bills that were passed by
the Republicans were overturned by the Democrats when they regained
control of the House, Senate and White House at the end of the 19th
Century.
It was at this time that the Democratic
Party instituted Jim Crow laws. It was not whites that did this against
blacks, it was bigoted, racist Democrats who would choose to divide a
nation rather than give freedom to those they considered inferior. Had
blacks been voting equally in both political parties, there never would
have been literacy tests, poll taxes or other restrictions to voting.
But because all blacks at this time identified with the party of
Lincoln and were actually the ones starting Republican parties in
southern states, and running and getting elected as Republicans, the
Democrats knew that to kill a black was killing a Republican.
When
the Democrats founded the KKK, they are on record saying, in the 13
volumes of testimony in the Congressional Records, that their purpose
in founding the Klan was not to kill blacks, but to take back control
of the congress from the Republicans. They even had a "hit card" with
the names and pictures of all the legislatures that were Republicans so
they could systematically kill them. Black members of congress were
going armed to congress to protect themselves from these attacks. And
yes, there were many black members of congress, seven were right out of
slavery. All of these black congressman, and the first three blacks
that were elected to the Senate, were all Republican. This is why the
Democrats fought so hard to silence them, it was based on politics as
much as race.
If blacks had been voting for the
Democrats, they never would have been prevented from voting . . .they
would have been ushered to the polls. Another great misunderstanding
that Barack alludes to in the constitution is of the 3/5ths clause
which talks about the value of the slave being counted as 3/5ths of a
person. This was a point that was argued for by the abolitionists
because the slaveholders wanted to count their slaves as constituents
for purposes of packing the house with pro-slavery representatives. The
Republican argument was that since slaveholders did not recognize
slaves as people, but property, then they should be allowed to register
their tables, chairs, wagons and horses as constituents. This angered
the Democrats who wanted to have them count as "people" so they could
maintain their control and power over them as property. Finally the 3/5
compromise was agreed too. Had this not been passed, the country might
have suffered much longer under slavery and very inhumane, draconian
measures that the Democrats were constantly employing through
legislation like the Fugitive Slave Law that declared open season on
any black, free or slave.
Barack said, "We do not
need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country.
But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that
exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to
inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under
the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow." Yeah, no duh Barack. The
problem is that you either don't know, or fail to acknowledge that you
belong to the very party that instituted these laws to keep people like
you from voting, or getting elected to office. Does Barack know that
the first black Democrat was not elected in the south until 1972, 100
years after black Republicans had been running and winning for years?
And it took a federal law to force redistricting in Texas to get
Barbara Jordan elected in 1972. There had only been one other black
Democrat elected to congress in 1935, and he was from Illinois.
Barack
talks about the inequity of segregated schools but doesn't realize that
before the democrats began pushing for laws that forced and enforced
segregated schools that blacks and whites were achieving together with
very similar scores and achievements. Even during the period of
segregated communities and towns, blacks were achieving tremendously.
They owned businesses, were attending colleges, setting records,
inventing, discovering, producing and excelling, all in spite of the
now institutionalized discrimination that he lists in his speech. He
fails to mention that during this entire time, that over 80 % of black
families were intact, that there were only 1% out of wedlock births,
and God-centered churches were the heart of every community. These were
churches that didn't preach divisive hate and racist-charged bigotry
against whites. They preached the love of Christ and the forgiving
nature of the Holy Spirit. That is how they coped and excelled in spite
of all odds.
It wasn't until after the civil rights
movement, when the black and white cultures were merged, that the
government stepped in, and again, saw blacks as less than equal and
capable, and instituted programs that nurtured the soft bigotry of low
expectations with government handouts, welfare and all the strings
attached to these programs. Strings that kept families from uniting and
kept ambitious people from going back to school or find a job if they
were receiving any government assistance.
At one
point in his speech he suggests that perhaps a failed welfare system
could have been the cause of many of these discrepancies. He says, "A
lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and
frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family,
contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare
policies for many years may have worsened." But he doesn't see that the
answer is to end these failed policies, instead he suggests we pour
more money onto them.
