American Thinker, July 20, 2011
One of my friends voluntarily attended an event recently, one that I wouldn’t go to for a million bucks (well, maybe a million bucks). It was called, Erasing White Privilege.
Links you can use
- Login Login here!!!
- Logout
- Register for this BLOG If you register with us we will keep you updated as an active member.
Robin Posts – RSS
Use this to create an RSS feed from my blog posts directly to your website or to your Email program or web browser “RSS feed” reader.- Robin Posts/Comment – RSS
Use this to create an RSS feed from my blog post/comments directly to your website or to your Email program or web browser “RSS feed” reader.
I was at a gas station late at nite visiting a pal who worked 3rd shift when a black kid came in, and when my pals back was turned grabbed 2 packs of smokes and went to leave. I stopped him and called to my pal. The kid accused me of stopping him because he was black. I told him to save that crap for some weak minded fool. I don’t buy into it. He then said he was only what his parents made him. I asked if they intended to make him a thief. He didn’t get it. My pal chewed him a new one and told him he was banned from the store and to leave. Amazing.
Nice to know real men still exist, and glad nothing happened to the two of you.
Years ago there was a black conservative on the radio, in the 80s & 90s, Ken Hamblin, but he went by, also, “The Black Avenger”…….anyways, he offered to any white person a certificate of being freed of white guilt. All you had to do was write him for one. I got one, so I’m cleared, officially, lol.
Another fine article with an echo from the past the American civil war.
There are some surprising aspect to that war that I had never heard about.
There was a failed revolution in Germany in the 1840′s and the communists, yes,communists fled to America they are known as the 48ers. They became politically active in Lincolns cabinet and as Lincolns generals.
Lincoln and Karl Marx exchanged letters on the importance of a united union of America.
The University Of Wisconsin is very proud of the 48ers and their radical past.
http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~dalbello/FLVA/activists/48ers.html
After the failed German Revolution of 1848, thousands of German revolutionaries fled Europe and immigrated to the United States. Several of the ’48ers came to Wisconsin, changing the culture and history of the state in the mid-19th Century.
Young and well educated, the exiled ’48ers represented a new type of immigrant. Earlier German immigrants to Wisconsin tended to be farmers and tradesmen. The new immigrants were scholars, scientists, journalists, teachers, and lawyers. Indeed the ’48ers that did try their hand at farming were often referred to as “Latin Farmers” because they spoke better Latin than English. The Wisconsin ’48ers were men and women committed to freedom and liberty and came to America with these ideals intact.
Wisconsin represented a particularly fruitful state for the revolutionaries to settle in because Wisconsin’s Constitution of 1848 allowed the foreign-born to vote after just one year of residency. Thus, immigrants could play a major role in Wisconsin politics. The Wisconsin Forty-Eighters did just that.
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Republicans-Lincolns-Marxists-Marxism/dp/0595446981
That is fascinating. So much has been covered up. I am currently reading Treason by Ann Coulter. The book is shocking me. Everything I thought I knew is wrong. The infiltration of our country by communists has been going on since even before Marx. Thanks for the info, which I will check out.
Not long ago I espied a convertible driven by an attractive woman. She was entering the parking of a golf course in the Berkley hills.. What caused me to take further notice is that she had the Rush Limbaugh show blaring from the radio. Could it be that Robin was she? Or is there possibly another budding conservative alive in “Bezerkley”? Anyway, it’s a much better world with Robin again contributing to AT.
So glad you’re back, Robin. It’s a true relief to hear the voice of someone who has gone sane in the face of a crazy world.
“Andrea’s rendition of the events reminded me of those angerfests that were popular in the ’70s. Back then, people would pay to be in encounter groups, where they’d holler and smack each other with foam bats. The idea was that by releasing anger, everyone would feel better. ”
Good grief. Aside from Star Wars & yours truly, did anything good come out of the 70s?
I resent being blamed for the past wrong doings of other people! I am not a racist or a bigot! I find nothing wrong with being “White and Right”! I love my country; “USA”! I like firearms and shooting them! I despise corruption and injustice!
Any white person who would go to one of those “seminars” deserves what he gets. It just shows that the left is looking for the sanction of the victim, to use Ayn Rand’s term.
If I were told by a black person that I was somehow responsible for slavery, I would reply that, yes, slavery was evil for your ancesters. But it was good for you because it meant that you were born in the United States and not Africa. I believe that the movement of people is from Africa to North America, and not vice versa.
Welcome back.
I had the ‘black rage’ psychodrama figured out in 1966, together with the white liberal guilt-trip and the white liberal’s ready ease and comfort with manipulating it for his own gain. I’ve been a grumpy contrarian sourpuss pretty much ever since.
I really enjoyed the announcement of your decision to take a break and your reasons for that decision. The level of noise ‘out there’ is deliberate and purposeful. Distraction encourages disorientation and easy manipulation. Quiet, withdrawal, and honest introspection are priceless for keeping one’s self centered (as opposed to merely being self-centered). A little time spent in prayer doesn’t hurt, either.
I’m no spiritual anarchist – we all need to be taught, guided, and inspired to understand about our Lord and our own selves. That said and acknowledged, I nonetheless find inspiration and truth in the chorus of ‘Spanish Pipedream’:
*****
Blow Up Your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try and find Jesus on your own.
*****
Meanwhile, as the Devil said to the lost souls buried in excrement up to their necks, “Break’s over. Back on your head.”
Missed you.
Hammersdad
Thank you Robin. Growing up white in Mississippi my parents sang this song to we children :
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in his sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world
They believed it and so did we.
But my entire life I’ve been blamed constantly for perceived offenses because I’m White, Male, Christian and Mississipian – the perfect quadfecta of evil responsibility. It’s amazing that, with all of this power and privilege, I’ve managed to do so little with my life. In spite of people coming to my door every morning with sacks of money, insider deals and offers of sex and fame – the birthright of every WMCM – I have somehow managed to squander it all.
Today I wake to find myself old, paunchy, bald, bankrupt, unemployed and culpable for all that is vile on the planet – not to mention guilty for being so wasteful of my natural born advantages. Maybe I missed a meeting or something. Or maybe life is hard on us all.
But I have hope, perhaps a dream, that someday Barak Obama’s presidency will reveal the underlying truth that men and women of any color or creed can be abysmally, equally stupid.
Wow I cannot believe any Caucasian would ever willingly subject themselves to that, I’m Black and I find that whole act (Erasing White Privilege) offensive as all get out. There is no way in hell would I ever let anyone yell at me over something that happened so long ago or for something I had no involvement in whatsoever. What makes matters worse is that fact that those knuckleheads who allowed someone to verbally smack them down, may have had ancestors that helped slaves escape or fought in the civil war, or fought side by side with a Black person during WWII. This is distasteful beyond belief. As I said in so many other blogs my success or failure on this little blue planet called Earth is mine and mine alone, I cannot blame no one for my outcome especially people I sure as hell don’t know.
One last comment don’t just voice your opinion here on the blogs voice them out loud if you don’t none of this matters just remember if you say something someone will be mad and if you don’t say anything and hold it in guess what…someone will still be mad. Don’t be “quietly angry” it will just give you a heart-attack or at worse…gas
Time to tell your Caucasian friends there is no such thing as White guilt, suck it up and live your life because no matter what is done, how much blood, money or property they give up IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH for a lefty.
Great day to you all:
Will
Conservative
Tea Party supporter
Just plain American.
Will, you are another awesome man who didn’t drink the Kool-Aid. It’s a beautiful thing to see people either not be hypnotized to begin with, or to snap out of their trance.
The truth is that the left preys on brainwashed blacks, whites, Latinos, gays, straights, males and females etc. etc. who march to their drummer. Just like hypnotized subjects in an experiment, they learn to hate conservatives simply because they have been brainwashed to. I was one of those dupes until recently. Ultimately, I think that the trance is so strong that only God can snap us out of it. I pray for their souls.
The civil war in America and the communist connection the 48ers of Germany fled to America after a failed communist revolution there they were the core of Lincolns big government plan.
