My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
There is nothing more grovelling and weak than to begin or end a conversation with "I'm not a racist..." So I will pass on the opportunity to preface this post with those words. And I will leave it up to you the reader to decide on my racial views.
Yesterday, I concluded one of the worst classes I've ever taken while at the my university; "Urban Studies." The lectures were as ambiguous as the name of the course. We studied the Progressive movement and the post-50s urban crisis, all in a superficial way. The class was lock-step liberal and I was the only admitted conservative Republican in the class. It was also majority black.
For the final, each student was to submit a public policy briefing to the class, condensed into about 5 minutes. I had been crafting and perfecting mine for months in anticipation. The inspiration for it had come from Walter Williams' fantastic and illuminating book Race and Economics published last year, in which he details the history of black economic participation in the United States and analyzes what effect public policy has had on the current condition of the black community.
My slideshow was blunt and to the point: blacks suffer a number of social ills from higher crime rates, illegitimacy, and unemployment. Much of this is a result of destructive public policy intended to help them that arose out of the 1960s. Each slide had damning statistics, all of which were supplied by black economists like Williams and Thomas Sowell. Even me, with my foregone conclusions, was shocked by the statistics I was reading.
In 1930, black unemeployment was a full percentage point lower than whites, even in a time of more racism. The reason was that blacks were barred from union membership, so could more easily underbid unionized whites for jobs. Even in the post-bellum South, 80% of low-skilled laborers were black. The Davis-Bacon Act, the first federal legislation on minimum wages, was specifically intended by its drafters to restrict blacks from federal construction contracts, which they had previously dominated. The subsequent Wagner Act and other New Deal legislation further shut out blacks from trades. 1930 was the last year that black unemployment was lower than whites. In 2011, twice as many blacks are unemployed as whites, as a percentage of population.
Black youth unemployment hovered at 9% in 1948, again lower than white counterparts. But since then, the federal minimum wage has raised 20 times, not counting state increases. Black youth unemployment is 52% today. Poverty rates for the whole country, including blacks, fell dramatically during the Eisenhower, largely because the government ignored the "problem" rather than address it. So too, the black illegitimacy rate was far lower in 1963, prior to welfare benefits to single mothers was introduced. It stood at just over 20% that year. Today, after nearly half a century after the "Great Society," 72% of black babies are born to a single-parent household. The results are an uptick in crime, higher incarceration, druge abuse, and other ills.
After neatly demonstrating all this with a number of simple graphs, I proposed the following policy recommendations.
1) Reduce time one can stay on welfare
2) Gradually reduce and eliminate welfare benefits to single mothers.
3) Repeal minimum wage laws that disproportionately affect blacks and youths.
The final slide, admittedly, was included for shock value. It contained this solitary quote from 1865...
What shall be done with the negro? The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with them... I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do NOTHING with them! Your doing has already played the mischief with them. Do nothing! If the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! ... your interference is doing him positive injury
So what reactionary, white supremacist said this? Jefferson Davis? Alexander Stephenson? George Wallace? Nope. That quote is from Frederick Douglass, when asked what should be done with all the freed slaves after the Civil War. He was against even then any kind of redistributive government assistance to blacks.
The response from the class was actually more hostile than I had expected. Even though the teacher did not intend for these final presentations to have follow-up discussions, mine did, and I spent the next 15 minutes defending my stats and conclusions. I was pilloried for not "factoring in institutional racism," which would seem to have been disproved given how 1930 was not exactly a more racially enlightened time. I was called heartless for wanting to reduce the minimum wage and force people to live off pennies a day, even though I had shown the racist origins of wage laws and their destructive impact on black unemployment. And the epitome of evil for suggesting that welfare for single mothers did more "mischief" than good, even though illegitimacy has more than tripled since the inception of the Great Society.
Interestingly enough, the most hostile reaction was about the minimum wage laws. How could I expect a family of four to survive on less than minimum wage?! It should be raised, not lowered! I argued back that it would be better for the currently unemployed to make 5 dollars an hour than 0. Nearly every hand was up and every face angry. The teacher mercifully cut off the discussion so that more presentations could happen.
