Celebrate Black History Month: Slap a Leftist!
Of all the sins of leftism — its assault on our Constitution, its undermining of our inalienable rights, its hobbling of the economy — none is quite so wicked as its virtual enslavement of the black underclass. It was increases in welfare and the institutionalization of leftist attitudes that, beginning around 1964, brought a century of improvements in black life to a crashing halt. In this 2007 City Journal article, my brilliant friend Myron Magnet explained how it happened:
Though welfare was part of the answer, the real explanation was larger. It was cultural, not economic. Begun by the elites, vast changes reshaped mainstream attitudes in the 1960s. Sex became fine outside marriage, and illegitimacy lost its stigma. Drugs were cool; social authority and tradition weren’t. America was deemed a racist, unjust society that victimized and impoverished blacks, who could rarely better their condition and who therefore deserved generous welfare benefits as reparations for past and present oppression. If blacks committed crime, the system that drove them to it, out of poverty or as an act of protest, was at fault: we shouldn’t blame the victim, as the saying went—meaning the poor criminal, not his prey. Since people shape their actions according to the ideas and beliefs they hold, when these new attitudes reached the inner cities, what could result but an epidemic of social dysfunction?
This leftist witchcraft transformed the once-great gains of the Civil Rights movement into a virtually inescapable structure of government hand-outs and dependency, establishing the Democratic Party as masters of a new plantation with black front men like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton playing the role of go-betweens and overseers. Unlike the original forms of slavery which the Democratic Party defended and upheld for so long, this program of dependency introduced a new wrinkle: it enticed blacks into facilitating and supporting their own subjection. Over 90 percent of blacks vote for the party that has locked them in the slums of Detroit, New Orleans, and Chicago. Some 96 percent of blacks voted for Barack Obama, during whose presidency black unemployment and poverty have skyrocketed, especially among the young.
In order to prevent any liberating message of moral and economic self-sufficiency from reaching their captive black constituency, leftists have waged a scurrilous 50-year campaign to brand conservative whites racist. To do that, of course, the term had to be redefined. Racism once meant a belief that some races were inferior to others. It now refers to any misspoken word or gesture or slightly untoward attitude that might be used to silence a conservative or at least prevent dependent blacks from listening to him. Just watch the ugly, twisted, dishonest, and corrupt attempts by the network news media and others to paint the Tea Party movement as racist per se. Why do that to innocent Americans whose agenda has nothing to do with race at all? Because — if the Democrat Party’s economically enslaved black base ever listened to the Tea Party message, it might come to its senses, break its shackles, and head for freedom.
One of the biggest hits of the early-mid Sixties—which is to say, the years before the Marxists, the separatists, and the Muslims had marginalized and all but expelled Martin Luther King from the movement he had led to the victory of the Voting Rights Act—was a song called Love Child.
Performed by the Supremes, a group of black women who were then among the most popular acts in the United States, Love Child is a narrative of a woman who is refusing to to sleep with her boyfriend outside of marriage, fully aware that her refusal will probably means she will lose him, because she refuses to risk giving birth to an out-of-wedlock child, as she herself was.
The number of social and moral signifiers this song contains is hard to over-emphasize. It points up the fact that in the mid-Sixties contraception was not as common, inexpensive, reliable, or easily-obtainable as it is today. That abortion was not only largely illegal or restricted, but not thought of by many as even an option worth considering if available. That bastardy still carried a stigma. That acceptance of responsibility for decisions was a given; the woman “narrator” accepts the need to bear, rather than destroy, a child created through her personal decisions regarding conduct, and accepts, too, that her decision not to sleep with someone despite her love and desire may mean she loses him.
It would be interesting to see how a cover of Love Child would do today if recorded by a major singing star. In the days of hits like Baby Mama, would Love Child have a chance?
The 1960s were also notable in their elevation of primitivism and the drug culture, expressed through music. Such achievements were at the heart of the media frenzy over the death of Whitney Houston. I wrote about that here: http://clarespark.com/2012/02/13/whitneys-spectacular-demise/. Conservatives should pay more attention to popular culture and its victims.