Marx and Lincoln exchanged letters about the war. And many of Lincolns inner circle were 48ers. If you start googling 48ers you will find out all sorts of information on them.
http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~dalbello/FLVA/activists/48ers.html
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Republicans-Lincolns-Marxists-Marxism/dp/0595446981
I so look forward to your column, Robin, as well as reading all of the thoughtful responses from your readers. You all give me hope!
I just want to share a link to the website for the “White Privilege Conference” that is held every year for teachers to attend: http://www.whiteprivilegeconference.com/
Public schools, colleges and universities are dedicated to brainwashing students in the victimization of minorities and they’re sending teachers to this conference to train them how to do it. Much of our educational system in this country is acting as a reeducation camp for our children, feeding them propaganda and resentment.
My concern for our country boils down to “united we stand, divided we fall”. We seem to be as divided as ever and our “Agitator in Chief” has been rubbing salt in our wounds since he was elected. I’m praying for true spiritual revival and repentence all across this country. Only God can save us from ourselves.
A key psychological finding that Robin mentions is that recalling past hurts real or imagined (called rehearsing) doesn’t dissipate them. Instead, the original negative emotions come back, even stronger with each rehearsal. What have libs been doing but egging blacks on in eternal rehearsal of grievances about things that haven’t happened to them but distant relatives and directed at innocent people who had nothing to do with those ancient sins. How do they identify the people they wrongly blame? By the color of their skin. This is racism pure and simple. So blacks were never against racism, just resentful that they didn’t get a chance to practice it against whites. They’re making up for it now and including Asians as targets for good measure.
They are locked in a selfhate cycle dependant on Uncle Sam for all, never having stood on their own two feet and learned to walk alone thru life. A crazy mob mentality engulfs them when two or more are together resulting in bizzare behaviour; so unhappy in their own skin taking it out on all around them. In a nutshell without stable, caring ever present fathers around the home there is no hope for them. The men are like animals toward their women; faithless, irresponsible scoundrels.
I am going to approve this comment, though must emphasize that you are speaking about a subclass of people, and not all people of color. I think that most people raised to hate, living on dangerous streets, and attending horrible schools — and then being encouraged to act out their rage — would behave this way. It’s what we are seeing among some Islamic extremists and their behavior toward non-Islamic people. Young, innocent children being raised to hate. It’s evil.
Yes, and 99 percent of them voted for BO because he is BLACK.
Slavery predates written records, has existed in many cultures. It was prominent in Africa, long before the beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade. When the Atlantic slave trade began, many local slave systems began supplying captives for slave markets outside of Africa. So, the truth is, slavery in America began with the black Africans, in Africa, rounding up other Africans– selling their own people to the traders. That kinda throws a chock into the whole blame game, doesn’t it?
Slavery still exists all over the world today. I very seldom see any real efforts to remedy this problem. Especially from liberals! Mankind continues to repeat history vowing to never let these things happen again. Could socialism be considered a form of slavery?
They lack common decency, self respect. The worst is yet to come!
Robin, I miss your provacative, insightful commentary and would like to encourage you to write more often. Even a few paragraphs about your thoughts, picture, website. There are many writers on the Internet, few, if any that put their soul out to their readers. When we do not see your columns – there is always concern – how about a few greeting cards to let us know all is well?I have a similar background and would encourage you to look at sidroth.org – messianic Jew that documents miracles.
I can’t remember having but one job(accounting Dept. of stock brokerage) where there were not blacks working in the same job description. If you are black and there are white folks working with you, you are NOT being discriminated against. I only remember One Black person in my advanced accounting classes at college. Where are the black C.P.A’s and engineers? Yes, I see black medical doctors and lawyers, but are they affirmative action accepted into professional schools?
I’m sick of the blame game. Staying up until 4 o’clock A.M. studying was not fun. White students are weeded out also, by demanding professors.
Blacks will have successful careers when they start paying the price to have what they want, just as others have done.
No white guilt HERE.
I am a Caucasian, second generation Swedish American. My grandfather (Ljungberg) came with nothing. In two generations his offspring had become professionals. I have no white guilt. I have Tea Party anger. We are in a cultural civil war, which eventually we will lose. Per Tocqueville, democracy is lost when citizens realize they can be dependent upon government. One man, one vote was the turning point of a Christian, freedom -based meritocracy. Equality sinks to the lowest common denominator. Equality is not be confused with equal opportunity.
Whites will become a minority. The ablest no longer are in charge of the Republic.
I have come to despise all things Obama and those who would re-elect him.
Whites must now consider emergency emigration (a reverse brain drain). Prepare to move your wealth, leave your debts and homes and those relatives who will not leave with you. You must be ready to flee before confiscation, detainment and confinement. Europe is being overtaken by Islam. You must find a Christian, English-speaking country. Consider socialist New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Africa. There are ex-pat enclaves in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, the Philipines and Southeast Asia. China and Japan are xenophobic.
I await articles and blogs that describe exit strategies.
Well done, Robin! All of us missed you AND the shared thread of conversation. Thank you and take care.
Excellent piece. This president had an amazing opportunity to be a bridge builder, to promote individual responsibility, hard work and the Golden Rule. Instead, he’s chosen to bomb the bridge, creating a further chasm between the races, and essentially promoting “victimization.” Guess he did hear a few things in Rev. Wright’s Black Liberation Theology church after all.
It just so happens that I have been thinking today of some aspects of this black/white relationship. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that Colombians are mostly of mixed blood (mestizos), and I once met a Dominican-American who made a similar observation about the Dominican Republic. Well today most blacks are indeed “colored” which is what they were called in my youth. Look at almost all blacks and they are of every shade of brown – from soft beige to very dark. Look at a group of Indians from India – colors are the same, from pale to almost coal black. Look at Jews from Russia where the Cossacks raped and pillaged: I wonder how many carry Cossack genes. Look at so called whites – pale blonds from Scandinavia, Normans from France with red hair and freckles, Irish who have coal black hair and were once thought to be one of the lost tribes of Israel, and so on and so on. Personally I find beauty in all colors of people, and homeliness in all colors, and if we knew the genealogical lineage of all these people we, and they, might be surprised to find out who had been having sex with whom way back when. I personally think this is one of God’s jokes and why spoil a good joke by being disagreeable. I, a Yankee, partly grew up in the South and always enjoyed black people and being around them. Why the hell are we spoiling what can be a good experience with racial sourness and worse. This is what enemies of the Good want. And this commentary does not change the fact that I am as conservative politically as anyone you find.
Welcome back Robin! Thank you for posting what so many of us feel. I know you are too young to remember, but around 1970 at Zellerbach in Berkeley I saw a black musical play called “Big Time Buck White.” The main song was sung at the finale when actors went over to the exits and pretended to lock the doors. The song was “It’s all over now mighty whitey” and it has stayed with me these past 40 years.
That was an act of sadism.
There is a new book out (copyright 2010) that everybody should read. Title is “Everything You Were Taught About The Civil War Is Wrong”. It is a serious book with an extensive bibliography. It is very appropriate to your article. It is available on Amazon.
And, in fact Birdie, everything most of us were taught in school about the Civil War (my family called it The War of Northern Aggression) is wrong.
“rage, revenge and reparations”: Really well said, Robin! Sounds like the sixties all over again when young White females would capitulate and have sex with the browbeaten Black man in order to dissipate her guilt for being White. What we didn’t know then, which you so handily identified, is that emitting anger and rage does not dissipate such violent emotions but actually increases them. The cult of “victimization” appears to be in full swing but it does not sway me. The attributes of “responsibility” and “achievement” are what still moves me. In the Mideast context, we still hear and read about how people who call themselves “Palestinians” blame Jews, especially from Israel, for their plight, sixty-two years later. That’s how you can tell that they are going no where. They (meaning most) simply refuse to take responsibility and strive for a better life (achieve).
Robin
Great article and your thoughts have been sorely missed. I do hope your time away was profitable for your soul and spirit.
