8 Ways Blacks Perpetuate Racism and the Only Way to Thwart It
Note: This article from Walter Hudson was first published last year on July 17 here.
It shouldn’t matter that I, an author with the audacity to select such a title, am black. The arguments presented should stand or fall on their objective merit. Nevertheless, I declare my racial identity at the outset to defuse any prejudice readers may bring regarding the motivation behind this piece. Indeed, it is in part because I am black that the following must be said.
All things considered, blacks and the civil rights culture surrounding them are the most open and prolific purveyors of racism in America. This is an ironic travesty which spits upon the graves of history’s abolitionists and offends all who are committed to a dream of equality under the law and goodwill among men.
Surely, such a claim is provocative. Unfortunately, it is also demonstrable.
In a recent interview with National Public Radio host Michel Martin, the Oscar-winning black actor Morgan Freeman made the odd declaration that President Barack Obama is not America’s first black president. NPR reports:
“First thing that always pops into my head regarding our president is that all of the people who are setting up this barrier for him … they just conveniently forget that Barack had a mama, and she was white — very white American, Kansas, middle of America,” Freeman said. “There was no argument about who he is or what he is. America’s first black president hasn’t arisen yet. He’s not America’s first black president — he’s America’s first mixed-race president.”
This is a new take on Obama’s racial identity from Freeman, who has previously cited Obama’s blackness as the chief motivation behind political opposition from both Republicans in Congress and the Tea Party movement. From an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan:
… Morgan asked the actor, “Has Obama helped the process of eradicating racism or has it, in a strange way, made it worse?”
“Made it worse. Made it worse,” Freeman replied. “The tea partiers who are controlling the Republican party … their stated policy, publicly stated, is to do whatever it takes to see to it that Obama only serves one term. What underlines that? Screw the country. We’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man out of here.”
Apparently, Obama is black enough to trigger baseless charges of racism, but not black enough to qualify as the first black president. If that makes your brain hurt, you might be rational.
Freeman’s comments are not anomalies. He channels long-held, broadly accepted ideas regarding what it means to be black, the relevance of race, and the claim of blacks upon the rest of society. These ideas are horrifically racist, yet uniquely tolerated.
The tolerance of racist ideas openly expressed by blacks and the larger civil rights establishment is informed by sloppy thinking regarding both race and the role of government in society. True reconciliation requires confronting these ideas with reason. Here are eight ways in which blacks are perpetuating racism, and the one true way to effectively thwart it.
The upshot of the black racism that you describe above is that it has served to create an entrenched political elite of leftists – a political elite that has wreaked havoc and ruin on the US.
I always dread this time of year, and not only because of the bad weather. Martin Luther King was a Marxist whose activities paved the way for BHO. He deserves no holiday and nothing should be named after him, unless perhaps a welfare office or a bankruptcy court.
I am no apologist for chattel slavery. Even so, those of African ethnicity who currently live in the US are far better off than they would be if their ancestors had never been brought here.
Chattel slavery didn’t do the white people any good either; we are incomparably WORSE off now than we would be if no Africans ever came here. We are under the political control of an organized group of people who, owing to their own color-based prejudice, will always hate us and who will seek to abuse us and extract everything they can from us until there is nothing left to take. I am punished as an oppressor even though none of my ancestors set foot in the New World until long after chattel slavery had ended.
I was young during the civil rights movement, but IMHO, Martin Luther King was 100 times better than the Stokely Carmichael types who took over the leadership after he was assassinated. King was not a hater. He had some great lines, especially the one about people being judged by the content of their characters.
Thanks to the editors for rerunning this piece. I had not seen it before, and it brightened a bleak day for me.
No, the Rev. Dr. King was not a communist, however, he did business with communists and was influenced by them. “My readings of Marx convinced me that truth is found neither in Marxism nor in traditional capitalism. Each represents a partial truth. Historically capitalism failed to see truth in collective enterprise and Marxism failed to see the truth in individual enterprise…The Kingdom of G-d is neither the thesis of individual enterprise nor the antithesis of collective enterprise, but a synthesis which reconciles the truths of both.” Martin Luther King
King may not have been a declared communist but the significant quotes he uttered display him as a globalist.
