A New Conversation on Race

Who was it who ended a long-ago radio program with the appeal, “Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks”? I don’t remember. But after my “Open Letter to Obama’s Pastor” (click here if you missed it), I feel like saying the opposite: Whoa, that’s enough already! Because I’ve gotten more mail than I can answer in response to that column.

MP disputed my claim that “neither I nor my ancestors had anything to do with it [slavery].” “The sugar that your ancestors put in their tea may have been a product of the ‘Triangle Trade’ that depended heavily on slavery,” he said. In fact, he continued, we are still benefiting today from “much of the infrastructure that was put in place many, many years ago by people who were never paid a fair wage – or any wage at all…. This country was most certainly built on the backs of people who were taken advantage of.”

Well, okay, MP, if you want to use such circuitous arguments, what do we owe China today for the hundreds of thousands of coolies who suffered and died building the railroads across the west? Or the canal through Panama?

CM says I’m just unwilling to admit the truth of Rev. Wright’s remarks: “American foreign policy has been totally expedient and violent post WWII. Commerce has taken precedence over any consideration of human rights or justice. Falsely motivated invasions calculated to guarantee energy security, destabilization of democratically elected governments in Central America and elsewhere. This list goes on and on. Is it any wonder that the world views the U.S. in a very poor light?”

I try to answer every email Straight Talk subscribers send me. But some of them, such as CM’s harsh judgment above, would require a book to set straight. Overall, though, I have to say how impressed I’ve been with the level of the correspondence I’ve received. Even those who chastised me for my ignorance or lack of understanding did so, for the most part, in a pleasant, polite, and intelligent fashion.

Lauren M’s first letter to me began, “When your great-grandmother was raped, your uncle was lynched, your mother couldn’t use a bathroom or get a hotel room, and your cousin is in jail for 20 years for using crack cocaine, you just might feel that the system is not quite fair…. If one is intellectually honest, and not just a propagandist, one must admit that there is a fair amount of truth and understandable reason for anger and frustration.”

To which I replied, “Yes, a lot of truly terrible things happened. I admit that. And I said that. But not by ALL whites ALL the time. Far from it. We need to get a little balance here, don’t you think? And maybe a little forgiveness, too.”

Lauren replied, “It seems to me that many blacks have reason to be angry, and maybe grumbling in church is a way to vent that anger. I think we need to remember that church has been a sanctuary where people could say the unspeakable about their real and perhaps imagined oppressors.”

Then she said something I hope we can all agree on: “Approaching the world with an attitude of angry victimhood is not a recipe for success.” And she concluded her next email with a compliment I certainly enjoyed receiving: “I appreciate your essays. They are thought-provoking and I enjoy thinking.” So do I, Lauren.

EWR sent one of the blunter suggestions I received: “Rev. Wright is a former Marine – what were you? Suggest you stay away from this subject if you can’t invite some ‘real’ black people to dinner!”

So of course I wrote back, “What are ‘real’ black people? How can I tell them from unreal?”

EWR then wrote back: “’Real’ black people are those in Rev. Wright’s church [who are] basking in his ‘uppity’ speech…. To many, the black church of the Wright variety is emotional ‘theater’ and the parishioners relish his ‘pay-back’ for slavery, Jim Crow, segregated armed forces, lynchings, ghettos, segregated busses, segregated schools and lunch counters, going to war and coming home to be denied the right to vote, etc.”

My correspondent then reminded me of something I’d forgotten: The senior member of the U.S. Senate, Robert Byrd, was once an Exalted Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan. Plus, much more recently, Sen. Byrd twice used the “n” word during an appearance in 2001 on Fox News, including one rather strange reference to “white niggers.” Neither item seems to bother the voters who have returned Sen. Byrd to Washington time and time again. And EWR is right; we don’t hear much about this in the mainstream media. Should we?

Interestingly enough, MA, whom I know to be a deeply patriotic Southern gentleman who happens to be white, echoed EWR’s comments about “emotional theater.” He wrote, “You have only to go to one of the many local access channels to hear this type of rhetoric 24 hours a day. It’s not the rhetoric that fascinates me nearly as much as the overwhelming support given it by the audiences. The more inflammatory, the louder the applause.”

MA finds an interesting parallel in the entertainment world today: “I love stand-up comedy and the best comedians in this category are usually black. However, their sketches have gotten so vulgar that I cannot watch them anymore. Interestingly enough, you can take one of their routines, extract the filth and vulgarity from it, and it would still be funny. So, you might ask, why put it in if it isn’t necessary? Because audiences like it. The same up-scale young blacks that fill these ‘modern’ churches simply roll in the aisles.”