I have to admit I do get rather tired of the whole white guilt thing. Recently there was an article in People magazine, a guilty pleasure I must admit, in which a black person and white person were “reconciling” because his ancestors owned her ancestors. I found the whole article somewhat bizarre truthfully and not a little sad. Why do either of them need reconciliation for something that affected their ancestors? There was a piece on the show History Detectives much in the same vein except that it the men in question were descendents of men who had served in a war with the white man eulogizing the black man. They gathered both of them at the grave of the black man and the white descendent read part of the eulogy that “affected and moved him the most”. It was a contrived and awkward moment to me.
As a female I didn’t understand until I was applying for medical school that I was actually a minority. That was news to me. I probably did benefit in that instance due to my gender but not since. My speciality is still highly male dominated and if you don’t have the ability/skill/drive you don’t make it regardless of your gender.
My grandparents, on both sides, did not arrive in the U.S. from Croatia until 1910. Croatians were one of the many groups who have been enslaved over the centuries. Blacks in the U.S. were not the only slaves in the world; and white people were not nearly the only slave owners!
My parents grew up in CA and NY. I grew up in Oakland. I went to school with and worked side by side with people of all colors. My parents never said a disparaging word about any group, but no person of color has ever believed that.
A few years ago, I was walking on Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, and inadvertently bumped into an African-American male, who began yelling, threatening me, and accusing me of being a racist. I actually tried to tell him I wasn’t, but he wasn’t buying it. Since I was working in that area at the time, my husband gave me some pepper spray after that. I’d like an apology from that person.
I felt racial guilt very briefly during my hippie college years in the Oakland/SF Bay Area. I got over it. White privilege indeed.
Your essay is spot on. The reason I believe this nonsense is spreading is because it’s being taught in sociology classes at the community college and university level. It takes hold in the minds of black and hispanic kids who are struggling with their classes because of their inadequate academic preparation in California public schools. Failing classes? It’s all because of “white privilege”!
I took a sociology class recently in my quest for a midlife career change. The instructor spent two weeks on this subject (although it wasn’t a part of the textbook), yet didn’t make it a part of any quiz, midterm, or final. We were also heavily “encouraged” to go hear a speaker on the subject for another dose of the poison. At times during this portion of the class, it seemed like the white people were in some kind of bizarre People’s Democratic Republic Re-education camp for those who have politically offended by accident of birth. The asian kids never said a thing as I suspect they rightfully did not wish to become targets in case the teacher pulled out an “asian privilege” accusation out of her bag.
Incidentally, if you ever find yourself in this situation, do NOT attempt to use humor to defuse things. Mentioning things like “tall people privilege” and “beautiful people privilege” with examples won’t win you any points with a grim, short, homely socialist socialism instructor.
I don’t see how people that had nothing to do with slavery can be held accountable for it’s actions! I am a black man that does fine on my own. My wife and I work every day for our lively hood and ask no one for anything. I do not understand how an entire generation of people “of all color’s” can be so reliant on the govt!! Where did all this hatred come from? I get along with everyone I meet and I enjoy people of all custom’s. It seems since liberals have been in power the situation between people has just spiraled out of control.
Thunderchild, check my remark to Robin’s essay. You sound just like most of the black people I have known throughout my life, right up until recently. My best to you!
I used to sit in that restaurant I mention in my remarks and could not tell the race of the men talking without looking at them, unless they were the younger generation, when you knew their race by the content of the conversation.
A sad commentary on the late 20th Century!
Yes, when you have had to deal directly with such angry people it does make racism a bit more real. Racism becomes visceral and integrated school busing does increase that effect. As a high school student I did not consider myself racist but after meeting a few individuals lets say my perspective changed. But no matter how enlightening school integration has been for us we should endeavor to find ways of dealing with this national situation. Whites are slightly ahead in this country, but not all of us, and I see no reason for whites to feel guilty any longer or ever about anything. Guilt accomplishes nothing for anyone, especially the blacks.
I have always said where there is chaos there is opportunity, and that might be slightly optimistic but bear with me. We shouldn’t think of the racial situation as a national disaster but as a national opportunity to micro-analyze the mindsets of these populations and find positive solutions and ways to modifying that ideology, and it IS their ideology that is the black issue. We can state with confidence that the oppression of the blacks by the whites in this country has been eliminated, more than eliminated.
Republican black politicians often mention “empowering” the blacks. A white’s first reaction might be a kneejerk, “No way, they’ve been given everything already.” But hopefully that’s not what our black politician means. I would think what the black politician means is to find ways to change the blacks’ ideology. And what is the blacks’ ideology? In a word, victimology. A quick dictionary.com search gives: [ The possession of an outlook, arising from real or imagined victimization, that seems to glorify and indulge the state of being a victim. ] Let’s restate that again so we don’t just gloss over it: “to glorify and indulge the state of being a victim.” Many of us instinctively knew this, (Republicans ONLY) but let’s just state it anyway. At some point in the past the blacks in this country were victims, no doubt. But the issue now, now that blacks are no longer victims, is how can this country change that mindset so they no longer think they are victims? I am sure that it can be done. But just handing them more money will not bring about the result we might hope. Money by itself will no longer by itself show positive results.
The Democratic Party is the party of Black suppression through its use of entitlement programs that perpetuate that black victimology. What makes it even worse is that the entitlement programs, welfare systems, inner city housing, and affirmative action not only reinforces the black mindset but now feathers the nest for the coming wave of Islam. And if you think the blacks in our country are irreparably locked into a state of victimology, then you will be mesmerized by the tide of Islam headed our way. They are not only locked into the big V because of ignorance and the lack of self belief that they can improve themselves (like a belief some whites have), but the Muslims have an entire highly organized cult and culture locking them into it.
Hopefully the blacks will someday understand that they are the masters of their own environment, and they are the result of that environment they make for themselves. The days of sticking it to whitey are drawing to a close, and the national debt forces that conclusion. When the blacks in Compton CA burned down their own community during the riots, they hurt themselves more than anyone else. Hopefully the time will come when blacks feel that they should also protect America and not just demand reparations for some imagined, glorified, indulgence in the state of being a victim.
We need to win this battle with the black mind and soon. We find ourselves at a turning point. Either we find a way to positively influence the minds of these people with some belief in positive self-destiny or this country will never be again what it once was. The fact the Left controls the media and the academia needs to be seriously confronted. The Left is heading us down a path of socialism, disempowerment, corruption and national meltdown. The current events scream this. The parasitic cultures growing within us will destroy this country. We need to figure how to take back the media and the movie industry and the messages it sends out. We need to start sending out better messages.
Personally I am an atheist. I don’t consider it any badge of honor. I almost consider it to be an illness. I have come to believe that the normal human condition is one of a belief in a higher power, and no I don’t mean big government. I would have to say that because it is the Christian members of our American society who are the strongest of individuals, whether be it white or black or any other. A different message about Christianity from our media would be a good start. The break down of moral character is perpetuated and enforced by Television and Movies. During World War II the media in this country went total war propaganda. The result of that shift in the message that enveloped the citizens came from every direction and every hour. The results were dramatic; every one was onboard with the concept of saving this country. Investors poured billions into the economy for the war effort. It was an all out religious experience that propelled this country for generations.
I am not saying we need to create a new propaganda department in this country, more government might be counterproductive, and that word propaganda has a lot of negative connotation. But some similar concept that is in the best interest of this country is needed. We have let the lunatics and reality-disconnects run things long enough. It is time for a change in the media message the American citizen hears. Psychologists often heal their patients by changing their thought processes from self-destructive self-loathing internal rhetoric to more positive messages. If our country bounces back as conservative as much as I hope, thank you very much Obama, the time to may such a positive change may soon be here. I leave it to you to figure out how. But if you say it can’t be done, I say you are wrong.
I’m thankful your back.