Great reply, BSM! I grew up in the 60s too and remember this song well. I also remember that my parents (God bless them!) were VERY concerned with the music that I was listening to and recordings that I bought. This particular song that you mrntioned was forbidden and went completely over my parents heads. They felt that the song dealt with too many adult ideas. My parents were he last of their kind….watchful, disciplinarians, loving and fair. I’ so glad to have been raised by them.
Too bad and sad for kids growing up nowasdays. My parents wanted me to enjoy my childhood and youth and to keep me innocent of the horrors of the world that they had seen as adolescents during WW2. The wanted me to be a kid for as long as I could and I so appreciate this now, as an adult with grandchildten. But my ways, as I was taught by my parents, are now pooh-poohed and threatening to my kids. They have a fit if I swat my grandsons for wrong-doing. Parents are too permissive with child-rearing today, in my opinion. And laws do not support disciplinary action in any way, shape or form.
I ask you, how does a child really know that younlove and care for them without moderate discipline?
When you have a culture on the black Left like the NAACP that initiates a witch hunt against a non-race-based organization like the Tea Party while at the same time having Image Awards based on skin color that mirrors the NAACP’s race advocacy itself, that level of disconnect from reality and personal responsibility seems almost incurable.
Another proof of this disconnect on the Left is how often they invoke past racism of the part of America as if it happened yesterday and posit that its effects echo today and account for the troubles of black folks in America today. However invoke the Dem Party’s own connection to this racism and then suddenly a double standard is put into play whereby the Dem Party has changed and the Rep Party never did any thing good. Change is only admitted to where useful.
The NAACP will never disband or alter its agenda and so must continue to hunt for and find racists, no matter how marginal the call or how cheap the psychology invoked, such as post-traumatic slave syndrome. Meanwhile, the NAACP will prominently behave in the exact same manner as the mainstream white racists they seek in vain. Not being able to see the forest for the trees is a children’s lesson lost on the fools on the political Left because they are far and away the worst racists in America today.
Wait! The “racist” Left elected the first black president in American history? Are you sure about this?
Sadly, most blacks will only see what a huge mistake they have made when the Browns, the “Hispanics” (read illegal Mexicans – relax – I can say “brown” I am one – American blacks are already giving their wages and their job opportunties to illegals in return for a little democrat handout pottage)displace them as the largest group on the plantation and they lose their power. Already they are not the largest group and through the complicity of their own “leaders” like Al Charlatan and Jesse J are KILLING THEIR OWN INHERITANCE (their children) through a disproportionate number of abortions
all of it is disgusting and wicked
God help us all
when is this coming out… I want to see this.
you have me excited about the GOP more so than I have been in a long time
“Some 96 percent of blacks voted for Barack Obama, during whose presidency black unemployment and poverty have skyrocketed, especially among the young.”
Yes, the first “black” president has done so very much for the black people in this nation. I wish that one Republican candidate for president would have the stones to stand up before one of those hideous mega-meetings of the NAACP and say, “Look, I know you people will never, ever, vote for me, but even if you don’t listen to a word I say, just take a look at how “well” you are doing right now. Black unemployment is sky high and is approaching roughly 50% for young African Americans. And this is what you got with a far-left black president in the White House. Hmmmm, seems like somebody was lying to you back in 2008, and it sure as heck wasn’t me. Now let’s contrast that with the George W. Bush administration in 2005. National unemployment was under 5%, with the black community enjoying a very high employment rate. So let’s see now, who has done a better job in bringing jobs to African Americans in this country. George W. Bush with less that 5% unemployment, or Mr. Obama, with black unemployment skyrocketing to 50%. Folks, you don’t have to take my word for it. Just look in the black communities around the country and see if you’re better off now than when you were four years ago. So how about you give me a try and work with me to reduce our debt, cut government spending, reduce the size of our government, and reduce massive government regulations that only hinders big business in this country. How about we try that? That is, of course, unless you enjoy living off of pitiful government handouts that have you living at the poverty level. And also, you can continue living on this liberal-democratic plantation if you re-elect Mr. Obama, but that will just mean that even more of you will NOT be able to find a job and even MORE of you will become dependent on the Federal handouts for what you need. So if you prefer to live like a bunch of vagrants living on the public dole, vote for Mr. Obama. If you don’t and actually want to have a chance at a better life, then vote for me. The choice really is up to you. There is still time for what’s left of your communities. Why not take it.”
