Lest You Mourn Him...

"You shouldn't even miss me this much."



I have to admit that I've been on a bit of a losing streak lately.

I just missed out on a fantastic, potentially lucrative internship opportunity at a major firm. I received a 'B' from a professor who could have just as easily - and not altogether undeservedly - given me an 'A'. TiVo just provided me the opportunity to watch Tony Soprano commit an act (like Tony Montana, Nino Brown and a whole host of other likeable bad guys before him) so morally repugnant that I'm emotionally ready (at long last) to see him go. And, unlike the vast majority of my fellow wage-slaving clock punchers out there, I'm not terribly happy at my job.

So, there was room for my outlook to improve dramatically, and it did, when I learned of the recent death of Jerry Falwell. I know some of you are thinking, 'How awful of you to revel in someone's death, no matter who he was,' or some such sentimental hogwash. To you I simply respond, with my best Paulie Walnuts, "Get Da Fug Outta Here!"

Simply put: Jerry Falwell was an asshole. The worst kind of asshole, in fact, because he ceaselessly attacked gays, women who foolishly pursue economic and social equality and folks misguided enough to not worship the same God as he, while successfully innoculating himself against criticism by labeling all of his detractors God-haters. He also got the Christian right to embrace the idea that they had a Mandate from Above that compelled them to infest the world of politics - a world they'd historically written off as secular and unsalvagable.

Still, some can't find it in their Christian hearts to think ill of the dearly departed. Honestly, this kneejerk self-righteousness is one of the things I find most irritating about the bible-banging bunch: the very idea that it is somehow spiritually tacky to be thankful that a person, no matter how destructive or ethically diseased, is no longer around to cause trouble.

For you, I provide the words of the man himself. These were not paraphrased or taken out of context. Indeed, they were quoted very much within the context of Falwell's worldview. I retrieved this, appropriately enough, from a site called Positive Atheism. I doubt the Moral Majority would approve of their efforts.

If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.

This is probably as bad a day as the court has had on social issues since "Roe v Wade." (reacting to the Supreme Court's ruling in the Texas sodomy case, "Lawrence v. Texas" wherein the high court uphelp an individual's (or a couple's) right to privacy).

I had a student ask me, "Could the savior you believe in save Osama bin Laden?" Of course, we know the blood of Jesus Christ can save him, and then he must be executed.."

God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve (regarding the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001).

The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this (regarding the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001).

And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."

I sincerely believe that the collective efforts of many secularists during the past generation, resulting in the expulsion from our schools and from the public square, has left us vulnerable.)

I put all the blame legally and morally on the actions of the terrorist, but America's secular and anti-Christian environment left us open to our Lord's decision not to protect. When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture ... the result is not good.

Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged"? In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time -- calling upon God.

I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!

AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.

The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country.

If we are going to save America and evangelize the world, we cannot accommodate secular philosophies that are diametrically opposed to Christian truth ... We need to pull out all the stops to recruit and train 25 million Americans to become informed pro-moral activists whose voices can be heard in the halls of Congress.
I am convinced that America can be turned around if we will all get serious about the Master's business. It may be late, but it is never too late to do what is right. We need an old-fashioned, God-honoring, Christ-exalting revival to turn American back to God. America can be saved!

It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.

There is no separation of church and state. Modern US Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible,without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc.

But these things speak evil of those things, verse 10 which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Look at the Metropolitan Community Church today, the gay church, almost accepted into the World Council of Churches. Almost, the vote was against them. But they will try again and again until they get in, and the tragedy is that they would get one vote. Because they are spoken of here in Jude as being brute beasts, that is going to the baser lust of the flesh to live immorally, and so Jude describes this as apostasy. But thank God this vile and satanic system will one day be utterly annihilated and there'll be a celebration in heaven.

The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.

Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.

I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status.

Dan Moldea, the lead investigator for Larry Flynt's ongoing quest to uncover sexual indiscretions of Republican congressional members, has now admitted he was hired by the law firm defending President Clinton.

We're fighting against humanism, we're fighting against liberalism ... we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today ... our battle is with Satan himself.

Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan.

The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.

AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharoah's chariotters.