These people on the left (mainly) carry such rage. I’ve experienced it, I can’t understand it and I know it does not stand them well. There is only one answer and He loves to forgive and wants us to do the same. Peace be with them
This “exercise” reminded me of an article I recently read about brainwashing in Communist China in the ’50′s. Scary stuff. You can read it here:
http://www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/books/faith_under_fire/iron-gates.htm#collective
Good job Robin. You make a couple of points that I think were worth the wait.
My family did own black slaves in the south. I have a picture of one, she’s in a family photograph from the year after the civil war and noted as a family servant. A great many men from my family died fighting for the South. There is one family account from an ancestor who was three hundred yards from Stone Wall Jackson when he was killed. His account is a little different from that which you’d read in a history book. This man also mentions how 120 of them left to join the army of the south and how he was one of eleven who came back, despite being wounded three times.
Slavery was a condition of the world until the white, European people repudiated the system, albeit that repudiation was tumultuous. Slavery still exists in many parts of the world outside white America and Europe. It’s a historical tragedy that the end of the slave trade in the history of humanity revolved around black Africans. But, they certainly faired no worse than people who lived in areas through which the Roman Empire or Genghis Khan marched. The institutional pogroms your ancestors suffered along with the everyday ghetto conditions would have made being a share cropper in Georgia a wistful dream to your people. The dream to just be left alone to fair well, or poorly, without interference from the powers that exist; this is why your people came here before this country had a safety net.
I think a point is being missed here, not by you Robin, I think you have gleaned the point. The European Enlightenment brought about a philosophy that eventually culminated in things like the American Constitution and the repudiation of the chaste of slavery. It gave the world the Modernist concept of every person having an equal opportunity to succeed or fail on their own merit.
The Post-Modernist philosophies, of which Multi-Culturists are a sect, oppose the right of people to succeed or fail on their own merit. Post-Modernism believes that every group (individuals only count if they have a PhD from a good school, Obama’s JD works) should have an equal share of power and if they do not have that share, then it is the responsibility of the Government to step in and enforce fairness.
So, the root of Post-Modernism is that individual liberty should be suborned to power distributed by Government. We are all to give up liberty for power distributed by the Government. Personally, if I were Satan, I couldn’t institute a more perfect system to insert evil into the world. And we wonder how things like Fascism can creep into being?
But, here is the point that I think is being missed. Every time we argue racism, we are pulling one leaf off of one branch while we leave the tree and root system to thrive. You cannot argue whether or not your people owned slaves a hundred and fifty years ago or did not own slaves and not have already lost the argument.
Robin, why do we let them frame the argument and then plead our own personal innocence? All that does is cede to them the moral high ground, which of course Satan loves. Where your ancestors came from and the condition they lived in while blacks were slaves here in this country is an argumentative retort that has already lost the field the second it is uttered.
Our argument to the Black woman who blocks the shopping isle and tells you she waited for three hundred years so now you can wait for her, is to reply, “Do you talk to your Mother like that? Do you teach your children to talk to you like that?”
The Post-Modern philosophy would be moot if it was not evil. Arguing either a moot point or buying into an evil point is always going to be like wrestling a pig in the mud. Eventually, you’ll have to figure out that the pig is enjoying it and you cannot win.
Absolutely and spot on. Again, it is time for you to write an article yourself. Yes postmodernism is evil because it is anti-God; because it blames everything on culture rather than individual responsibility. And yes, we allow the left again and again to frame the argument, and then respond defensively.
I love your retort to the black woman blocking the aisles. I have also noticed a distinct change out here since Obama has been in office. I am often one of the few white people in stores, and in the past I could smile at someone or make a comment. I definitely feel a more hostile energy. I personally wouldn’t feel safe saying anything. However, I do not respond in an obsequious way. I think that this power shift is trying to get whites to act in Uncle Tom type of ways. I never realized this until this minute, actually.
A couple of times this week, I was buying an item in a store, when the black cashiers were outright rude to me. I suppose the average white liberal out here would have “understood” and shuffled a bit. I just acted irritated back. We’ve got to stop this runaway train of displaced hate and revenge before it’s too late.
I feel the need to emphasize here what Ephesians says, that our enemies are not human beings, but the entities and powers that work through willing dupes. These people are the ultimate slaves because they are enslaved to evil.
Yes!!! It is sad to see a whole race being duped, used, and blind to the fact that many are enslaved to the government now via welfare. My ancestors were brought to America as indentured servants…America did not start slavery…we ended it! However, if anyone today is still hostile to the idea of slavery, they should use that energy to fight the current growing crisis of human trafficking. Is it ironic that sex slaves are often black girls pimped by black men? We must fight darkness with light.
A couple of times this week, I was buying an item in a store, when the black cashiers were outright rude to me. I suppose the average white liberal out here would have “understood” and shuffled a bit. I just acted irritated back. We’ve got to stop this runaway train of displaced hate and revenge before it’s too late.
I have to admit that I am a large white male with forty years of diverse martial arts experience and a concealed weapons permit allowing me to legally carry a handgun under my clothing at all times except when in a bar or a government building. So, my outlook is most probably going to be different than is yours. Placing our outlooks due to physical constraints aside, it can be noted from my previous comments that my culture is southern. As all black culture is derived from the south there is always a sort of affinity between southerners.
With that idea in mind, may I make a suggestion that I have found often works for me in the situation you describe above.
First, keep in my there are always two types of situations in which you should be aware. You should always have a situational awareness of whether or not a place is dangerously hostile or it is not. Simply do not go where it is dangerous, discretion really is the better part of valor. The second situation is hostile, but not dangerous as you describe above.
What I do in that situation is simply walk up to the black cashier and speak southern. I say, forthright and boldly with a smile on my face, “How ya?” (‘Ya being the singular tense of that plural word all you Yankees know, ‘Ya’ all’)
Doing that makes means you act first and set the tone as friendly and pleasant. The other person then has to look at you as a singular person, not the group whitey, and they then have to make a conscious decision to treat you as a person or as whitey and accept or reject your pleasantness. You’d be surprised how many blacks will see you as a person when you force them in this manner.
You’re a psychologist, when it’s safe experiment with this. I think you’ll see that the hateful people will often choose to see you differently if they have to look at you as a fellow human. It doesn’t always work, but it may help you find some element of control. And, what you are describing above is a situation in which all control is taken from you in order to make you feel less. Power and control are often the tools of evil. It is reasonable to be aware of the balance of power in play. It is also very reasonable to look past the power and see the human. A smiling “How ya?” is a way to do that.
I think responding to public intimidation or rudeness without regard to the offender’s race is right on. When you respond appropriately, my experience is the onlookers will be startled but respectful.
Actually it was not the European Enlightenment that brought about the end of slavery but the white Christian male and the Evangelical movement. William Wilberforce and his close knit group of Christian friends were the ones that lobbied year after year for the end of slavery. I would suggest the outstanding book Amazing Grace by Eric Metaxes on this subject. Until the advent of the Evangelical movement it was the exception rather than the rule that people with means helped those in need-much of the roots of what has unfortunately evolved into the nanny state started with well meaning evangelical Christians of the 18th century. Again, read the above mentioned book. It was quite enlightening and most definitely not what I remember being taught in school.
Actually, and you can read the history, Ghengis Khan was quite evolved. He and his men were ferocious if they encountered resistance to their potential conquests but to those cities and towns which offered no resistance, Ghengis Khan made it a practice to leave them alone, to carry on in life as they had previously, not to mortgage their future but to exact a toll of loyalty and a non-burdensome amount of taxes.
20 years ago a new constitution was enacted in Colombia. Although it is still less than perfect, a) for starters, it wasn’t written by the winners of a civil war (as it used to happen there) and b) it was an inclusive one, i.e. minorities had a place in its writing.
However, pre-Columbian descendants wanted to start the whole Constitution-making proccess by denouncing the “white men’s” misdeeds. The proposal was easily overruled, because… er, Colombia is a country with a huge mestizo population and very few people could claim “purity of blood” or “purity of race” or whatever.
As somebody poetically said, Colombians (and most latinos) are both the knife and the wound.