But that
begs the question. Why were others able to overcome through it . . .
like Martin Luther King, his family, John Lewis, Shelby Steele, Roy
Innis, Robert Woodson, etc. etc. Why were they not prisoners to a
system that is determined to keep blacks on the victimhood plantation
of government handouts and a redundant message of expected failure?
Talk to Judge Clarence Thomas about how affirmative action cheapened
the value of his Yale diploma when he found it very difficult to get a
good position after graduation because the assumption was that because
he was black, he was less than capable and "given" the degree to "level
the playing field."
Barack talks about the many "who
scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream,
[while there were] those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or
another, by discrimination."
The reality of failure
is not uniquely a characteristic of people of one color over another
and the legacy of defeat has become a self-fulfilling prophecy by
voices that have a vested interest in keeping a victim class alive and
dependent upon their leadership to continue validating that underclass
status. And even when great benefits and privilege that money, power
and talent can bring, we still see the broken lives of people like
Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton, John Belushi, Marilyn Monroe, Edgar
Allen Poe, etc. etc.
Why are some able to
overcome and some are overcome by it? Why are some consumed with anger
and bitterness and other rise above it and look at how they can help
others which in turn, helps them see God in all of us.
Jesse
Peterson talks about how he went to a church that preached anger while
building him up to believe he was a king of Africa. He was told he
should blame all his problems on the blue eyed devil who is holding him
back. But then he realized the ones preaching that message were
actually achieving. Their kids were in private schools, they lived in
gated communities, had great influence and power, yet his life got
worse and worse. It was when he realized he was being lied to, taken
advantage of, manipulated and classified as a failure, that he turned
his life around when he met real Christians who led him to the Jesus of
love, not the one that pastors like Rev. Jeremiah Wright have
defiled.
Barack says of his pastor's anger
that "it is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to
condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the
chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races." The anger is
based on treatment that was fostered, institutionalized and championed
by one political party, while the other was founded specifically to end
oppression, slavery, segregation and discrimination. That party is
today vilified by the descendents of the very people it was founded to
liberate and integrate into their society. This anger at whites is
misplaced since over 250,000 whites gave their lives and all they had
to free the slaves by fighting a war that tore the nation apart. They
put their reputations on the line and unanimously passed the 13th
Amendment to free the slaves, while the war was in progress. After they
gained control of the house and senate, they passed the 14th and 15th
Amendments, unanimously, while not one single Democrat voted for these
Amendments.
Barack lacks an understanding of the
white immigrant culture if he thinks that past wrongs are embraced,
nurtured and hung on rearview mirrors as tokens of perceived injustice.
When you hear those separated by only one or two generations of
courageous forefathers who braved horrible conditions and treatment to
carve out an existence in a new, foreign world, they speak with pride
and humility. They are reminded that in their veins runs the blood of
courageous, brave and longsuffering individuals who made great
sacrifices to ensure that their progeny had a better life than they
did. They proudly take their children past the one room tenement where
three families huddled after selling everything they had to come to a
land that offered liberty over oppression. They carefully open a
tattered book where the only photo of grandparents rests as a reminder
of the one moment they could afford such a luxury.
They
recall the stories of abuse, oppression, discrimination and intolerance
in a time when the country was trying to define who and what they were,
and homogeneity was a common goal that every new immigrant was forced
to strive for. There was no vulcanization of cultures except to recall
and honor the heroes from the motherland, share the wonderful food,
celebrate the festivals and religious holidays but only as gifts, not
as a an attempt to force everyone to embrace these differences.
There
is not a person in this country whose fathers, grandfathers,
great-grandfathers, etc., lived through the depression that don't
remember stories of great sacrifice, failure, poverty, despair,
oppression. It was a national crisis that bonded us together as one,
understanding that if we did not seek the refuge of our better angels,
the nation would collapse under greed, anger, bitterness, jealousy and
hate. That did not happen, and we grew through, and in spite of, our
common malady.
That occurred in black families as
well, where the anger of segregation was tempered by an opportunity to
succeed in a world where whites could not condemn or destroy. This is
when amazing black colleges and universities blossomed and exploded
with incredible talent and energy. This is when black businesses and
industry flourished because they had to out of the necessity that
segregation brought. There were no hand wringing or angry sermons
directed at white guilt and racial division. The sermons focused on
what was good, what was virtuous, what was lovely. The peer pressure
was to succeed, to get an education, to compete and grow, not sit
around, whining, blaming whitey for every problem that crossed your
doorstep. If there is anger, it should be against the type of big
government solutions to big government problems that politicians like
Barack and Hillary always drag out as the only way to run a country.