You'll be riding along in an automobile. You'll be the driver perhaps. You're a Christian. There'll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away - you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life.l That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes...Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on...every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel.

Loserman

“Kiss my sorry ass goodbye, Congress!”

Do you smell that? It’s the unmistakable scent of Joe Lieberman’s feckless, centrist corpse decomposing in the Connecticut summer sun.

Just six years after the moldy Senator, along with his running mate, the newly repackaged Al Gore, capitulated his way into a curious 2000 election “loss” (don’t get me started on that) the good people of the Nutmeg State decided not to prop him up for a fourth term.

Not altogether stunning, really, when you consider that Lieberman has done nothing but placate both big business and the Bush administration over the course of the last six years and counting. You know you’re treading on thin ice when you're a Fox News regular. But he rang his own death knell with his ingratiating support of Bush’s War. His “stay the course” rhetoric increasingly distanced him from his constituency and his country, culminating (finally!) in his ouster at the hands of fellow Democrat Ned Lamont.

Ironically, Lieberman plans to run as an independent, vowing not to give up without a fight. Too bad he didn’t show the same resolve when he and Gore had a national presidential election stolen from them via the disfranchisement of African-American Floridians.

The Latest From The World's Ugliest Sex Symbol

I can't take credit for the title. This description is from my man, Harold M. Clemens, the prolific blogger of the brilliant and angry ghettouprising. It just so happens that I agree with his assessment of Ann Coulter. I realize that white folks and black folks generally have different ideas about what constitutes beauty - after all, whites have celebrated Calista Flockhart, Princess Di and JFK for their good looks - but they should be able to do better than this. I mean, check out the neck.

In any event, her physical appearance isn't her only ugly feature. She's made quite a name for herself as a right-wing hatchetwoman on the front line of the culture wars. Her sole purpose seems to be to give a voice to the most ignorant, racist, petulant elements of the Republican party. So here's how it usually goes: Fox News, or some other cog in the Republican noise machine, invites her on. She's lobbed some rhetorical question about current events. She sees how much offensive fiction she can fit into a 2 or 3 minute time span. Then the host, barely containing his/her glee, "attempts" to get her to lighten up on the hyperbole. For me, it's gotten old pretty quickly. Of course, her more intelligent defenders would argue that many of her comments are delivered with tongue placed firmly in cheek. The more brainless ones don't see anything wrong at all.

There is, however, some value in this horseshit. As I argued in my last post, it lets us (minorities, the poor, the struggling) know EXACTLY what they think of us. Here's her latest appraisal of the complicated immigration issue: hire illegal immigrants to build a border wall then send them packing. Mediamatters.org noticed that she echoed the sentiments of a character on a Saturday Night Live sketch.

It Could Be Worse, You Could Still Be In Africa

Every now and then - well, with increasing regularity it seems - white social conservatives will let you know EXACTLY what they think of you. Such was the case when the mentally and physically decrepit Adele Ferguson wrote a piece that questioned the intelligence of her "black brothers and sisters" for remaining loyal to the Democratic Party. I strongly encourage you to read it but, if you're pressed for time, I'll sum it up for you..

a) You Negroes need to stop acting like victims and take some responsibility for yourselves.

b) Black folks can learn a thing or two from Ronald Reagan - great white race prophet that he was.

c) SLAVERY was God's way of dragging black savages from the continent of Africa to the divine shores of America (think Phyllis Wheatley).

d) Slavery was the equivalent of indentured servitude.

e) If the white ancestors of indentured servants managed to 'get over it,' you Negroes should be able to do the same.

f) The reason why blacks don't get respect from others is because they don't give it.

g) You Negroes ought to be ashamed of yourselves for the way you "dissed" (this is her word, not mine) George W. Bush at the funeral of Coretta Scott King.

h) The very same Negroes who disrespected Dubya at the funeral treated Clinton like the King of Harlem.

i) Blacks claim that they value education but this obviously isn't the case because they eschew vouchers and charter schools.

j) Teachers' Unions are an impediment to black progress because they also eschew vouchers and charter schools.

k) Black students lag behind white students academically because of incompetent teachers.

l) You Negroes need to get yourselves a Cesar Chavez, ironically enough, to challenge the teachers' unions. If one cannot be produced, then you should make collective effort to dismantle them.

m) Basically, you Negroes are dumb.