That said, it is easier to understand why people should not accept guilt/take blame for something they didn’t do. And I will concede this is a difficult theme to address, because like anybody that knows Godwin’s law, there’s the case of Nazi Germany to be analyzed. Germans were blamed as a whole because they let Hitler to rise to power by direct action or by glaring omission.
But you could not blame a German born after the war for anything that happened before they were born, do you? So you can infer that these unless you acted personally discriminating against the blacks (or african-americans), there’s no blame to take (or feel).
My, this is a really difficult issue.
Yes, it is a complex issue. I think that, in general, looking backwards only foments negative feelings, e.g. shame, resentment, envy, etc. My family was from Russia/Poland, where the Jews were often subjected to pogroms of rape, murder, burning of villages, etc. My mother once told me that the girl children were buried in a hole in the backyard when they heard that the Cossacks were coming, to avoid being raped and possibly kidnapped.
I once asked my grandmother about her childhood. She had a haunted look and said, “I remember looking at the window of a bakery and crying because I was so hungry.” I never asked her anything else because I could see that looking backwards was causing her pain.
But do I now feel resentment when I meet a Russian or Polish person? Of course not; the idea is absurd. But if I were brainwashed from day one to hate them, I would likely feel animosity. I would be a more bitter and unhappy person. That is what the left does to people of color in this country, makes them remain stuck in the past. And the left does this not because they care about blacks, but for political gain.
In my mis-spent youth, I also was a liberal/leftist which is a source of self-anger for me. In those days, I didn’t buy into the black anger/white guilt paradigm and had no time or patience with those who did.
This articles makes me think of another article of yours “The Good Victims”. It is incredible of how much the left degenerated further. When Reagan/Bush was in office, they rightfully hammered on the bread and butter issues. When Clinton came in, they forgot the bread and butter issues, and started pushing political correctness. As a result, IMHO, this caused a massive brain drain on the left.
In the ’80′s, their big thing was Apartheid in South Africa while ignoring and disregarding the farm crisis because they considered Farmers and farm familes as sub-human white trash.
Results:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams010902.asp
And corporate farms, hog lots that smell to high heaven, and genetically modified crops.
By their fruits you shall know them.
The damnable the black anger/white guilt paradigm has also led to massive psychological child abuse of White and black kids alike.
What is more psychologically abusive than telling White children that they’re evil, their parents are evil, and their entire family lineage is evil. Or, for that matter telling them that they’re ‘racist’ whether they know it or not, no matter what they do, and they can never redeem themselves from it.
What is more psychologically abusive than telling black children that all their ancestors knew nothing but misery, dread, fear, injustice, persecution, and that white people will always hate them and will always be out to get them.
By their fruits you shall know them.
I fear for the future and the younger generations.
To end on a positive note, I’m glad to see you back.
Robin,
I’m new to this blog but not new to reading your articles. I’m a journalist and travel everywhere writing for different newspapers and magazines. I wrote an article in 2004 about a lady in the Philippines who started a nonprofit to find and rescue women and children who were kidnaped and sold into sex slavery. A good deal of the victims were kidnapped in the U.S. and sold on the world sex slavery market in other countries. Sex slavery is a fact. It is ignored and the reasons why are a mystery. Slavery still exists, its profits are more than the dope trade. Who do we blame and beat up for that?
I also work for the federal government. I write Army regulations and doctrine that is published for our soldiers when they first come into the service. I have been the victim of racial violence and prejudice lately. My supervisor came to my office one day last January and yelled and threatened me calling me a big, fat, white piece of s–t n—-r slave driver! When I filed an Equal Employment Opportunity charge against him, he began retaliation against me. I was trained by the Army how to spot and report EEO offenses and violence in the workplace and file reports. I followed Army protocol by reporting the incident up and down the Army chain of command. Now the commander of the outfit where I work has retaliated against me for filing also. She is a woman Colonel. What makes this incident so bizarre and strange is, my supervisor is black and I am white. His latest statement to me was that I am a racist because I filed an EEO complaint against a “protected” race (him!). How does that grab you for bizarre and absurd? Should I feel guilty? I think not.
Yes, slavery of women and girls is widespread all over the world, particularly in the East. And yet people look backwards instead of what is happening now. I recently heard a talk (at a church) about sex slavery of girls and women in India — over l00,000 sex slaves in Bombay alone. They are taken from their native country, often Nepal. The same thing happens in Thailand, where the girls are from Laos and Cambodia. The parents don’t have enough money, and the slave traders promise to employ the girls in the factories or as maids in private houses. But instead the girls are gang raped over and over again until they become completely passive and compliant, until they become slaves.
Who are the people doing much of the work trying to bring these girls to safety? The most vilified of institutions: the churches. The missionaries are ministering to their spirits to try to bring back what was broken in them to heal their spirits.
And yet it doesn’t profit the Left to talk about this present-day slavery.
Yes, it is true. The lady in the Philippines is a wealthy (believe it or not) Catholic lay person. What I found alarming, at the time, was how many women and children were found wandering around on one of those small uninhabited islands not knowing where they were, were Americans. Where is the FBI regarding this matter? Where is our all-powerful law enforcement meant to protect us citizens? It’s nowhere.
I never felt or currently feel white guilt concerning black people because I have always tried to help them and supported the civil rights changes in the 60’s. After over 45 years of providing help and equality to blacks, they have had a great opportunity to help themselves and take advantage of our great country. Sadly, it evidently pays better to remain bitter and I suppose to obtain more from white people. Most of today’s blacks were not around during the 60’s. I am tired of it and greatly disappointed in black culture and have no idea how to fix things or help them further. They are on their own now.
The only reason most blacks remain bitter is because of the garbage they are fed by the liberal media and politicians. I am a black man that decided LONG ago that the liberal way was totally wrong!! I rely on myself and when I screw up (which is rare) I can blame no one but myself. I fear that our civilization is already ruined by this Marxist mentality. God help us all.
And you are one awesome man, in my opinion, and I know my readers will agree with me.
I thank you very much for that. My closest friends are black conservatives that do get a thrashing from time to time from our liberal friends. People just don’t believe we exist or at least it seems that way. I used to get into heated arguments with them about how liberalism has ruined the world and is ruining our country. They hold steadfast to their arguments. I am at the point now that I am not going to argue with them anymore. They just don’t want to see the light. I am also not doing it to keep my blood pressure down because if you ever had a real serious discussion with a dyed in the wool liberal, you know that they will frustrate you so much your head could explode!! I just make my voice heard at the voting booth. There is no converting them.
Thanks for the article. Great to hear from you.
It is not only the blacks that HATE the whites. Of course, all of the other minorities have jumped on the “Hatred Bandwagon” along with the blacks–from mexicans to muslims to even illegal mexicans. (Yes, even though illegal mexicans are ILLEGAL, they still qualify as being a minority in the United States) Note: In the United States, government and society must always be “sensitive-to-the-needs” of its minorities. It doesn’t matter which minority it is or what they may do, government and society in the United States must still be “sensitive-to-their-needs”. Anything less, would officially OFFEND the minorities. When minorities officially become OFFENDED, all the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons and Jeremiah Wrights would come out of the woodwork and start screaming RACISM. Everybody but everybody knows, when the big “R” word surfaces, everybody but everybody runs for cover. Everybody hides. But, minority hatred for whites has been “fashionable” for some now in American society. Because it is the “fashion”, minority hatred for whites continues on happily and unimpeded, just like it has for the last 30 or 40 years or so. Understand minority hatred for whites continues on happily and strongly even though the minorities receive special handouts from the government and get special preferences in education and employment through Affirmative-Action. The white man gets particularly shafted with Affirmative-Action since the minorities receive special and big-time preferences in education and employment via Affirmative-Action. Even though the white man gets particularly shafted by Affirmative-Action, the minorities continue the fashionable trend of hating the white man. Otherwise, we would have a sign that things are changing. For example, a possible sign of things changing here would be seeing all the minorities banding together to have Affirmative-Action stopped. We haven’t seen that.
