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Quote of the Day: Racism Still Exists in America
“One of the things I’ve heard is that if you acknowledge the problem [racism] then you are playing into the left’s narrative. And I want to say: But it’s not their narrative! We should take it back! It’s our narrative! There would be no civil rights legislation were it not for the Republican Party. Who led the fight to abolish slavery in this country?” —Kay Coles James
Kay Coles James, president of the Heritage Foundation, has experienced a level of notoriety lately due to attacks by Tucker Carlson for her belief that racism still exists in this country. She wrote a recent opinion piece for Fox News expressing her views. As a black woman and a conservative, she has seen important changes in this country on questions of race, and she doesn’t believe there is systemic racism; she does believe, however, that racism does still exist, and that conservatives should use the tools they have to deal with it. As an example, she writes about voucher programs as a way to empower black families to have a voice in educating their children. In addition, she has set up the Gloucester Institute that operates leadership and educational programs for minority college students. She also believes that efforts like the 1619 Project create a false narrative that creates more problems than it solves.
To me, the primary issue is not whether racism exists; I believe it does exist, but in small amounts. Instead, we should be asking whether it exists to the degree that we, Republicans in particular, should be developing solutions that train black Americans to be problem-solvers in new and creative ways that will work in these times.
Many of us will acknowledge that some of the most debilitating social programs initiated in the 1960s by the Left have done the most to handicap black Americans. Is it possible, knowing the resistance we may face, that we can reverse that damage, empower black Americans, and reconcile our differences? Will black Americans be receptive to programs we could offer to them, given the current climate?
President Trump has certainly made strides in providing opportunities for black Americans. Should we be doing even more?
Published in Group Writing
Let me fix this for you.
This is the important thing. This is the principle on which we were founded. Let’s make every opportunity easier to grasp and better for black Americans by making opportunities easier to grasp and better for all Americans. The main thing holding all Americans back is too much government and a “tall poppy” culture.
As for Kay Coles James, keep up the good work, ma’am.
This is the Quote of the Day. We have plenty of openings this month if you would like to share a quotation to educate, honor another, celebrate yourself, or just so you can rant. Our sign-up sheet is here.
Or, if you’re looking to write something a bit more creative, you might try our Group Writing Project this month: It was a dark and stormy night…
As long as there are human beings, racism will exist. However, there is no systemic racism in this country. By systemic, I mean there are no laws on the books that promote discrimination (although some “diversity initiatives” clearly are). There are also legal remedies for anyone who suffers discrimination, with armies of civil rights lawyers ready to charge into court.
Back to my first sentence. I believe modern day civil rights groups promote the idea of systemic racism with the goal to not stop until there is not a single racist left in this country. Because this is impossible, these groups have a perpetual mission and can continue to raise money from the duped.
As long as there are human beings, all evils will exist. You can’t legislate that away.
La Raza is fine. Black racists are fine. It is only racists of European descent that are a problem for most of these groups.
I like President Trumps approach: Take the attitude that average Americans are people of good will. Empower them to have control over their own lives and happiness. Focus on specific problems that any group identifies and see what can be done to address it as narrowly as possible when it involves money from others and non-consentual modification to other people’s lives.
Exactly. People are free to believe what they want. If someone wants to believe a racist idea, they’re free to do so. However, they’re not free to put that idea into practice, although there are even ways around that.
The question should not be ‘does racism exist?’. It will always exist, as Stad and Percival point out. That speaks to the hearts and minds of individuals.
The important question should be ‘Is there equality under the law?’ or specifically, does race alter the administration of justice. Again, there is no such thing as perfection, but the only way for that to be approached is to enforce a ‘colorblind’ judicial system. As long as there are different rules for different races, be they considered negative or positive rules, there can’t be equality under the law.
So while I am open to the idea that there are improvements to be made to the justice system, I don’t consider it an improvement to demand racially based outcomes rather than individual judgements based upon the evidence. But in todays discussions and the Critical Race Theory philosophy, to not consider race in making individual judgements has been rebranded ‘racist’. That is Orwellian.
Only if racism can be honestly defined as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. framed it: judgment of a person based upon his race rather than the content of his character, can we hope to diminish it. There is no such thing as ‘reverse’ racism. There is just racism. And every single one of us, no matter what our race may be, can be racist. This is basic truth.
Well said, @arahant, and quite right! Thanks for fixing that!
@stad, I think they will act perpetually to make white Americans feel guilty for something we have not done and do not believe!