Unlike many black folks, I'm not angered by these neo-con guffaws. I find them illuminating. Under the guise of offering advice to misguided Negroes, white conservatives often reveal themselves to be the ignorant racists that many of them are.

One more thing, Ms. Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA 98340. If ever you self-victimized, former savages get it together, perhaps you can write her to let her know how appreciative you are for her guidance.

How Can We Bring Whites and Blacks Together? End Affirmative Action!

This is the conclusion that James Taranto, who writes the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web" editiorial page, reaches after a superficial examination of an article that appears in the most recent issue of blackcommentor.com.

The publishers of blackcommentator.com, Glen Ford and Peter Gamble, interview Prof. Michael Dawson, of the University of Chicago, who conducted a survey of whites' and blacks' attitudes about state and federal reaction to Hurricane Katrina. Dawson writes that the Fed's anemic reaction to Katrina victims suggests to blacks - who overwhelmingly feel that white victims in a similar situation would have received help quicker - an "utter lack of the liberal possibility in the United States."

Taranto, not surprisingly, disagrees, "To say that there is an 'utter lack of liberal possibility' for black Americans is to ignore recent history. Can anyone seriously claim that blacks are no better off today than they were before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?"

Of course no thinking person will attempt to argue that. Dawson certainly doesn't. His statement about an 'utter lack of liberal possibility' doesn't suggest that he feels things haven't improved for many African-Americans. Dawson's remarks are about Black Americans' perceptions of racial dynamics in this country in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Most black folks (and 20% - no insignificant number - of whites) can not imagine a scenario in which an entire city of white people would be stranded and seemingly abandoned in unbearable conditions for close to a week. I certainly can't.

But Taranto makes it clear that he isn't interested in delving into this issue too closely. After he dedicates a small paragraph to misinterpreting Dawson's conclusions, he wades into more familiar territory: trashing affirmative action. Why are whites and blacks views about race so dissimilar, according to Taranto? Because affirmative action frustrates blacks and creates indifference in whites. In Taranto’s world, attempting to grant African-Americans equal access to job opportunity via affirmative action has created a quota system that puts true equality of access on the back burner, “This leaves us with a system that aims for equality of result but cannot deliver it. Maybe it closes the gap enough that it is worth the effort anyway. But by promising blacks something it cannot deliver, affirmative action breeds frustration and resentment.”

Gee, thanks for the conservative, leather desk chair psychoanalysis, James. But I’m guessing that part of the frustration has to do with the fact that people like you – who never seem to give a damn about race at all unless you feel like your white, corporate, manifest destiny absolutism is being challenged in some small way – seem to think you can identify racism better than those of us who suffer from it daily. Perhaps the resentment has to do with what Jesse Jackson describes as this country’s “great tolerance for black suffering and black marginalization.” And maybe, just maybe, white and black perceptions of race will begin to convene once people of your ilk take some responsibility for your part in divorcing them.

Jesse Lee Peterson and the Black NeoCons

I've decided to begin this blog by digging into my email crates and posting a lengthy response I wrote to a friend who introduced me to the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson. Although this was written almost a year ago, it's still relevant. Unfortunately, I think it will be for some time.

The Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson is the founder and president of the vague-sounding Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND). Peterson is a black conservative. Recently, he’s been making the rounds on television news programs editorializing about the state of black America. Last month, I was emailed a C-Span interview in which he skewered African-Americans for being lazy, weak and dependent. The Jesse Lee Petersons of the world operate as anti-sociologists. They are often completely dismissive of sociological explanations of inequality. Their reaction to racial, ethnic and gender discrimination is to blame women and minorities. As for Peterson, I wasn’t exactly certain how I would tackle him at first. He provided so much misinformation in such a relatively short period of time that I wasn’t sure where to begin. I’ve decided to start by examining the black conservative movement in general terms. Then I’ll attempt to provide a point-by-point rebuttal to the arguments that he made.

The Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson may be many things but original isn’t one of them. During his entire roughly thirty minute C-Span interview, I didn’t hear one novel idea about the state of the African-American union escape his lips. None of the invective that he spat in the direction of black America is new. Unfortunately, I’ve seen his kind – vicious, poorly researched, self-hating apologist for racist white America – twist facts and cast aspersion at African-Americans many times before. People of his ilk identify themselves as black conservatives. They’re usually divided into three groups. The first group is comprised of intellectuals who operate in academic circles (think Thomas Sowell, Walter E. Williams, Glenn Loury and Shelby Steele). The second group consists of those who are on the front lines of the so-called “Culture Wars.” These individuals are a little more intellectually malnourished than those in the first group. They are mercenaries who primarily serve as go-to-guys whenever conservative clients (like Fox News and others) need a black person to speak badly about other black people (think Star Parker, Larry Elder and Armstrong Williams). Peterson falls squarely into this camp. The third group is the most politically shrewd. Members of this group are constantly jockeying for position and influence in the political sphere. They are usually the central players in conservative attempts to pass legislation curbing or completely eliminating civil rights advancements (think Ward Connerly, Clarence Thomas, Alan Keyes and Condoleeza Rice).

Black conservatives joyfully adopt positions that the majority of African-Americans find completely repugnant. Most black Americans, for example, back the idea of affirmative action and government set asides for minority owned businesses. Most black folks are supportive of raising the minimum wage and want enthusiastic enforcement of voting rights and desegregation regulations. Black conservatives boisterously oppose all of these policies and more. Although black conservatives attempt to market themselves as independent of thought and action – a courageous and moral alternative to those in the black community who blindly follow “leaders” like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and unthinkingly vote Democratic – they are, in fact, fully funded, supported and controlled by larger, white right-wing think tanks like the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation. In his expository essay, “Blackwashing,” Joshua Holland reports that Project 21, a recently formed collection of high profile black conservatives, has a white director. Holland goes on to divulge that Project 21 is, in fact, “a subsidiary of the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), which, according to the liberal watchdog mediatransparency.org, was formed in the 1980s to support Reagan's military interventions in Central America.” This is not an isolated incident. Even a cursory examination of high profile black conservatives reveals white Republicans gleefully pulling their strings.

The question may arise: why would powerful white Republicans waste their time funding these sellouts? Quite simply, they want African-Americans to stay home on Election Day. I’m not just being an alarmist. First, white Republicans realize that black Americans reliably vote for Democrats at every level at about a 8.5 to 1 ratio. Republicans aren’t as much desirous of those votes as they don’t want the Dems to have them. Second, As Holland observes, black conservatives, “...speak out publicly for conservative positions that might evoke charges of racism if advocated by whites.” Since the civil rights era, most white Americans, particularly those in public office, are savvy enough to eschew the label of racist. Third, and most importantly, black conservatives are paid to muddy the waters of socio-political debate. Everything that they do – venomously attacking nationally recognized (always Democratic) black leaders, attempting to categorize the Democratic Party as godless and immoral – is designed by white conservatives to discourage black democrats from going to the polls. White Republicans know that blacks are religious and disenchanted with this country’s political system. They are also fully aware that most blacks would never support them. They probably figure that if they can do enough damage to the Democrats’ image, we’ll just stop voting altogether. One can easily imagine a wealthy white member of a conservative think tank saying of black voters, ‘If they don’t like US and they can’t trust THEM, who are they left with?’

Now, let’s move on to the good Reverend Jesse Lee. I actually had to listen to his interview again to make sure that I didn’t misquote him. Peterson’s assertions are in bold. My responses follow…

