Recently, I shared My Own Life in Politics and said that the topic of race had hardly come up in my traditional, conservative Southern white family. (I realize some of those words are redundant!) While it is true and I am grateful that overt racism was not tolerated or encouraged, I sort of suspected that there were hidden racist attitudes in my segregated, well-off, out-of-touch family.
Lo and behold, my mother has forwarded me a disgusting column written by Pat Buchanan, which I could not help but respond to. I share with you, below.
I will not reprint the entirety of Pat Buchanan’s remarks forwarded to me. But suffice to say the introductory words were enough to alarm me:
Finally…………It is Said Publicly.
I have never seen the white side explained better!
Pat Buchanan had the guts to say it. It is about time.
That intro was not written by my mother, who simply forwarded it to me and my sister without comment. It was sent to her by someone who works in a Christian (!) organization to which my mother belongs. Extreme, devout Catholics, by the way. (Though I question the true meaning of “devout.”) That woman’s comment was:
+
I wish more people understood this! God bless you all!
Not being a regular (or irregular) consumer of Buchanan columns, I even went to Snopes to see if the disgusting words which followed were indeed attributable to him. (Because isn’t that just like we zany liberals to check our facts before going off on someone?) Snopes verifies it here and the entire original column is archived on Buchanan’s site here. The portion forwarded to me is not the complete column or the Snopes version, but a condensed version. In the interest of self-promotion, I am including my response first and excerpts from the forward at the very bottom.
Here is my reply to my mother and my sister (I considered leaving my sister out of it, since all she did was receive it like I did, but thought it best to refute to her as well, just in case):
(Sorry to drag you into this, [sister]. I would not normally participate in a political email exchange and I NEVER wish to send or receive forwards of this sort. But, just this once, here goes…)
Found this forwarded email lying in my junk folder, where in my opinion it belongs. I find the attitude behind this diatribe disgusting and I’m surprised to receive it from my mother. Thinking like this never advances understanding and certainly does not sound “Christian.”
People who truly want to give glory to God and country would do well to steer clear of Pat Buchanan. Those who stand any chance of convincing others not already in agreement with them are first and foremost gracious. And Buchanan is far from that.
When Buchanan was in a position of influence as an advisor to Nixon, he said things like the following: “integration of blacks and whites — but even more so, poor and well-to-do — is less likely to result in accommodation than it is in perpetual friction, as the incapable are placed consciously by government side by side with the capable.” (as reported in Washington Post, 1/5/92) Who do you suppose he means are the capable and incapable? It is precisely his attitude which necessitates laws like affirmative action. The white majority who naturally own most businesses and control most institutions have had to get over their long-held assumptions that other races are less capable.
He even published columns which sided with South Africa’s rule of a white minority over a black majority. His latest book claims the war against Hitler was “unnecessary”! Buchanan is not normal or respectable.
During the Sotomayor confirmation hearings he questioned her qualifications based on claims of unfair affirmative action, but he had no basis for believing she was not qualified other than her race! He was making an assumption based on race alone. (And perhaps gender; I can’t imagine he believes in female equality either.) It’s one thing to say you disagree with someone’s political viewpoint but when her colleagues say she’s qualified, then what is the basis for questioning her credentials? Buchanan made many appearances on tv during the Sotomayor confirmation period, saying things like “this has been a country built basically by white folks.” So, slave labor did not contribute to the building of America at all I guess? Slave labor was even instrumental in building the Capital and White House!
I just don’t get this line of thinking at all. Anyone who does not see that white people have more advantages in this country is not paying much attention. Now it’s true that if you’re a black Republican you are guaranteed to get a pundit job with a lot of screen time on television. But other than that, I think most folks would choose to be white if it were possible to choose. Studies have shown that black children rate white dolls as prettier than black ones from an early age. Black children assume that respected professionals like doctors and bankers will be white men. I doubt that any of us has one inkling how hard it is to try to raise a black child to be successful in that environment.
All people make negative assumptions based on race and color. The other night Bill O’Reilly had a black professor on his program and said that he looked like a cocaine dealer! Instead of reaching across the table and punching O’Reilly, the man was quick-witted and said that O’Reilly looked like a cocaine user.
This back-and-forth touches on the issue of crime rates and drug use and such things, which so much of Buchanan’s column trumpets. I do not deny that crime is a disproportionately large problem in the black community. I chose to strike at the heart of the motivation behind this letter than try to dismiss, point-by-point, the claims made here. That does not mean there is no argument to be made. For example, the government programs Buchanan cites are predominantly aimed at helping the poor not only blacks. Crime is disproportionate in the black community but so is poverty. There is obviously a link there. Lastly, if I could get up off my butt and have some drive or motivation there are many potential jobs I might have an advantage towards getting based solely on family connections, neighborhood connections, school connections, social status, etc. I know rich men who run companies all over this town. How many black kids in Jacksonville can say that? I would stack that up against any government mandated affirmative action programs any day.
Buchanan is either delusional or intentionally lying. Or blinded by hate.
PS: Now that another Supreme Court nominee is in the news, Buchanan’s complaint is that she’s Jewish and, if confirmed, “Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats. Is this the Democrats’ idea of diversity?” I don’t recall Buchanan complaining about Bush nominating 2 Catholics to a Court which already had 3 (and now has 6). His views disgust me.
The original Buchanan column was written in March of 2008 in response to Barack Obama’s race speech in Philadelphia which was partially in response to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright appearing in the news. (I know, ancient history, right? Well, apparently there is no statute of limitations on white grievance.) What was forwarded to me cut off most references to Wright and included:
Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America . Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation.. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to…. This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:
America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known..
Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ‘ 60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream. Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks…
We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude??Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America ? Is it really white America ‘s fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent…?
Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?
As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?
Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?
We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena . And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.
Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago.
Pat Buchanan’s words end here and the original forwarder added:
This needs to be passed around because, this is a message everyone needs to hear!!!
OK………..
will you pass it on ?
YES. I did but will you?
Because I’m for a better America
Well… I’ve passed on my version.