MA wondered if the same sentiment might explain both the pulpit rhetoric and the black comedy – an appeal to victimhood. “The American black has been convinced that he is a victim with perpetual entitlements. Is it any wonder that a black male with real learning potential will intentionally flunk to maintain his status with his peers?”

Speaking of entitlements, RB sent me a truly excellent rant I want to share with you: “Black liberation theology? When a black woman is one of the richest people in America? When a black man was Secretary of State? When a black woman IS Secretary of State? When black men have sat on the U.S. Supreme Court and one does today? When countless black men and women have risen to the top ranks in music, the movies, entertainment, and sports? Liberation from what? The chance to achieve and succeed? Give me a break!”

RB then went on to assert something I didn’t know: Less than 5% of the slaves transported across the Atlantic from Africa were taken to the United States, he says. The overwhelming majority – in the neighborhood of 95% – were taken to French, Portuguese, and Spanish colonies in Central and South America. And yet virtually all of the films, books, articles, and angry rhetoric concerning the slave trade concentrate only on American involvement, as though slavery were a uniquely American aberration.

JB wanted me to point out something I did know: “One factor I don’t see mentioned in any discussion of slavery is that the human beings who ended up as slaves in Virginia were first captured and sold into slavery by black tribesmen in Africa. It wasn’t the white man who went into the jungle and captured them. That doesn’t excuse anything the whites of that era did. But let’s be honest and spread some of the blame where it belongs.”

I don’t mean to give you the wrong impression – not every email was as contentious as the ones I’ve quote above. Many, in fact, were simple heartfelt thanks, like this one from LA: “You speak for millions of us who feel the same way. God speed this much-needed message to our fellow Americans, especially black Americans.”

Then there was this backhanded compliment from AT: “I think you have done the right thing to give the senator the benefit of the doubt regarding his pastor. After all, we need to get him nominated [get ready for the twist] because he is beatable.”

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to write. I appreciate all of your comments, even when I wasn’t able to quote them (or quote them in full) here. Things sure are getting interesting, aren’t they?

Can I Help With That Sign, Buddy?

This one cracked me up and I think you’ll get a laugh out of it, too. Seems a group of Syrians wanted to put on an anti-American demonstration. But none of them knew how to speak English, so they weren’t sure what to put on their signs.

Then one of them mentioned an English-speaking civilian he knew and said he would hire the guy for the job. There was only one thing that went wrong – he didn’t realize that the “civilian” was a retired Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army. Sarge was only too happy to take their money to do the job. You’ll understand why when you see the results below.

As the commercial says,
“Paint and canvas for signs, $32.00.
“Bus to anti-war rally, $.50.
“Asking a retired Army sergeant to translate
your anti-American slogans – priceless.”

This Week in History

“May Day!” “May Day!” The first day in May has been a warning, a celebration, and a cause for alarm for more than two centuries.

May 1st has been a time of international socialist solidarity ever since Communists seized power in their first country. Although Karl Marx was sure that his “workers of the world” would unite first in the industrialized west, instead it was a Bolshevik coup in Russia that led to the first Soviet state. Why May 1? Many historians who have delved into the more conspiratorial aspects of history say that it’s to honor the founding of the Illuminati (the first supra-national socialist conspiracy) by Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria on May 1, 1776.

On the other hand, May 1 was a pretty good day for the end of hostilities (or at least open fighting) in the United Kingdom. Because it was on May 1, 1707, that England, Wales, and Scotland formed “the United Kingdom of Great Britain.”

But wait, there’s more. On May 1, 1961, Fidel Castro announced that (surprise!) he’d been a Communist all along. And guess what? There was no longer any need to hold free elections in Cuba, either. Gracias, Fidel.

May 1 was also a pretty good day for investors. On May 1, 1975, fixed commissions were finally thrown out on Wall Street, leading to the birth of the “discount broker revolution.” Say “Thanks, Chuck,” to Charles Schwab.

On May 1, 1920, Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a Yankee. And on May 1, 1951, Mickey Mantle hit his first major league home run. There would be many, many more.

So celebrate May 1 for the right reasons. And until next time, keep some powder dry.

Chip Wood

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Straight Talk is a weekly commentary written by Chip Wood.
For many years Chip was the host of an award-winning radio
talk show in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the founder of Soundview Publications and serves as an MC at several investment conferences. His weekly rants and raves are free for the asking
at www.straighttalkletter.com.

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