This is what a Republican needs to say to African Americans. Be blunt and honest. Who knows, you may even end up getting their votes.
Republicans pay big money to people like Karl Rove, Dick Morris and Mike Murphy who tell them NOT to say these things.
But why? How do you prove this?? Please explain.
As a simple political strategy, I’ve never understood why the GOP doesn’t push for vouchers. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it drives an enormous wedge between two of the Democrats core constituencies – Blacks and Teachers Unions. And when the media accuses the GOP of “trying to buy Black votes” simply stand up and say “Damn Right”.
Liberty, you’re confusing the issue with truth. They don’t want truth, they want to hear what they want to hear thus their played like a fine fiddle by people like Sharpton, Jackson and Obozo. It’s sad but I work for a huge international company where I have friends, people whom I respect deeply, of all races. In the same token, I know a multitude of caucasians for whom I have none. BUT, if I disagree with the likes of Obozo, I’m racist. They won’t see the results of their stupidity until I’m gone when all the ignorant rules they’ve put in place are used against them specifically and by then it’ll be too late.
I thought we should celebrate Black History Month with the Jesse Jackson protocol. Knock up your secretary, embezzle funds to support the baby mamma, and then extort money from some random corporation.
Explain conservative principals to EVERYONE, they help minorities the most! Black, Gays, Women, they benefit the most, they are the ones hit first because they lead in small businesses. Conservative principals lift all up, give all the opportunity, listen to a Reagan speech, you need to hear from a real president!!
You missed a key aspect of black dependency, removal of access to entry level employment. It used to that blacks could learn about work and the related responsibilities by taking an entry level job, eg., washing dishes, parking cars, construction labor, but not now. The leftists have imported millions of hispanics, most(?) of whom don’t qualify for government bribes.
Look around construction sites today. Hispanics are now the foremen and heavy equipment operators. It will takes years to reverse this.
Just watch an episode or two of “The First 48″ on A&E (A program about real homicide detectives), you can see the practical effects of several decades of welfare on black neighborhoods. The vast majority suspects in the featured cases, as well as the victims, are black, and most of the killers are just young kids, not very bright but not really hardened criminals, who get sucked into the gang life and seem totally bewildered about the trouble they’ve got into. They live in an environment so morally impoverished, so devoid of any values whatsoever, that killing seems natural to them. They do it for sport and then wonder why they’re going to jail. Sometimes they are remorseful, because it never occurred to them even once in their short, miserable lives that their actions could have consequences. The word ‘responsibility’ has no meaning to them because it has no meaning to their relatives or neighbors or, to go to the source, the liberal enablers in the government programs who control their lives and their thoughts.
I’m not sure I believe in this purposeful attempt at dependency; that rather rises to the level of an at least tacitly agreed on conspiracy.
In reading the black press the theme is one of the continued effects and presence of racism which seems to be a very real thing the Left and particularly black folks on the Left believe in. This evocation takes the form of such notions as “white privilege” and “The New Jim Crow” which are very real to these folks. This issue is really one of how you look at racism. According to the Left the mere fact of statistics showing a lack of success in the black community shows the very real shadow of racism, though you cannot otherwise see it.
What motivates such formerly innocuous groups as the YWCA to take up the banner of fighting “white privilege” by way of sponsoring conventions on the issue and also recent billboards spread across Duluth that say “It’s hard to see racism when you’re white” is unknown. My own estimation is that they are deluded middle class do-gooders whose compassion has been unwittingly lassoed in such a way that it is doled out by race, gender and economic status in an ironic and childishly stupid echo of the racism they profess to fight.