In a nutshell, the whole racism thing is a scam. In fact, I believe it to be the biggest scam ever perpetrated on citizens of the United States. I call it “The Great Racism Scam”.
Robin- Like all of your articles, I enjoyed ‘Black Privilege’ very much. I’m all about “human decency and consideration.” I’m a single, white, Christian Female and I don’t feel a bit guilty for the color of my skin or the skin color of my ancestors. I treat all people (black, white, rich, poor, etc.) with love and respect, because that’s how I was raised and it’s the ‘Decent’ thing to do. If people don’t like me based solely on the color of my skin-Oh well.
If this country were a family DHS would be involved. Can you say dysfunctional and abusive?
Glad to hear from you, Robin. I’ve missed you but I also understand completely that you need time away from the tumult – keeping up with all that is going on is more than exhausting. You more than deserve some time to yourself, however long that is.
I wanted to comment on this article, though. As a lifelong Catholic, I’m very familiar with the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I know that the sins and failings I confess are my own, what I have done and what I have failed to do — it is only I who is fully responsible for them and it is my job to atone for them. However, I don’t feel at all responsible for the situation you describe in your article, and quite honestly, I refuse to. Neither me nor my family and ancestors had anything to do with the slavery of black people. I know full well that it is wrong to enslave another human being, and I deplore the fact that it once existed in the USA. But it does not exist now, and in fact, black people now have the same opportunities as every citizen does in this country. The issue as I see it is that some blacks do not avail themselves of those opportunities and insist on blaming everyone else for their lack of ambition, or discipline, or education. I’m not the one holding them back – they themselves are, and as such, I’m not about to feel guilty over it. So, their little manipulative game is quite lost on me.
“The issue as I see it is that some blacks do not avail themselves of those opportunities and insist on blaming everyone else for their lack of ambition, or discipline, or education. I’m not the one holding them back – they themselves are, and as such, I’m not about to feel guilty over it. So, their little manipulative game is quite lost on me.”
And that is the most unfortunate part not just for blacks but many that don’t avail themselves to the many opportunities that exist today. They now have this “the govt. will take care of all my needs attitude.” This is the effect that liberalism has had. We need to stomp out this entitlement attitude”.
<>
Very, very true, unfortunately. One thing that is certain is that laziness and the entitlement mentality knows no race, creed or nationality.
The sad thing is that MANY in the Catholic Church loathe Confession AKA the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Yet it’s the one sacrament we most need.
Robin, Welcome Back! I always enjoy your articles!
Welcome back.
Most Black Americans I know are good/religious/God fearing people. Now Democrats have been corrupted by Chicago Style Marxists. Saul Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer to incite minority unrests to topple the Republic. Obama and Hillary were huge fans of Alinsky, and Hillary even wrote her college thesis praising Alinsky’s methods. Obama like Lenin were Imposters. Lenin was not a Russian but a Kalmyk from Siberia and a psychopath. Barry was born in British East Africa and his British Birth cerificate looks convincing. Barry’s recent Cerificate of Live Birth from Hawaii is a forgery. Look up http://www.WasObamaBornInKenya.com.
I do not suffer from white guilt because I was born in a Communist Country and I resent that Obama is inciting race baiting /slavery reparations and is trying to make us feel guilty about something we had nothing to do with.
Please no more Democrats like Hillary and Obama in American Politics.
Some of us came to a similar conclusion long ago. You are good at this stiff; what took you so long?
The massive irony in all this is that blacks have been a privileged group in America since the late 1950′s (I posit Brown vs. Board Of Education as the start of the madness). Privileged or more equal than whites — take your pick. But blacks, and especially the talented tenth, are both aware and unaware of their privileged status. Because in their minds all the AA in the world can’t make up for the fact that whites are uneasy (albeit disguising it as best they can) around blacks. This will never change. Because it’s built into us. So black rage is not all that different than homosexual rage or leftist rage in general. You can’t change human nature. You can beat the hell out of it but at the end of the day there it is. Driving you absolutely batty.
Jewish and a New Yorker, Robin? I match you and raise you one more having been born at Fifth Ave. & Flower Hospital and raised (at least for the first nine years of my life in Harlem). I learned at an early age to go out of my way to skip some blocks by walking around them on both sides of the line between Puerto Ricans and blacks. I also learned to be very street smart and when to run and when to stand and fight. I commiserate with you being a girl, but I was expected to come home with a black eye or two. But, I disagree with your conception of guilt. Like any mistake, you look at it from some analytical angle and say, “How did I do such a stupid thing.” Laugh at yourself and move on; or you might say, “There is a better way to handle this problem,” find it, and move on. The operative words are to move on. You don’t hold guilt like some precious commodity. It is the one thing some blacks have not learned, while other have learned it very well. There is no such word in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution; it does not say we made a mistake being English colonies, it does not request restitution for our labor (some served as indentured servants), it nor even restitution for the commission of a war we won (something fairly common in the day i.e., see winner takes the spoils). You would think blacks would get the message by now, frankly, they do. Somewhere they found this to be an advantageous political strategy – perhaps in the time the majority came to rely on Democrats, forgetting that most of their great leaders were Republican. I don’t care which ethnic, race or creed you might name, the success or failure at least in America begins with assimilation. Black leaders fear assimilation because it is a higher calling than can be provided by the Adam Clayton Powell’s, Charlie Rangel’s, Jesse Jackson’s and the dozens of rabble rouses whose success depends on creating “rebels without a cause.” No affirmative action, not fair housing laws, nor discrimination laws have made the slightest difference and clearly no “white guilt” fantasy will either. Blacks or already don’t, need the lessons taught by self-reliance and their personal work ethic to achieve what they desire in life.
Robin, welcome back indeed! It has been far too long. You are my favorite blog columnist.
Welcome back Robin.
I feel guilty when I, as an individual, do something bad. But, I had ancestors on both sides of the Civil War.
Personally I have come to a place that the manipulation by the left at being called racist for so long it simply has no meaning to me anymore. What I find is striking is that the tolerance of the left is strictly a one way street, as an example using your acronym “whitey” is supposed to be put me in place for the past injustice of SLAVERY.
We are meant to pay for this abomination in perpetuity, however that debt has been in BLOOD with the 600,000 souls that lost their lives in the conflagration of the Civil War and the life of the best President this Nation has known.
The race bater class which seems to be just about all liberal progressives, and in particular Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton to name a few are always willing to lob a race grenade and have allowed themselves to be used by the Democrats and their re-distributive scheme of largess for VOTES.
This is the real sick and twisted canard that many simply refuse to face, however it is brought to clarity by the instances of Flash Mobs in many of the Nations largest cities. These MOBS are predominatly black and the silence from the left, NAACP, OBAMA and MSM and liberals is DEAFENING!
Spot on!!
Robin, thank you for writing what many are afraid to face. Having lived in Alabama all of my life I have experienced the kind of revenge you describe from not only some of the black community but from most of America. Because of the actions of some evil white people we have all been labelled racists here. Federal court rulings have eroded the educational system to depths that are unbelievable. I have personally been denied promotions and raises I earned by merit because black employees were given preferential treatment. We, in The South, have endured this bigotry for decades because the courts, both in the justice system and public opinion, needed a scapegoat to assuage the guilt of our country’s past with slavery. Now all of America is experiencing the same backlash and it is tearing apart the union at a time we should be working together to save liberty and justice for all.
I was thrilled to see this post. Welcome back! Your articles are always so right on!!
I’m thrilled that you are back Robin! Hurdle Mills is correct, “Patience is rewarded”!
Thank you for another great article! I love reading you, and I especially love the perspective that you bring, as well as your insightful knowlege of self. Yes, Obama and “The 3 R’s”, that’s the “hope and change” these self deprecating liberals voted for. Defies logic!
Again, welcome back!
Well said, Robin!
I was confronted at the grocery store the day after election. A black woman was blocking the aisle, so said excuse me when she said they had been waiting for 300 yrs. I could wait until she was ready. Quite humorus for me I could not keep from laughing out loud. Your friend does’nt put her hand in a fire to see if it hurts does she?