King was perpetrating a false dichotomy. The free enterprise system(labeled “capitalism” by Marxists) is an economic system, whereas Marxism is a totalitarian ideology embracing all aspects of human endeavor. In fact, the free enterprise system does not prohibit or disapprove of collective enterprise. It is welcome to compete on an equal basis. The problem is that it generally is inferior to private, individual enterprise, and fails without govt support.
@1389AD
First of all, Dr. King deserves a holiday because he had the courage to fight for civil rights with threats on his life almost the whole time he was doing, and he continued to do so,KNOWING that there was a chance his life would be taken. And black people only perpetuate racism because white people spent near almost 400 years perpetuating it AGAINST us as black people. As for calling Sharpton and his colleagues “race hustlers”, white people are the biggest race hustlers around,and have gotten near the whole world to believe that they are more superior simply because they dominate the most powerful country in the world. If white people are so superior, then how come they couldn’t see the 2008 economic crash coming? Explain that.
And to the idiot racist poster caliing that black people are just ignorant and have no direction—black people are raised with morals and values just like anybody else–as a black woman, I’m sick of white people and everyone else always assuming that black people who commit crimes and other horrible things represent all 38 million of us in the U.S. Nobody ever says that the “Honey Boo Boo” represents ALL white people, or that it means that ALL white people are lower-class rednecks. There are plenty of black people doing positive things and contributing to society–I find it strange that you’re only focusing on negative thing SOME black people do, as if nobody else does those same things.
And to the column writer–your column makes no sense at all, because, for one thing, black people didn’t invent racism, or even profit from it like white people have. Even if black people stopped being racist today, white people wouldn’t because they’re had too much invested in keeping it going for too long. I also don’t understand why you would take a major actor’s opinion to make your point. As far as I’m concerned, Obama’s black–period. There’s no getting around that–apparently the only way some of you can even accept him is because he’s part white, which is pretty sad. Your being black dosen’t mean you speak for all black people–you certainly don’t speak for me.
And who are any of you to say that black people had it better over here than in Africa? Africans had already spent thousands of years surviving just fine on their own continent,having developed their own way of life and survival,just like anybody else on the planet—the white people who first came there probably would not have even survived in the first place without their help, just like the first whites to settle in America would not have even survived without the Indians’ help. I’m sure the first slaves who got sold down the river by their fellow Africans and brought here by the white slavers didn’t think they were going to have it better coming here and they were right. That whole “blacks have it better here” argument is so old, racist and arrogant, and basically just a justification for slavery. Black people damn sure didn’t have it “better” the first 300 years we were here in chains as slaves building up this country with our free unpaid backbreaking labor, or the next 100 years under the Jim Crows being deprived of any rights that white people didn’t even fell like recognizing, before fighting to get those same right for ourselves once and for all.
You Republicans are simply disgusted that you lost and that nobody bought that nonsense you were selling. Get over it, read some real American history (not whatever you made up to make yourselves feel better) and get some lives.
“Even so, those of African ethnicity who currently live in the US are far better off than they would be if their ancestors had never been brought here.”
A southern state representative was defeated for re-election in November (with the help of the liberal media, natch) after having the nerve to say something similar.
A great read on this point is ‘Cosmic Justice’ by Thomas Sowell. He discusses the blessing of being born an American, where we have abundant resources, educational opportunities and the fact that we take for granted the basics of housing, clean water, food and clothing. Others born elsewhere aren’t so fortunate.
Oops! The actual title is “The Quest for Cosmic Justice.”
There isn’t an item here that does not find its origins not with “blacks”, but with collectivists of any race — Leftists, in other words.
Racism is an equal opportunity vice.
Agreed. Nevertheless, and as I pointed out at the start, American blacks are the most prolific purveyors of racist attitudes chiefly because their racism is rationalized and tolerated.
Rationalized, tolerated, and perpetuated by professional racebaiting opportunists, a dystopian gangster culture, misguided do-gooders, leftist elites, nihilistic media, and ultimately politicians that wish to further a socialist agenda.
I actually have to disagree on #8 and #7.
It’s not “evil” to prefer to breed with your own race, or even to prefer to live near your own race, as long as you deal fairly with people of other races and don’t hate them.
I do not like the hatred the blacks sometimes display for whites, but that doesn’t mean that it’s some moral imperative to make your ethnic group cease to exist as a distinct people. Preventing #8 and #7 by force is actually a form of genocide.