This! Do not tell me what to believe or think! It’s none of your darn businenss! Not you, @stad. . .
I think you meant the opposite, didn’t you @phenry?
racism = judgement based on race. I got it right!
Edit: I realize I restated Dr. Kings famous quote, but I didn’t change the meaning.
We rose up and eliminated “systemic” racism. Critical race theory is an effort to create “systemic” racism, only this time against white people. It is a poison that will damage race relations in addition to removing a motivation for one to rise up and overcome one’s own weaknesses that impede success, as Sowell has pointed out. If one believes the system is at fault for his failures, he will not see personal improvement as a solution.
My daughters had a dose of this poison in college. There are two reactions. The naive and weak will cower and feel guilty for being white. Others, like my daughters, who were not raised to be racist, were deeply offended by accusations they were guilty of a thought crime they hadn’t committed. Others will resent being told privilege and not their hard work over the years is the reason they do well.
Resentment over being told this could blow back on blacks. At least my daughters were smart enough to put the blame on lefty academia. Blacks, not whites, should be most upset by critical race theory. We know what is in our hearts no matter what the left says, but blacks could be hurt by the blowback. It breaks my heart to see so much good undone by the left and their tools to gain power.
The left offers the the bigotry of low expectations. I am called a racist for believing a black person can learn algebra, read Shakespeare, write in cursive, and get an ID. I will not cower to their accusations but will continue to say if I could do it, so can they. I want no privilege. When I slacked off in school, teachers refused to excuse mediocre performance and made me work harder. My privilege, if I had any, was having teachers and professors who didn’t excuse my poor performance by blaming society.
So eloquent, @eherring. I am also so impressed with your daughters: it’s one thing to teach them right; it’s another for them to stand for what is right. You must be very proud. I, too, had teachers who held my feet to the fire. One in particular who was tough on me (English prof) agreed to meet with me and explain his reaction; he was exactly right. It changed my writing forever, and my relationship with him greatly improved. Thanks.
Yes and remember Thomas Sowell’s aphorism, “I am so old I remember when most racists were white.” The great bulk of racists today are black.
Specifics. I like specifics. The only place theory and philosophy has any place in politics is in how it informs policy, not in selling policy – and policy needs to be specific.
Now if we could only get the left to believe that! But they benefit too much from vague and misleading approaches to policy and we all suffer for it.
The Federal Government doesn’t need to train anyone, ever. The only systemic racism I see anywhere is by the Federal Government with all the Affirmation Action BS and in the courts by allowing different standards applied to blacks in for instance College admissions. African Americans don’t need extra help, they need to do things on their own just like the rest of us.
I don’t think that you’re entirely correct about this. I do think that we made considerable process in eliminating “systemic” racism. I do not think that we eliminated “systemic” racism. We flipped it, so that the “systemic” racism now operates against whites and in favor of blacks, and has done so for about 50 years. It is a strange phenomenon of “black privilege.”
I agree with you about the “bigotry of low expectations,” though we should spell out what this means. It means that many blacks can get away with bad behavior that would not be accepted if engaged in by whites. Not all blacks engage in such bad behavior, which includes having illegitimate children, poor educational or work effort, or criminality, and some whites do engage in such bad behavior despite disapproval.
I think that critical race theory is more an effort to divert the blame for poor black performance, as a matter of distribution, on many social metrics, despite black privilege. It operates by prohibiting consideration of other possible causes of dysfunction.
All well said, Jerry. And I was surprised to see an article in the WSJ today related to this point:
Sounds like reverse discrimination to me.
Some good points to ponder. I think we said the same re “systemic racism” only you explained it in more detail.
Susan, noting that I fully adopt Arahant’s amendment of this line, I must say, obviously with all due respect to you and your many excellent contributions, every one beautifully written, that I am very concerned when I see a thought expressed like “should we be doing more” for black Americans as it brings back visions of the Great Society and the societal calamity that program visited upon the Nation as a whole, but especially on the black community, as that was definitely a time when we “did more” for a segment of our society.
On the unspeakably damaging and historically fraudulent 1619 project, I just noted yesterday that a number of scholars had signed a statement calling for the Nobel Prize Committee to revoke the Nobel Prize it had given this piece of propaganda, citing the several studies which had been done of this “historical research” to show that much of it was made up out of whole cloth and/or the fevered anti-White imagination of Nikole Hannah-Jones. Among those signing this statement were some of my, and, I’m sure, many of our, favorite writers and thinkers, such as Victor Davis Hanson, Roger Kimball, Larry Arnn, Paul Rahe, Wilfred McClay and others. It was published by the National Association of Scholars which I would not think would ordinarily be solidly in the President’s camp.