Any manifestations of minority race huddling or advocacy are explained away by a very real need to do so with terms one runs across like “post traumatic slave syndrome” and the general belief that decades and decades of segregation will take decades and decades to undo; this is why the Left so blithely cozens black poetry symposiums and black awards and black this and black that. Of course this is no hard science but given the relative ease with which Jews came out of Europe and founded the state of Israel in only 3 years in far worse circumstances than merely getting a job in America in the post-Civil Rights era this generational hangover smacks of cheap psychology.
“Of course this is no hard science but given the relative ease with which Jews came out of Europe and founded the state of Israel in only 3 years in far worse circumstances than merely getting a job in America in the post-Civil Rights era this generational hangover smacks of cheap psychology.”
Friend, what it smacks of to me is brain damage.
Lefty black and white press never see the real racism in themselves. Lefty blacks and whites never see the presumed racism in the MSM where most reporters, editors, nightly news anchors, producers, and publishers are…white. Look at the WH reporters-white. Most of Wall Street which gives overwhelmingly to the left are white. Lefty 527s are predominately white. Most college professors and administrators are white. Most of the staffs of white members of Congress are white. And so on.
Racism is a lie like the rest of the ideas of the left.
I am sick and tired of these tedious calls of racism by the left. What it does demonstrate is that as long as blacks are tied to white leftism there will never be race neutral America. And as long as blacks are wholly dependent upon progressive whites for their existence, blacks will never experience freedom and love America like we do.
The point is that as long as one uses the silly paradigm of a last place sports team being in last place because of the first place team nothing will ever change. That type of thinking that sees racism only by inference rather than actual institutions and of course then has to resort to terms like dog whistles and code is so stupid it’s mind boggling they are actually Americans. To say they are naive is only a part of it.
Have the leadership at the “Y” hang out with actual black folks in America and they’ll be spreading around billboards that say “Er…and then again maybe not.” What do you expect from nitwits who see racism in the Tea Party and none in black organizations where the main criteria for entry is race? It’s so nuts it’s really incredible how thrown to the lions even simple examples like gander/goose are.
Everything mentioned here is available to ALL Americans, Reproductive options, Help for our poorest citizens etc,(all the stuff we do for America they call entitlements) the Majority of whom are WHITE. Pretending that all the things available to all citizens target Blacks is like saying law enforcement for everyone targets Blacks unfairly. Since anything that effects the Blacks must effect the Whites as well to be a rational argument then: A. Margie Sanger was targeting ALL people she considered inferior (Whites included)… True.
Republicans by seeking to help the business community are creating a dependent class of business owners….True.
AND the left and Dems in general have trivialized the word Racist.
Yep.
It’s the MORALITY, stupid.
Holy Cow! That’s my town! I thought I’d heard the name before.
Charlie
Blacks vote for Obama out of racial hatred for white people. They are not suffering under him as he rapes what is left of this country’s wealth for him and Michelles along with their political cronies with whatever is left is given to blacks, union thugs and Muslims.
No Blacks who vote for Obozo don’t “hate whites”, they’re simply happy to see one of their own in the Oval Office. The real decision point will come when they see what a piss poor job he’s done. The joker in the deck is the media. Blacks get much of their information from the LSM, and they’ve been doing their damnedest to downplay – or hide totally (heard any Fast and Furious coverage recently) – Obungler’s screw ups.
I’m not sure I disagree about the left’s attitude, but I do disagree with any premise that any person isn’t able, in America, to live free and independently. That doesn’t mean that every person has the same opportunity to do so, it just means that every person has AN opportunity to do so.
I think that the attitude or thinking that “society” is a problem, or any outside institution is a problem is problematic. I also think that there are dangers in thinking that everybody “deserves” a certain wage, a certain living standard, etc.
Freedom is a state of being. It is being able to work for a living, pay rent, put food on the table, and pursue happiness. There are no guarantees, except to ensure that people cannot act to oppress others. And even then, it doesn’t always work that way.