The elimination of the world’s races, over their objections, isn’t good — even for noble reasons.
You seem to have misunderstood both points. I do not prescribe force. I present no obligation to integrate, and certainly none to intermarry. I affirm the right to free association, which enables voluntary segregation. My point is to highlight the hypocrisy of decrying segregation while actively engaging in it. In this way, the black civil rights culture demonstrates a contradiction in thinking which requires a reevaluation of their premises.
I do not find it “evil” to prefer relationships with your own race. What you value, what you are attracted to, is your business. However, it is irrational to insist others maintain racial continuity. Further, the notion that race has some intrinsic value should be rejected as antiquated tribalism. There are likely thousands of “distinct peoples” who no longer exist as such. Their “disappearance” results from the progress of human achievement and assimilation into higher cultures. As others have noted, life for the average American black is immensely better than life for the average African black. As American blacks, we are no longer distinctly African. The lack of black emigration to Africa seems to suggest that we value our quality of life above being distinctly African. That is as it should be.
Further, the notion that race has some intrinsic value should be rejected as antiquated tribalism.
The idea that race and ethnicity have no value is imperialistic. Why, then, would one object to expansion such as that undertaken by European countries in the 19th century? Why, then, are multiracial or multi-ethnic societies fractious rather than harmonious, especially when a dominant race tries to force its way on the non-dominant races? Once the “antiquated tribalism” is eliminated from the world (not just America), who’s making all the rules, and can other races opt out of those and live under their own arrangements?
This idea that race is nonsense is meant to homogenize away a diverse population created by chattel slavery and faulty immigration policy. We supposedly value this diversity and call it strength; otherwise, why bring large numbers of foreigners in if you’re just going to stamp out their identities and take away the very thing that makes them different?
As others have noted, life for the average American black is immensely better than life for the average African black. As American blacks, we are no longer distinctly African. The lack of black emigration to Africa seems to suggest that we value our quality of life above being distinctly African. That is as it should be.
Agreed. African-Americans are very distinct from Africans, yet no one would call African-Americans white, nor is there any evidence that they’re being absorbed into the white population (though there are plenty of mixed people — that’s one reason why Afro-Americans are different from Africans.) Afro-Americans value being Afro-Americans and, from what I can tell, don’t want to be subsumed completely.
You seem to be relating two things that don’t go together. You seem to be equating miscegenation almost to genocide. I happen to be someone that has no real ties to “blackness.” It would be of no particular consequence to me if every black (or red, white, yellow, etc.) person became mixed with other races. The difference is whether people choose to do so on their own or whether they are compelled to. In that light, your argument about imperialism is rather irrelevant. Some will choose to segregate themselves, some will not. This choice may be made for various reasons, but is ultimately arbitrary. It doesn’t matter _whether_ a race is “absorbed” or “subsumed by” this or that other race, but rather _how_ it goes about occurring. If it is voluntary, then it is of no consequence.
I’m having difficulty following your argument. When I say race has no intrinsic value, I do not mean people don’t value it. Of course they do. I’m saying such value is subjective, like any other personal preference. I like onions on my pizza. I value it. That does not bestow onions with an objective value which others must recognize. It’s the same with race. My bottom line is that individual rights must be recognized and protected. In such a condition of liberty, race retains whatever subjective value you want to ascribe to it, but is eliminated as a basis for government action. So if you want to segregate through free association – marriage, friends, commerce, etc., more power to you. But segregation will never be forced, and neither will integration. It’s about choice. The bonus is that the condition of liberty actually fosters racial harmony because the ability to choose determines intrinsic value in the long-term.
OH,really, Mr. Hudson? “American blacks are the most prolific purveyors of racist attitudes chiefly because their racism is rationalized and tolerated.” You seem to conveniently have forgotten that white people’s vicious,insidious,hateful racism toward black people and practically everyone else who wasn’t white was not only rationalized and tolerated for the first 300 years of our country’s existence,but backed up by laws which enforced segregation and the complete and total dehumanization of people of color, in every conceivable way possible. And it was enforced and intrenched in our national consciousness for so long, that it still exists today in one form or another—-look at how a lot of people (particularly white folks) have made it clear that they can not stand having a black President in the White House,no matter what good he tries to accomplish. And look at all the fools who threw together these secession petitions as soon as it was clear that he had been voted in for a second term—as if they were actually going to go through with it.