I was excited and on my top game, but after reflecting after the class, I felt as though I had failed, not my letter grade, but in my message. Sure, I had provided irrefutable evidence (all from black economists no less), clear graphs, a calm voice, and a persuasive argument, but I had entrenched the mostly black, liberal class even farther into their positions. There was likely very little I could have done to change the outcome. The fact is that a white, conservative mid-Westerner arguing for the abolition of welfare and minimum wage laws to a class of black liberals is a lost cause.
The rest of the presentations were both sad and pitiful. Every single speaker proposed Soviet-scale intervention into the economy, government regulation of the food children eat, a Pol Pot style outsourcing of businesses to the countryside, higher taxes on the rich, and of course reparations. As I fumed silently, I thought of suggesting that thousands of "reparations" were buried in the ground at Gettysburg cemetery.
Curious, how the paternalistic belief that blacks can't fend for themselves and require the beneficence of the state to get ahead is "progressive." While someone who points to Frederick Douglass as a paragon of wisdom and believes blacks are fully capable of economic parity and mobility...is a racist.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Been this way since Booker T Washington. Different year, same story. The liberal W.E.B Du Bois painted a better picture with words and the narrative was set. Booker T was called an Uncle Tom; Walter E Williams and Thomas Sowell, are called worse. The majority of black people won't listen to the truth from other black people, much less from a white person.
Please don't despair though. Regardless of what the verbal sentiment was I can guarantee you that you changed some minds, or at the very least got some of the class interested reading Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams. I can also tell you that the number of Conservative blacks is growing. 10 years ago I would have been an embarrassment to much of my family if they knew I was a Conservative. Now Conservative blacks arn't the norm, but they aren't just written off either.
It took years for liberalism to destroy the black community in this country. It will take at least as long for conservatism to put it back together again.
Jul '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Excellent post. Congratulations.
No doubt They were still talking about You after class.
"The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of the tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience."
Sep '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Most readers here are familiar with the term DWB Driving While Black. You were a victim of DWI Driving While White or PWI Presenting While White. The fellows you quoted, though black, are, of course, not *really* black in the eyes of leftists of whatever color. Just for comparison, here in Canada, reform on aboriginal (or native Indian to use the non PC term) reserves suffers the same problem. Any aboriginals who criticize their fellow travelers of being reckless with federal tax dollars on aboriginal reserves are called "red apples": red on the outside, white on the inside.
Sep '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
And, btw, forgot to mention that I agree: excellent post.
Mar '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
I disagree. You went into the belly of the beast and challenged committed liberals on their core assumptions, any reaction other than massive hostility was simply impossible. The success or failure of your presentation should not be judged on that.
Even with such luminaries as Sowell and Williams for backing there was never a chance of you altering opinions with one modest presentation. What you did do is you forced your classmates to think; they had to defend beliefs that no doubt had always been simply accepted en passant. Your real success is something unfortunately you will never know of, where someday one of your classmates sees the failure of the welfare state and starts to question himself, “Why?”. Then perhaps he thinks back to a time “some white, conservative mid-Westerner” gave that odd presentation…
Aug '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Would you be willing to post the Powerpoint presentation on-line for us?
Sep '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
I can't imagine taking that kind of heat in front of that audience and staying calm enough to respond without bursting several blood vessels.
Me: "Minimum wage is a disaster for unskilled labor! This is as close to a fact of life as you'll find, with mountains of supporting evidence. What's wrong with you people?!"
Class: "What do you mean 'you people'??"
I'd wager that Sowell and Williams grew up significantly poorer, and faced significantly more "institutional racism" than any person in that classroom.
Jul '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Dear Ricochet Overlords: are you doing any of those guest member appearances on the flagship podcast anytime soon? If so, I nominate Byron Horatio for his amazing post.
I also agree with Roberto's comment. There's a quip goes "If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain." Rational arguments don't have much chance against brainless college (presumably 20-year-old) students, but that doesn't mean it was a waste. One day, when (and if) they grow a brain, they'll then have had at least one experience exposing them to rational truth.
-E
Edited on December 8, 2011 at 7:55pmMay '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Byron, I would assume Urban Studies is an optional class and not part of the core curriculum. Did you expect the class to be any different? Did you take this class to challenge the core convictions of the people taking the class? I applaud your courage of going into a hostile situation and presenting a contrary argument on a sensative subject.