1. When asked about the current “state of the black union” Peterson replies, “It’s getting better…many blacks are getting married and starting to raise their own children. They’re taking them away from the government.” Excuse me? Even a passing familiarity with American history reveals that the overwhelming majority of black Americans have always been responsible for raising their own children. It is, in fact, American whites who have historically employed black (and Latinos recently) as nannies and child-rearers. It’s interesting to note that Peterson failed to include any factual data that he used to help him draw his conclusions.
2. Jackson, Sharpton and Coretta Scott King have kept blacks on welfare and kept them angry. And what about whites who are on welfare? They make up well over half of its recipients. Who’s keeping them angry and on welfare? And what about public corporations that slash tens of thousands of jobs while they continue to receive billions of dollars annually in federal subsidies? Some consider this welfare. Is Alan Greenspan keeping them too angry to get off of the federal dole?
3. Because black men seek leaders most of them are very weak and insecure. This was an interesting comment. Not because of its incendiary nature but because of the fact that right after he made it, he said, “I thank God for President Bush. God has sent us George W. Bush.” I’ve NEVER heard a black person publicly thank God for Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. At any rate, many white conservatives consider Bush to be their leader. I’ve often heard him referred to as “a good leader.” Does this indicate weakness or insecurity on their part? Or on Peterson’s part?
4. There’s no such thing as screwed up children. There are screwed up parents. Another ridiculous, simplistic comment. I’ve seen conservatives take this approach before. Blame the Parents! Never mind the fact that bad parents were once children themselves who, more than likely, had bad parents. Anyone even remotely familiar with sociology of the family will attest to the fact that bad parenting is usually a cyclical process. People don’t typically transform themselves from dysfunctional adolescents or adults to stellar parents.
5. In reference to racial discrimination on the job: “If he [the supervisor] doesn’t want you there, do what I did. I quit and started my own business. Get up off your butt and take responsibility instead of crying racism.” Take note of the accusatory tone. Suddenly, it’s YOUR fault if your employer is discriminating against you. Why? Because you can always leave and start you own business. Like Peterson did. In the world of conservatives no worker, minority or impoverished person is worthy of protection. It’s their own fault for not starting a business. We all know how plausible that suggestion is. Conversely, those who do merit protective status, according to right-wingers, are whites, the wealthy and business owners. Awfully convenient.
6. When a black listener called in to challenge Peterson (he amusingly compared blacks voting Republican to chickens voting for Colonel Sanders). The caller mentioned not a word about welfare or affirmative action. Peterson creates an argument in which he rails about these two things (anyone, in fact, who called in to disagree with ANYTHING Peterson said, apparently, loves welfare) but never refutes anything the brother actually says. Classic straw man defense.
7. God has given us President Bush. Given the personal and passionate nature of religion, this ranks as one of Peterson’s most inflammatory statements. Again, this isn’t anything new. Because of their anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia and, most recently, anti gay marriage stance, conservatives have always claimed the moral high ground. How people like Peterson can reconcile the US economic sanction-related deaths of roughly one half million Iraqi children or the deaths of approximately 18,000 Iraqi civilians with a mandate by God is beyond me, however.
8. President Bush loves black folks. Why then did roughly 90% of eligible black voters not cast their ballots for Bush in 2004? Could it be because of the Bush administration’s attempts to roll back affirmative action? Did the dismantling of social programs that blacks felt helped level the economic playing field have anything to do with it? Could it possibly be the under-funding of public schools to which many black parents send their children? Could it be Bush’s zeal for the death penalty – the sentencing of which many African-Americans have historically found racially motivated? Or perhaps it’s Bush’s refusal up until recently to meet with the NAACP – an organization that most black Americans respect. Maybe it’s his administration’s attempts to rip apart social security that blacks find unsettling. Also, most black folks aren’t fooled by cynical political overtures like appointing black right-wingers Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice to positions of power. Maybe many of us define love differently than do Bush and Peterson.
9. The President did not lie about Weapons of Mass Destruction. In response to the caller who correctly points out that we were lied to about Iraq’s WMD threat, Peterson offers a dismissive “the President did not lie...he had the same information as Russian and European leaders.” Then, because even Peterson must realize the indefensibility of this position he quickly segues to the familiar “those who are not willing to fight for freedom don’t deserve it.” Evidence of the Bush administration’s attempt to connect Iraq to Osama and 9-11 and to convince the American public of Iraq’s imminent WMD abounds. Most thinking conservatives won’t even try to argue against it. What they tend to do – as Peterson does during the interview – is distract us with platitudes about freedom and horror stories about the evil of Saddam. An evil we encouraged when we backed him against former Iraqi Prime Minister Gen. Abd al-Karim Qasim, and later when he warred against Iran. Then, the US actually considered Saddam a bulwark of anti-Communism. So much so that Washington happily looked the other way when he gassed the Kurds.