Also, you can say all you that being black dosen’t matter to you, but it will damn sure matter to the policeman who stops your car to profile you or the white woman who clutches her purse when you are nearby. You can keep acting like we live in a post-race age, which we don’t, never have and never will all you want, but at the end of the day, you’re still black–period.
Cheeky, you spout a lot of hustler propaganda. As far as your white woman clutching her purse is concerned, maybe she has good reason. It seems that statistics and Jesse agree.
“There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved…. After all we have been through. Just to think we can’t walk down our own streets, how humiliating.” – Jesse Jackson
Really good paragraph on the differences between prejudice, bigotry and racism. I’ve been arguing with idiots on blogs for years that prejudice- the pre-concieved opinion of a particular person or groups of people is normal. Bigotry and racism are much bigger issues – if I meet a black man that looks like a thug, I’ll likely be prejudiced against him – if I speak to him and he comes across as reasonable and/or intelligent citizen(ie not a thug), there’s likely to be far less prejudice on our next encounter. Bigotry would require me to maintain that prejudice despite the fact that the information I’ve collected on that person indicates they are not a thug but a reasonable and/or intelligent person. Racism, of course, is a blanket hatred based on a racial characteristic- reasonable people are not racist.
Unfortunately, when arguing against the race hustlers like Sharpton, Jackson, Toure and others, intelligent people will not point out the distinction – as if they realize they’ll have to admit prejudice, which will undermine their position somehow. Jeff Goldstein, over at Protein Wisdom, likes to talk about how the left has essentially co-opted our language. In this case, its true- any prejudice is called racism, even when it is not, allowing the left to convince the more ignorant minorities that XYZ person hates all persons of that particular minority. Its the use of language to control. For all the complaints about the white man keeping down the black man, who, in this day and age, has enslaved blacks more? I assert its black leaders, who gain money and power through this dynamic, and the Democratic party, who gains votes by keeping blacks poor, dependent and angry at life.
You are absolutely correct. What is so insidious about this is that once you’ve convinced ignorant people of the idea that someone hates them, you can just as easily convince them that anyone that even attempts to tell the difference between racism and prejudice is also racist…it because a self-perpetuating lie.
Great article, in fact the best I’ve ever read on this subject. I would add another way that blacks perpetuate racism, which the author alluded to without specifically mentioning and, as it is IMO the single greatest factor in holding back blacks from greater economic and social parity with whites, its inclusion is needed.
That factor is cultural values. Blacks will never achieve parity with whites as long as most blacks disparage education, reason and logic. Individual responsibility and accountability are other cultural values rejected by most blacks and that rejection prevents individuals from transcending wherever they might reside on society’s economic and social ladder. Most blacks have and are rejecting the very values that brought Americans their prosperity. They have and are forging the bars of their own prison.
Thank you for the reprint. Make it an annual event, iffin’ you please.
Here in the Depths of Depravity, Farmington, Michigan,in bucolic Oakland County,
{Founded by Quakers, 1837, plus or minus}We have been seeing a cultural shift, to the point where last year something labeled :
“The African-American PTA” was established because seemingly, ‘the other one’ was not makin’ it for some reason or other. Try, just try, to be ‘lighter in shade’ and get into those meetings. Sss-Not gonna happen……
Now and again, we see Mixed-Race personages run for various offices in this area, specifically in Detroit.
When a gent named Freeman Hendrix ran against The Hon. Kwame Kilpatrick not so long ago for mayor, various, not-so-subtle terms were used to describe someone who lost, and proceeded to be ‘good enough’ to run Eastern Michigan University.
Kwame, on the other hand, is currently on Trial [Federal] for all kindsa’ stuff, none of it legal, or even slightly funny. His Daddy is in the docket, as well.
You really do not have to make ‘this stuff’ up.
Just sit back and let ‘em have at it……..
On the question of “mixed race” whites, here’s a little experiment you can try :
Ask your white friends if they have any Native American ancestors.
I’ve done this myself, and by my count, the ratio is approximately one in four, or 25 %.
(and I’m one of them, which is why I did the experiment in the first place.)