Dec '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
I personally have given up tilting at this particular windmill.
Oct '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Wow. I am in awe - that took a whole bunch of words that would probably violate the CoC. Well done!
And I agree with other members who say that, while you caught a lot of, er, backlash, at the time, your presentation may have lingering aftereffects.
Jul '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Yes, it helped fulfill a general history credit requirement, and I knew it would offer a great chance for debate. I didn't expect too much when I signed up for it.
Dec '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Please don't. It matters, it means something, it works. Maybe not that day, maybe not the next but it makes a difference. Each generation of blacks is more open to the cause of conservatism and the free market then the one before it and people like Byron Horatio are the part of the reason.
As a black guy I have no idea what its like to be called a racist(black people can't be racist you see) so I can only imagine how frustrating it is. The only solace I can give is that I and some of my friends are proof that it works.
Edited on December 8, 2011 at 8:34pmJul '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Yes, although I'm not sure how I'd do that. If any are interested, they could PM me their email address and I'd send it.
CandE: Dear Ricochet Overlords: are you doing any of those guest member appearances on the flagship podcast anytime soon? If so, I nominate Byron Horatio for his amazing post.
I Dec 8 at 10:47am
Edited on Dec 08 at 10:55 am
Thank you very much. I'm very humbled!
Aug '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Byron Horatio
Yes, although I'm not sure how I'd do that. If any are interested, they could PM me their email address and I'd send it.
I like to use the service at www.sendspace.com to temporarily upload files to the Intertubes. They give you a download URL that expires after 30 days, so your file isn't online forever.
Mar '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Excellent post Byron (this is definitely Main Feed material)! And kudos for calmly standing your ground.
One idea: could you use the example of immigrants, especially illegal ones, to prove your point? They are certainly a group that many on the left sympathize with. Throughout our history, large groups of racial minorities have come to work in America with few skills, no worker protections or safety net, and a generous portion of discrimination, yet have managed to improve their situation dramatically within a few generations. Shouldn't this be an example of free-market incentives that liberals can understand? It's not a perfect argument, but might get some wheels spinning.
Mar '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Byron Horatio:
after reflecting after the class, I felt as though I had failed, not my letter grade, but in my message.
From the sounds of it I don't think you failed at all.
I would make two suggestions, though. Not to you, but to all of us who want to argue with those who support strong welfare:
1) We often follow a description of the problem (in this case, over-reaching labor laws and welfare) with our own solutions (repeal or scaling back of those programs). Inevitably, people end up attacking the policy solutions as part of some evil plot, while avoiding discussion of the uncomfortable truths in the first part of the talk. I wonder what would have happened if you had just shown your unemployment statistics, and then stopped and asked your colleagues to explain it.
2) I'm not convinced that the immediate solution to unemployment among blacks is the reversal of the state-sponsored coddling that precipitated the situation. That must be the long-term goal, but sometimes dependencies can be made worse by an abrupt removal of the drug.
Jul '10
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Mendel
2) I'm not convinced that the immediate solution to unemployment among blacks is the reversal of the state-sponsored coddling that precipitated the situation. That must be the long-term goal, but sometimes dependencies can be made worse by an abrupt removal of the drug. · Dec 8 at 12:47pm
Some situations will be made worse by the Individuals after an abrupt removal of the drug, but most situations will be made better by other Individuals.
Edited on December 8, 2011 at 10:00pmSep '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
Very, very well done! Frederick Douglass also warned blacks to be careful not to align themselves with a single political party. Douglass was prescient in so many ways. And just because you encountered resistance during class does not mean that you didn't open any minds. As has been noted, there is often some lag time. I've had students mention readings or lectures that they say they only really understood--or the significance of which they understood--years later. This is why the "assessment" craze is so irritating.
Apr '11
Re: My Conservative Presentation to a Black, Liberal Class
This is a good example of why "minority outreach" programs by Republicans are so ridiculous. No sizable number of black Americans will give Reps their votes in our lifetimes. Republicans should focus almost exclusively on the white middle and working classes, and try to pump up the number of voters in those groups.