While I agree that leftists tend to believe that freedom can be quantified, I don’t think they have institutionalized slavery, and I don’t think they have created a mass of brain dead people just because they give out entitlements. People make their own decisions, and just because one gets a leg up–like affirmative action–that doesn’t mean that one won’t use that opportunity to excel. I could say a lot more.
M@
Why haven’t more blacks used entitlements as a hand up, and not a hand-out. Why stay in public housing for generations? Because the blacks in our country are being poisoned by the left at every turn. In the media promoting percieved unfairness, in their churches, Jesse and Al, the entertainers they idolize, our societal and government nannying them like children that need to be cared for. There is a constant barrage of messages telling black folks why they deserve more than what they have but no message of eslf reliance and personal liberty and responsibility.
My wife and I have a few cheap rental properties in Texas, and can say that we have had the gamut of tenants, those on welfare and are LAZY to the very few who take the opportunity of cheap rent to save up for something better. I have noticed that about 80% of the ones who wanted Section 8 or government subsidies live a “victimized” lifestyle, blaming others for their alcoholism and inability to work (for whatever lame excuse); these people consistently trashed our apartments, which is why we stopped renting through subsidies anymore.
It seems that dependence on others breeds hopelessness, which then leads to laziness, depravity, violence and addiction. Look at places where handouts are a way of life, such as on reservations and the “Palestinian” lands in Israel and you can see it in spades. It seems that the “biting the hand that feeds” syndrome is because deep down inside, a person resents the fact that someone is paying them to be complacent and provide for what they could do if they had the gumption to do it.
The headline of this piece is unfortunate — let’s leave inciting violence to the the libtards, OK?
Agreed. No need to give the other side a freebie.
UNALIENABLE NOT inalienable..
Big difference… Get it correct!
Actually, with respect, there’s no difference. I’ve heard this argument before – and you’re welcome to spell it out for people if you want. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s based on some very minor differences in word usage in some old law books which, in my opinion, have been blown out of all proportion on talk radio. I used “inalienable” because the Jefferson memorial is featured in the film under discussion and inalienable is engraved on the wall there. Strictly speaking, it’s a misquotation, I know, but according to my dictionary, it’s a distinction without a difference.
I continue to be bewildered why any Republican candidate would subject themselves to attendance in front of a bunch of self-serving, duplicitous racists like the NAACP. I completely disagree with J.C. Watts and Alan West approach of more visibility. Didn’t seem to stop either one of them from determining what’s best.
I believe I would vote for the first candidate, who when invited to some black activist group to pander would tell them, “You want to get on board and subject yourselves to the same rules everyone else follows, cast away your immoral nature, quit playing victim and measuring everything through the prism of hating whitey, and stop with the race pimping reparation crap provided by lowlife, adulterous thieves like Rev. Jesse Jackson, welcome aboard. If not, you can Kiss My Ass…because I’m not groveling to a bunch of race baiting, self absorbed, self serving losers.”
And I can virtually guarantee you the candidate who said that would get more than 4% of the black vote – albeit a silent vote. Many blacks I know find this phony white guilt followed by what clearly looks and is groveling, not only putrid but insulting.
There are few people alive on earth who are responsible for the sins committed 50 years ago, and if most blacks can’t get past that, then I have no use for them. If that makes me a racist to measure someone by the content of the character and not the history or privilege of their genome, so be it. I’ll wear the badge of truth with honor.
“Racism once meant a belief that some races were inferior to others.”
It did? To whom?
It appears that you are trying to imply that such a belief is morally wrong. Is it morally wrong to believe what the proponderance of the evidence indicates is factually true? I suppose that one could argue about the word “inferior”, but there are clearly important differences between races. Am I a racist for being aware that the Chinese score higher on IQ tests than my fellow white people do?