For
Barack to suggest that conservative commentators "built entire careers
unmasking bogus claims of racism, while dismissing legitimate
discussions of racial injustice," shows that he doesn't understand the
inequities that are built into the discussion of race. One segment of
society is required to lie dormant as they are characterized, en masse
as racists just because of the lack of pigment in their skin, while the
other segment of society is portrayed as the eternal victims of this
distinction. They are forced to remain on a plantation of victimization
and justified failure, while the other side that wants to reach out,
level the playing field by suggesting all citizens should be
responsible for their lives, their actions, their choices, are vilified
as being the cause of this victimization.
And
ironically, they are correct in part, because the Democrats have
created this plantation of government handouts that suggest blacks are
incapable of making responsible decisions separate from the government.
They are not trusted with the same benefits of freedom that whites are
and must be coddled from womb to tomb with the lie that all whites are
racists and all blacks are the poor victims of that racism. It is a lie
that needs to be exposed, destroyed and renounced, not fed and nurtured
the way Rev. Wright continues to do.
Barack talks of
"a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years," but fails to
understand the origin of that stalemate and realize we would not be
having this discussion of institutionalized racism had his party not
fought so hard to keep it alive, keep the culture segregated, and
ignore the pure intentions of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Had Plessey
v. Ferguson, declaring a conciliatory "separate but equal"
interpretation of the constitution been decided differently, Brown vs.
Board of Education would not have been necessary to over turn it and
force integration which would have taken place naturally, one hundred
years before. Barack is a lawyer; surely he studied and understands
that bit of constitutional irony.
Barack says, "I
have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in
God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can
move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no
choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union," yet
he sits week after week listening to sermons that say just the
opposite. If this is not the norm for Rev. Wright, then they should be
flooding the airwaves with sermons that do speak about what Barack is
saying we need to hear.
It is ironic that he
challenges the listener by saying, "We can accept politics that breeds
division, and conflict, and cynicism," when he belongs to the very
party that has always done that, to the point where the new liberal
plantation has erected philosophical barriers around all blacks,
condemning those who dare to challenge the liberal status quo and
escape this manipulation and intimidation. They are called Aunt Jamima,
like Condi Rice, they are called house negroes like Colin Powell, they
are forced to endure high tech lynchings like Clarence Thomas, they
have Oreo Cookies thrown at them like Michael Steele and they are
accused of acting white or letting down their race if they identify
themselves as Republicans or conservatives.
That is
"the racist spectacle we are seeing but are not allowed to talk about."
When blacks have to whisper at polling booths that they are Republican,
for fear of reprisal from their liberal neighbors, then Barack really
doesn't get the real conflict that is alive and well in this country,
and why should he? He belongs to the party of the overseer of the
philosophical plantation that intimidates and marginalizes blacks that
dare support conservative values or Republican ideas.
When
we released our award-winning documentary, Emancipation Revelation
Revolution (www.ERRVideo.com) we had liberal, Democrat blacks call us
and tell us they were glad that the message is getting out because they
truly are living in a type of political prison in the inner cities
where only one party and one choice is represented. If they go against
the party machine they are vilified, receive death threats, and in the
case of one man, had bricks thrown through the windows of his newspaper
because he dared say something benignly supportive of George Bush.
When
blacks leave that liberal plantation they have the hounds of derision
hunting them, they are targeted for destruction by whites in the same
party that has always sought to oppress and control blacks. But now it
is fashionable to hold conservative blacks to a totally different
standard, accusing them of not being black enough, being an insult to
their race, a wannabe white . . . when really, all they are doing is
exercising their God-given right to individuality and
self-determination, hoping that they will be judged by the content of
their character, not the color of their skin.
So, if
Barack knew his American black history, he would take his pastor aside
and tell him about it and challenge him to be more Christ-like when he
preaches. If he knew real American black history, he would not belong
to the party of segregationists and bigots and would not have allowed
himself to be sucked into that dark undertow of racial politics that
has already robbed our nation of too many amazing blessings.
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