10. America is hated because we’re free. This one is laughable. No one hates America because we’re “free” society. We’re hated because of our reprehensible record of defending and supporting oppressive regimes, like the governments of El Salvador and Honduras during the eighties or Israel today. These people couldn’t care less that American women don’t have to cover their heads in public. As many have correctly pointed out, if “they” hated “free” countries they would have been attacking the Netherlands or Norway or even Canada for decades.
11. Most black people are racist towards whites not the other way around. Here, Peterson encourages whites to make public their disdain for blacks. He realizes that there’s a fear on the part of well meaning white people of being called racist. “Let ‘them’ call you want they want,” he exhorts. According to Peterson, blacks are shiftless, lazy and morally bankrupt. Whites should let them know it. As for his original claim, that blacks are more racist than whites, this is sheer nonsense. Racism is the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Most whites, to one degree or another have historically believed themselves or other whites to be more capable than most blacks. Most whites have, to some extent bought into the notion that blacks don’t want to work or aren’t desirous of excellence. This is the root of racism. It is absurd to suggest that these racist beliefs and attitudes don’t seep into many whites’ voting habits, hiring practices or treatment of blacks. Admittedly, most African-Americans are wary of whites. But this apprehension is connected to a history of enslavement, indiscriminate lynchings, segregation, Jim Crow, hatemongering, white flight, workplace discrimination, resistance to attempts at racial equality, racially insensitive remarks, recurring racial backlashes, and socio-political divisiveness. The fears and anxieties that most whites harbor toward blacks are self-manufactured and based on racial stereotypes. Further, the power structure of this country is overwhelmingly white and male. To equate white racism to black anger is to liken the slur ‘nigger’ to the ridiculous insult ‘honkey.’ A white person will hardly bat an eyelash if they are angrily called a honkey. A casually uttered ‘nigger’ from a white person to a black might, as Nina Simone once said, “burn the goddamn house down.”
12. A lot of black men don’t like to work. Historically, this is baloney. An objective observer might easily conclude that it is whites and not blacks who avoid work. Our enslaved ancestors were forced to work past the point of exhaustion and until death for no compensation. After the Civil War, southern blacks – who became literate at a rate of about 77% only one generation after slavery, moved north to find work in factories and on farms. Many of those who stayed behind worked as sharecroppers – working under the same conditions and tilling the same land as their enslaved forefathers and for only a pittance. During the Jim Crow era, blacks were routinely denied the opportunity to earn a living for themselves and their families. During the civil rights era, blacks petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent employers from denying them positions based on their race. Currently, workplace discrimination lingers. In the June 2004 issue of the American Sociological Review, sociologists James Elliott of Tulane University and Ryan Smith of City University of New York, provide evidence of blocked workplace opportunity based on race and gender. They write, “Since no longer is the central issue in the struggle for equality limited simply to the issue of who is hired and who is not. Within an increasingly diverse workforce, equality is about who is promoted and given the keys to organizational power and attendant raises, and who is not.” Given all of this history, it is not surprising to find that a minute segment of the population becomes discouraged and gives up the hunt for a job altogether. Peterson’s agenda is to malign “most” black men as lazy. But black men (and women) have always worked. The issue for us has never been a lack of desire to work but lack of opportunities.

Interestingly, Peterson gives hell to those who, according to him, are looking for a handout. He (like most conservatives) is a proponent of “less government.” He even pats himself on the back for not accepting any government sponsorship of his organization, BOND. But he admits to receiving money from private sources like the Weinberg Foundation (another conservative organization/think tank that gives money to conservative causes). Incidentally, the Weinberg Foundation recently sought $75 million in special-interest tax breaks for land development in Hawaii. Apparently, Peterson and other conservative don’t object to handouts – private and public – when they’re given to them.

As a footnote, Jesse Lee Peterson recently reappeared on the C-Span program, Washington Journal, assigning blame to black New Orleanians for not having left the city before Hurricane Katrina hit. In his mind black Americans should have taken responsibility for themselves and black men should have taken the women and children to safety. This argument is akin to saying that Asian tsunami victims should have just whittled boats out of trees and Pakistani earthquake victims should have built stronger houses. Peterson also claimed that most of the inner cities are out of control because the infrastructures are controlled by indifferent, incompetent blacks.