Robin,
Yes, this is a dangerous caustic “game” that is being played by liberal Democratic elitists. One of the side effects of this is people being promoted and put into positions of authority that they otherwise would never be given. Of course the most profound example of this is the current occupant of the White House.
The societal impact is going to be profound. Ultimately it will lead, I fear, to racial tensions and unrest like this country has never seen (Yes worse than the 60′s riots). A local congressman from the east coast has warned white people who live in large cities that they need to have a contingency plan to get out in the event of civil unrest.
If racial discrimination is evil then it is evil no matter who does it and can never be rationalized. The other truth is that doing evil in the name of social justice results in evil outcomes. Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Castro, et al, all proclaimed their struggles to overcome the evils of past wrongs and were just. We know otherwise but this racial equality struggle is ultimately the same thing and will result in the same outcome, death and destruction.
Glad you are Back.
You’re absolutely correct about free slaves, except that they were called freedmen.
While those who would learn their history from Longfellow and Hollywood would say otherwise, 27% of the plantations on the Mississippi were owned by freedmen. Freedmen and anyone born free could not be enslaved as a matter or law.
Since all blacks were not enslaved, any reparations, if any were ever due, should only go to those who can prove that their ancestors were slaves. We should not take it for granted that all blacks are the same and treat them the same anymore than that all whites should be treated as if they were the same in pre-Civil War days.
I personally think that if there were any reparations due to those enslaved or their distant ancestors, that the actions of the abolitionist party, the Republicans, who also ran the Underground Railroad, should be taken into account. So should the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the Civil War, the stealing of land from families during Reconstruction and the killing of landowners should all be taken into account.
Hear! Hear! No guilt for me.
Welcome back, Robin!
Robin! Thank you for your insight, and opinion!! I have been waiting patiently for your return, and have been rewarded. The race thing is spot on. I am White, of slave blood (Not all slaves were black) and tall, So I am easy to pick out in a crowd. and have been racially discriminated against in black communities. The most racist groups of people I have ever met have been of color, and I’ve been around White Supremacists!
Glad your back!!!!!
What good thing every came out of Berkeley?
Why….. YOU did!
I enjoy what you say and how well you say it in equal amounts. Welcome back, Robin; my wife and I have missed your articles very much.
I read somewhere that the worst unemployment in Barack Obama’s America is among African-American teenage males–something like 41%. That has to be a very bitter pill.
As posted above, it makes no sense to rage against the world and expect that world to be handed to you because of your rage. It defies logic.
Welcome to Black Liberation Theology.
Here’s another thought–what is so sad about the Erasing White Privilege rallies is how pitifully ineffective they are. Channel that anger into getting a good education and learning how to be a gracious human being and the world will open its doors. No one likes a chronically angry person who expects the world to be handed to him because he’s angry at the world. That makes so sense.
The vast majority of people want to live in peace and harmony with their fellow human beings. Racial problems persist in large part fueled by race hustlers who make their living keeping racial tensions and turmoil alive. Barack Obama used race hustling techniques to manipulate a large bloc of the electorate into voting for him on racial considerations – to prove to ourselves and to the world that we are not a racist nation. He continues to play the race card to silence critics and pander to minorities. The recent rash of black teen mobs beating up white people is one unfortunate consequence. Perhaps the solution is to strongly oppose any person or group that seeks to leverage race hustling to further their agenda or line their pockets.
Well written and on point.
I wish there were some way to reach out to these self-righteous, unthinking, intemperate and insensitive louts.
Robin, keep working on it; someday you’ll break the code.
Thanks for the article. I get much out of your writings. Had missed you and hoped you would soon return. Hope the time away has helped to restore your battery!
Brilliant article Robin! Well done.
Good Lord, who is sponsoring these encounters called “Erasing White Privilege?!”
Who attends them? It’s sick.
Another fantastic column, Robin; I’ve been reading you for some time at AT; never miss your work. You speak to me, since I am a “reformed liberal” too. Hey, maybe we should start our own series of encounters called “Erasing Liberal Guilt!” Ha…
Welcome back. I take sanity breaks from technology too, and it really is good for the soul.
Agreed on most of what you say but I don’t see how things are worse now than in a few decades past. In certain redoubts perhaps this is true but not in the nation at large, not even with today’s sore provocations and excuses. If anything I see a level of exasperation in the black community with those stereotypically hewing to that mentality and I am in the black heart of Atlanta. It is no surge but it is a swell. Hopefully a series of growing swells.
The only fist fight I got into when I was in the paratroops (11th Airborne, Augsburg, Germany) over fifty years ago was over blacks routinely pushing their way to the head of the chow line at the battalion mess. It went on daily, yet none of the whites objected.
Bear in mind, “Jim Crow” was still alive and well in the South at that time. Long before Selma, etc. It has baffled me for years. It was a draw, by the way.
There have been many bold black-on-white crimes in Philadelphia. These include a flash mob that ran down an innocent bystander and kicked her until her bones broke. There was a strangler of single women in Old City (formerly safe area) who worked in the light of day. There was a second flash mob of “kids” who were swiping valuables from tables in a fashionable section of town.
With the excusing of the Black Panther, Black on White crime has gotten the implicit go-ahead from the powers that be. Thanks Obama/Holder.
Why not deal with idiotic notion the Slavery is “America’s Original sin”, head on?
If one wants to say that human slavery was humanity’s original sin – dating back to prehistoric times – I will accept that.
You are correct in your examples but why not use America’s own history to prove the point?
The very first grievance against the Crown in the Declaration of Independence concerned abolition of the slave trade:
“He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”
This refers to Virginia’s petition to the Crown to outlaw Slavery – The Association of the Virginia Convention; August 1-6, 1774. The fourth paragraph:
“2dly. We will neither ourselves import nor purchase any slave or slaves, imported by any person, after the first day of November next, either from Africa, the West Indies, or any other place.”
By any objective reasoning, slavery was draining southward out of the Country and would have been self-extinguishing because the increasing size of the “Free Black” population was making the capture of runaway slaves more difficult & expensive. Welfare expense to the taxpayer was the major complaint then, too.
More to the current point you might ask your liberal friends:
Why did Ayers, Dorhn, Obama, etc. choose to live in the “Sun Down Town” of Oak Park, Illinois? Springfield, Illinois was also a Sun Down Town………
Isn’t that the best example of their rampant hypocrisy? How many progressives live in such Towns?
Here is good book on the subject of Northern Abolition:
http://www.amazon.com/First-Emancipation-Abolition-Slavery-North/dp/0226983323/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311163899&sr=8-1
The pathway to peaceful gradual emancipation by the States was clear by 1805. It took the New England & Northern States a few years to accomplish it, at great expense but to their credit they did it. However, their slave population was only a few percent, not 40% like some southern States. Wouldn’t it be rational to think that it would take longer just on the basis of numbers?
One of the problems was the credibility of the Society of Friends (“Quakers”) who refused to fight in the French & Indians War and the Revolution and were slave owners. Weren’t they were the prototypical progressive Liberal of today? They were telling everyone how to live without having any “skin in the game”. This did not gain them credibility and it forced them to give up political control of Pennsylvania. “Do as I say, not as I do” didn’t work then, either.
This was to become the basis of the Ante Bellum Radical Republicans (polar opposite to Jeffersonian republicanism) – the Piety Party.
If there is collective guilt then there must corellatively be a collective mitzva. Since it was white christian men who established this nation, and who through reason and blood fought for the rights and privileges of minorities and women, the loonies should be praising caucasian males rather than raging against them. No other country has shed so much blood and invest so much treasure in abolishing slavery. No other country has led the world to recognize the human rights of all races and conditions of man.
