How do you prove you are not a racist? I, my husband, and several members of my family have attended several Tea Party events and rallies, including a rally of over 100,000 in Washington, D.C. last September. According to the NAACP, and many members of the Democrat party establishment, my family and I are either racists ourselves, or we are tacitly supporting and enabling other racists in the Tea Party. So how do we defend our honor?Yes, I remember that rally. I was there too.
Is it proof that I am not racist that I served for several years as a literacy tutor in the African-American community in Columbia, SC? Is it proof that I am not a racist that my family attends a Baptist church in Wendell that has members of multiple races? Is it proof that I am not a racist when my family co-sponsored a black mother and her two children at Christmas last year and that my white son chose all the toys and clothes for her black son based on their common love for all things Bakugan and sports? Is it proof that we are not racist that we invite our Hispanic employee and his wife to join us on our family vacation at the beach? Or how about that my family includes members of several races on the approved NAACP list, and that I have close relationships with those family members?Deanna, Deanna. Please.
As college professors, think tank boffins, and other puffed-up intellectuals like to say: "You're asking the wrong question."
You can't prove to the NAACP, or at least to the microphone grabbers among them, that you're not a racist. You are foolish to try. Foolish. If that sounds harsh, I'm sorry. But if you call yourself a Tea Partyer, you are letting the side down. You're allowing your accusers play you for a sucker.
It's not just that you are falling into the trap of trying to prove a negative, which except in cases of specific, observable facts is philosophically impossible. I can't prove I am not thinking of robbing the Bank of England. I can't prove that these words are not being put into my brain by extraterrestrials in the fourth galaxy down the street. The burden of proof should be on your accusers, Deanna, and you are taking it on yourself.
But that's the least of it. You accept that the NAACP has a case for you to answer, and you try to fend off criticism by citing all sorts of activities you've done for and with minorities. Do you seriously think that lets you off the hook? "You're just doing those things out of guilt! You want to deny your unconscious racism so you make pets of a few persons of color!"
So the answer to your question — your wrong question — is, you can't prove you're not a racist. And you shouldn't try.
When you hand the racial grievance squadron at NAACP a list trying to prove your bona fides, you are letting them set the rules of discussion. You're acknowledging their right to call you a racist with no evidence. You're trying to placate them, as though they were rational people, and you will inevitably fail at something that can't be done.
Frankly, Deanna, when you offer pathetic defenses like, "Is it proof that we are not racist that we invite our Hispanic employee and his wife to join us on our family vacation at the beach?" then I don't have a lot of time for you. You think you are defending the honor of the rest of us who marched on Washington, while you are selling us out.
There are only two ways to respond to race hustlers like NAACP spokespeople (I'd like to believe that not all NAACP members are so vicious). The easiest is to ignore them. Or if you must, reply with a simple, "You're mistaken."
Because when you go into your riff about tutoring the African-American community and all the rest, you are protesting too much. You sound guilty as charged. Why else would you do back flips to deny it? As the French say, "Qui s'excuse, s'accuse."
The other way you can spike the NAACP's cannons is to say, "Yes, I'm a racist. You're a racist. Fred Flinders, my friend in Indianapolis, is a racist. Pere Ubu in Kenya is a racist. Raoul Chemin de Fer in Lucerne is a racist. Shall I go on, or are you satisfied?"
Deanna, did you ever see the film Spartacus, about the leader of a slave revolt in ancient Rome? There is a scene where, if I recall right, the Roman consul Crassus and his legion have captured Spartacus's army. Crassus asks: "Which of you is Spartacus?"
"I am Spatacus!" "I am Spartacus!" Pretty soon the whole lot are shouting, "I am Spartacus!"
Accusations of racism are already becoming a joke among many of us, but certain leftists are slow to get the joke. Imagine if every time one of them plays the race card, we all said simultaneously, "I'm a racist!" And laughed.
I'm an "unconscious racist." Those quotation marks, NAACP, indicate sarcasm and the contempt you deserve. Unfounded accusations of racism are the last refuge of scoundrels.
3 comments:
Rick, I'm going to go even farther than you. I do not resent "unfounded accusations" of racism so much as I refute the entire premise that awareness of racial differences and preferences for one's own are inherently wrong. As common sense has long known and science has begun to prove, even babies notice racial differences and "discriminate." Discrimination, to which the ignorant have given a negative connotation, merely means to distinguish or choose or express a preference for. This act of choosing is morally neutral in and of itself, and all people "discriminate" constantly in the myriad of choices our modern life affords us.
While there may be some individuals of courage amongst the Tea Party throngs, far too many are desperate to prove their racial bona fides and any non-white who attends is automatically elevated to nobility if not sainthood. Let me clarify: anyone of any race may protest against excessive taxation. That fact that a black does so is not indicative that he possesses any more strength of character or nobility of spirit than any of the whites who choose to do the same. Not only is Deanna Rogers trying in vain to prove a negative, she is perpetuating the fallacious liberal meme that race is a social construct and we are all the same. No, we most definitely are not. God created individuals and races and there exists no natural equality other than equally fallen into sin, and no national equality other than equality before the law. So, do I choose to discriminate - to make a choice or a preference known? Most assuredly.
Sheila,
"Discriminate" was a positive word for our ancestors. They praised "discriminating tastes" and when they spoke of a "discriminating" person, it meant someone who used good judgment.
I didn't want to get into a whole different level of discourse in the posting above, which any mention of human biodiversity would have entailed. That's an important discussion, but it won't have any practical consequences unless we first overcome the slanderous tactics of the opposition.
"qui s'excuse, s'accuse"..
When agressed by PC people(about 90% of the French I am afraid!), I either shrug and look down on the person, no the woman, really!,or just say :"oui, bon, et alors?", if the man seems to be able to discuss serenely ;He is so taken aback that it starts him thinking about the question for the first time in his life..
w
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