I am sure you have to be so proud of your daughters as they sound like young persons of what, sadly, has become uncommonly sound good common sense based on what I see and hear on the nightly news with some of these obviously enormously “privileged” young people screaming words at police which would have certainly gotten us arrested in my generation-that’s assuming we would have even thought of hurling them at a policeman! The line I quoted reminded me of an excellent article I just saw in The American Mind entitled “The Bigotry of Social Justice” by William Vogeli– an excellent analysis of what is becoming the cottage industry of people like DiAngelo making a fortune off of telling people how guilty they should feel.
I absolutely agree with this statement and while this may be straying from the topic at hand, I am more and more concerned about whether the damage done to the doctrine of “equal justice under law” — e.g., one rule for the Clinton elite and another for the rest of us– can realistically be repaired any time soon.
Sincerely, Jim
Thanks so much for your thoughtful and insightful comments, @jimgeorge. I do feel compelled to clarify that when I asked if we should do more, it was just asking the question, not endorsing the idea. Like many people on this OP, I believe that we have done enough as a country and government. Anyone, such as Ms. James, who wishes to do more as she did with her institute, is welcome to do so.
We all run into barriers in life. I’m quite certain that I lost out on a couple of jobs as a consultant because I was a woman; I can’t be certain, but it sometimes appears so, and those situations were rare. I’ve often said that people might refuse to hire me because they simply didn’t like me, in spite of my qualifications. So what? (as Dennis Prager often says)
I’m in the middle of reading Michael Anton’s new book, The Stakes, and I’m becoming convinced that there is an elite in this country and they are determined to get what they want. If it destroys people’s lives by calling them racists, so be it. It’s distressing and frightening.
Susan, I read this book recently and it is truly one of the most chilling and, to use the word so much in vogue in Washington these days, concerning, I have read in some time. I even started going back and trying to outline some of the major thoughts and revelations I saw for future reference, maybe a book review in the future, but mainly to be sure that I at least tried to fully understand the full impact of what he was relating, and impact is really the right word! I cannot recommend that book highly enough!
On your comment about the elite being determined to get what they want, it seems to me, and I hate to sound so cynical, that they have gotten what they want, and their scheme known as Russiagate with all its ramifications came very close to destroying a duly elected President, and would have done so with a less hardy person than Donald Trump! I am so tired of waiting for these thugs to get indicted but there does not seem to be much hope of that happening any time soon!
If you haven’t read The Permanent Coup by Lee Smith, I highly recommend it.
Jim.
Thoughtful post, Susan. I don’t have any answer,
partlymostly because I’m not that smart, also because I don’t think there’s any one answer. I agree with @arahant the remedy lies in helping all Americans. In the decaying minority neighborhoods here, the root seems to be the devaluing of life. If a child is born into the world as a burden or afterthought or a hopeless accessory, he will think of himself as such, figure life’s opportunities are not available to him, and sees the streets as a means of survival. The cycle continues. I see it in schools that kick kids down the road, nothing more than a statistic. Maybe if we find policies and opportunities at a much smaller scale and empower communities to see future generations as adding value instead of bodies and success is not a zero sum game as liberals make it out to be, there is a chance for self-promotion that in turn contributes to the knowledge of inherent human value.Uh-uh, @jennastocker! You are smart; you’ve already given yourself away! Besides, coming up with creative solutions has more to do with stepping out of typical solutions and pushing the envelope. Working on a smaller scale is a great idea and may be one place to make things happen–for everyone. Thanks!
Is there no blushing emoji??!
In retrospect, I realize that you can’t restate a quote and still put quotes around it, and I did that. Sorry, I have edited out the quotation marks.
Racism vs systemic racism is a dispute about who owns the word and the culture. Wilfred McClay made that point as the guest on an episode of The Epoch Times’ American Thought Leaders.
One of the things that gave Martin Luther King’s argument such power is that he was speaking to an America that was still fairly Christian, and he was challenging American Christians to put up or shut up religiously as well as challenging society as a whole to put up or shut up about those “all men are created equal” and “equal protection under the law” things.
That America is gone; Marxist doctrine swept through academia, through Hollywood, through corporate America, and through most churches and synagogues. It offers a new covenant, and systemic racism is part of its theology.
Kay Coles James is still working off the first definition; I hope she is able to help reclaim the word.
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