I have been subject to reverse discrimination for my entire adult life. In college and graduate school sdmissions, and job hiring I was placed behind those of differing race and gender, and I was proud to have enough qualifications to earn my own way against those who had the playing fiend tilted in their favor. Nevertheless, when I raised the question of “when should reverse racism end,” I was treated as a racist traitor. The progressives were aghast at anyone who would question the perpetuity of their racial and gender nomenklatura. When, in 1986, I pointed out that racial and gender preferences must, like slavery and jim crow, end at some point or the same depredations will necessarily result, the progressives shouted me down.
The recent incidents of roaming black gangs attacking whites are no less criminal or discriminatory than the night riders of the post bellum south. Find a racial target and terrorize him/her as an example to others. And do so with the “Man” smiling and winking from behind the perpetrator.
The present gang of rulers do not wish to heal the divide, but rather seek to gain their pound of flesh. With the dismissal of the Black Panther prosecution and the Pigford settlement I can see the annointed One or his Major Domo at DOJ sneering “If I have nothing else, I will have my revenge.”
I, too, would attend the event for a million bucks, but I’d wait for the check to clear first.
Statisically, young African-Americans have the worst unemployment rate of any group in Barack Obama’s America. As I recall, it’s more than 41%. What would be the point of raging against him? It must be somebody else’s fault. It has to be somebody else’s fault.
Hate is like drinking an acid and expecting the person you hate to be harmed by it. It only hurts you.
What wise words: “Hate is like drinking an acid and expecting the person you hate to be harmed by it.” So true!
Thanks for your points. I am a white man who dosen’t do guilt – about hardly any thing. It is so unbecoming.
The black descendents of slaves should consider giving thanks every day that their ancesters were brought to this country and more than a few white men gave up lives so their ancesters could be free. These balck people now live a much richer life than their relatives who still live in Africa. (i.e. George Obama)
Thanks for writing the simple truth. you have been missed.
Glad you’re back. I’ve been reading a biography on John Paul II, whose main thrust was evangelical, his philosophy based on man’s freedom in Christ. Until our nation returns to God, evil will flourish, and lies will continue to deceive. This very strange kind of racism is just another face of the deceiver. God bless.
Welcome back! We missed your voice.
Finally, someone who identifies and calls it what it is. The problem is, when it is all said and done, unforgiveness. Nurturing hurts only makes them stronger. There is no future in the past. There is a wonderful line in Agatha Christie’s “Death On The Nile” where detective Hercule Poirot confronts a jealous and vindictive jilted woman who is harassing her replacement and threatening her life. “Bury your dead,” Hercule admonishes. In the context of Robin’s latest post, it is clear, and should be certain that you cannot cure racism by practicing it. There is only future in the future and we all must learn to “bury our dead.”
To paraphrase: It’s the culture, stupid.
The Black community has made a nice living off of White guilt, victimhood, and the blame game. Enough already.
As long as single parenthood, gangbanging, and dropping out of school are viewed as somehow, the fault of slavery and Whites, there is no need to work on the desperate problems in the community.
There are far too many successful Blacks these days who could set an example for others. Instead, most just escape.
‘Andrea’ needs help, but not the kind to be found at that repulsive “meeting.”
For many years I’ve operated with the idea that if I have not P.O.’d a woman/Black today the means either I’m still in bed or I’ve died.
So as part of my daily life affirmation I’ll do it early and often, just to get it out of the way.
Jim
Thanks for this timely and relevant piece, Robin. I wouldn’t want to presume to speak for him, but if I was to hazard a guess, I would like to imagine that Dr. Thomas Sowell and 150,000,000 others would click on the “liked” button, if one had been linked to your article. Not too long ago, I (on a whim) checked out “Black Rednecks and White Liberals” from the local library, and before I’d gotten halfway through it, felt guilty enough about reading that invaluable text for free that I returned it, and ordered a copy from Amazon, so Tom would receive due recompense for his efforts in producing that inestimable work. My take on the message of the book to blacks in America: Stop feeling sorry for yourself, give up blaming historical wrongs and “The Man” for your plight, and take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that you have been afforded by the lucky happenstance of your birth into this free society to go as far as your ambition and talent can take you. I may not be able to control the way that you think about me, but I can certainly do something about the way that I think about myself.
Mark, that was a great book and unfortunately the message it convey’s will not be heard by the majority that need to hear it. Like the old saying goes, “What is the best way to hide something from a black man? Put it in a book!” I as a black man said this so I don’t want anyone calling me a racist for saying this. Look at the education of the youth. I was taunted in school throughout my educational process for being too smart. I have been told by other black’s WHILE OUT IN PUBLIC, “If I weren’t looking at you I would have thought you were a white man by the way you talk. I respond accordingly by saying “It is called education!!”
Few things annoy me more than folks apologizing for things they are powerless to control, such as their race. I’m employed in academia, and I’m here to say it happens all too often.
But more to the point: People need to regain the ability to identify and call out jerks in one’s life. Lately, a lot of Black jerks are being given a pass. Giving a jerk a pass makes you a jerk.
Savor that for a moment.
Glad to see you back, Robin. I hope everything is OK.
FTA: “it’s safer to hide behind the behavior of an entire race than stand naked before God.” Best line in the article. I might have said “stand naked and alone” before God. It’s a stark reality we will face someday.
Robin,
I am so very grateful that you have found your way into the conservative fold and write the common sense that so desperately needs to be heard.
It’s unanimous (so far). I’ve missed you too Robin!
The black on white violence is growing. Every day you read about another lone white person being accosted. There seem to be no consequences.
Look for more and more of this.
Robin, great to see you posting your thoughts again! You echoed some of Ann Coulter’s ideas regarding liberals’ “Mob Mentality”.
The incidence of black-on-white crime – http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_b5af427f-f999-5ede-94be-a05ddd7ab59e.html – is increasing, despite our “post-racial” President.
I fear for America.
Robin, this article is one of your very best. You are right on about everything. We all reap what we sow and God said “vengeance is mine.” Millions of people through the ages up to this very minute are recipients of the most horrible atrocities and injustices. What a chaotic, undisciplined world we would live in if we all sought vindication for every unfair act we endured. This is why the black community has the problems they have because they live their life with hate and bitterness. This has been perpetuated by black leaders such as Sharpton and Jackson.
Adversity builds character. Without character and integrity we cannot prosper. Negative emotions breed negative circumstances.
Yes, vengeance is God’s domain, not man’s.
Hi Robin! You wrote, ” The rules have changed, and they consist of the new three Rs: rage, revenge, and reparations. And this malignant game of Blaming Whitey will go on and on until we call it what it is (hate), walk away from the table, and refuse to play.”
I’m not so sure the rules have changed, as much as I think the game has been opened up to new participants. After all, our government has been acting this way since good old Mr. Wilson (Woodrow) started us down the fascist road to hell.
Thuggery is what government does best. The local street thugs are just following the example set by the ‘rules’ committee, don’tcha think?
News alert: Coming soon to your neighborhood, the new “game” in town, Knockout!
FINALLY !
The voice of reason in this daily stream of Liberal Bias & madness is like a breath of fresh air ! Thank you, Robin !
What have we become as a people? I remember back in the early 90′s having to go to a diversity conference for my job. When it was over I did not ever imagine that I had hated so many people in my life. I refused to accept the guilt that they projected at me and how unfairly blacks had been treated in the past. I just thought how far back do we as humans have to go in time to see that no one has ever been treated fairly. As of now I only see it getting much worse before it gets better. Diversity does not lead to acceptance, it leads to division, something that the diversity crowd desires!
Robin I have missed your articles. This is one of your best.
For the left the weapon of choice is always Politcal Correctness. Frankly, I am feed up with it and I won’t play in this sandbox any longer. I try to live my life by the Golden Rule. If that is not good enough for the hateful left, then so be it.
Finally, someone has said it aloud. I thought I was alone in sensing the extreme resentful feelings coming from people of color, seemingly everywhere. On the local city bus, receiving change at the local coffee shop. I’m a large white man raised on the west coast, never before have I felt intimidated by simply being on the street. Thank you.
Yeah!!! We’ve missed you terribly.
She’s Baaaack! Patience is rewarded.