Name a Chinese who has contributed to the world of music anything like Monk, Ellington or Oscar Peterson (to name a few). Jazz is one of the most intellectually challenging musical forms there is. What we see as genetic differences may very well be cultural. It is too bad that affirmative action has distorted the playing field to the point where blacks can’t be recognized for their own accomplishments.
Yo Yo Ma: “born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris.”
http://www.yo-yoma.com/yo-yo-ma-biography
Chinese make great interpreters of Western music but where are the innovators? And if they’re so smart why didn’t China in 3000 years of history ever come up with the scientific revolution? Traditional Chinese medicine is nothing but superstition.
How are Chinese musicians even part of the equation, what if I said name an African country that isnt a cesspool of violence poverty and horror.
You are right, its cultural, not racial. Any race of people can be shown, and taught to embrace and thrive all on their own in, the superior culture of the Western Christian Model.
All people can succeed if they shed their tribal primitive ways, and embrace what WORKS, in stead of following miserable failed models, (like Mohammad and other tribal sects)that bring only misery, eon after eon.
There is another world of music – in Asia. Just because we don’t listen to it is meaningless. I think IQ is meaningless as well. A street smart person with a 105 IQ is going to do in a naive person with 125. I’ve seen it a zillion times in the Third World and those scenes with European tourists being trustingly taken to the cleaners in “Slumdog Millionaire” are accurate.
celebrate black history kick a right winger in the nuts
You’ve got nothing and had to brag to the world about it!
I like the trend of calling these people leftists
they are not liberal, they are tyranny seeking leftists
“they are not liberal”
Liberals value and promote freedom. Liberals don’t build nanny states of micromanagement.
Thomas Sowell has an informative three part series tracing “The ‘Progressive’ Legacy” in which he talks about the label shift from progressive to liberal and back to progressive:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/thomas_sowell/
If only this bullet train our Leader says Americans just have to have shot real bullets…; Big Bertha on rails.
Meanwhile:
“The 10 Countries Deepest in Debt”
http://247wallst.com/2012/02/14/the-tencountries-deepest-in-debt/2/
#7. United States: “U.S. government debt in 2001 was estimated at 45.6% of total GDP. By 2011, after a decade of increased government spending, U.S. debt was 85.5% of GDP.”
RED
INK
MENACE
Oops; gotta check those tabs. #21 actually was intended for a destination elsewhere.
Don’t think for a minute that the Dems mind keeping the poor and minorities in their place. It gives them a demographic to exploit while mouthing platitudes about evil rich (white) corporate owners versus the workers. The myth of the Left being for the working class and minorities has been wrung for all its worth. It’s part and parcel of a party that uses exploitation as a campaign pitch and a target audience; a monolithic, easily manipulated voting bloc that is all too willing to participate.
The entitlement culture will always expect a hand out, and the Dems will always be there to give it to them. Why work when you can suck off the public teat? That’s the message to blacks and Hispanics. The soft bigotry of low expectations. Your color entitles you to special treatment. You’re downtrodden because the eeeeevil white folks made you ‘needy’. Don’t worry about getting a job, working class blond mom will do that and pay for your welfare, to boot.
Minorities are used to push the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac scam, illegal aliens, voter fraud, unConstitutional ObamaCare, class war, and abject hatred of successful business. The same people who buy into that shit and keep voting Dems into office are the same ones who thrive on the welfare state. For them, poverty is a political angle, not something to get out of.
Bless Reverend Bryant for his courage. He’s going to get a lot of nasty epithets hurled at him, if it hasn’t happened already.
I have raised 6 kids to understand I don’t use the word N*gger, aside from the fact it is the description of an attitude NOT a skin color. There are people in this country that actually believe they deserve to be treated better no matter
how horribly they treat others. Respect is EARNED. I treat EVERYONE with respect until they prove to me they don’t DESERVE it. Even then I am not rude, I simply don’t associate with them. These people who live only to pronounce racism is bad
by PROMOTING it are mentally ill but worse are the people that buy into the idea.
White or black pink or purple, people need to grow up and function for them selves
instead of being sheep and following their so called leaders blindly.