Racial Divide in Black and White

(Hat tip-Steve Rankin

Terry Moran, writing at ABCnews.com, asks the question ``is Guiliani white enough?``. He takes the ``is Obama black enough`` mantra coming from the Democrats and Left in general, and flips it onto Republicans, trying to claim that the Republican Party won`t tolerate an ethnic candidate.

The message board does a fine job of dismantling his assumption; they mention Spiro Agnew (Greek), William Miller (Catholic), Charles Curtis (part Injun). It should be pointed out that Republicans are the ones who appointed Antonin Scalia (Italian), Colin Powell (African American), and who are responsible for ALL of the first African Americans in government (thanks to abolition and reconstruction). Not white enough? White bread is the mainstay of Democrats-Al Gore, John F*****g Kerry, John Edwards, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Jimmy Carter, etc.

While the message board pretty much ripped Mr. Moran, I think he actually did the Nation a service by discussing this topic, although he blew a golden opportunity to actually bring some substance to racial politics. The point is, Democrats and ``Civil Rights Leaders`` can inject race into American life at will, but could Republicans or Conservatives? Could White people seriously say that someone ``isn`t White enough``?

He states;

``Who counts as "black"--whether measured by the old, ugly concept of "one drop of blood" or the new, indeterminate notion of authenticity of experience--is an issue it seems we've never been able to escape. And until our country achieves true racial justice, equality and harmony, I suppose it will always be with us. Race still matters so much in America. ``

Of course, we will never achieve true racial justice, equality, and harmony! Ours is a fallen world, an imperfect place where there will always be injustice and a tendency toward division. Do Jews feel at home in a Catholic Mass? Do Amish feel they are not discriminated against when they are in town with the ``English``? Does a person without legs have the same opportunities and outcome as the rest of America? We all have our own unique character and experiences, and these separate us to some degree from others.

I happen to be a Irish/German/Scottish/French/Catholic American. I am too short to play professional basketball, too stocky to be on the cover of GQ, I have to take medication for Diabetes and high blood pressure. I was born and raised, and still reside, in the Midwest. I am a conservative. Now, there are places and people in this country who would laugh at me, or who would deny me certain desires, based on my personal character and experience. I would feel uncomfortable at a meeting of the NAACP, or at an Amish Church service. I would not be allowed to play basketball, or run track-and-field for the U.S. Olympic squad. There are still people prejudiced against Catholics, against Irish/German/Scot/French Americans. Oh, well!

The point is, I don`t feel prejudiced against! My experiences, talents, and the basic limitations of my life don`t stick in my craw, because they are not things imposed upon me by others-just limitations ultimately imposed by God himself. I go with the flow, using my talents as best I can and making a life for myself based upon what has been given to me, not seeking angrily after what I can not have.

Unfortunately, because of our national experience with slavery and the bitterness of the Civil War, America suffers from a serious racial divide. We have to seriously discuss whether someone is ``black enough``, meaning has he lived the life of a poor, ghetto dwelling black person. This suggests that blacks who were freemen prior to the Civil War are not black, that upwardly mobile blacks today are not black. Black has become an identity based on a stereotypical paradigm. If this were all there was to it, it would not matter so much, but part of ``blackness`` has become a demand for discrimination in their favor, a demand for something to be given not on the basis of earned merit but because of ``blackness``. If you are authentically ``black`` you deserve special treatment.

But what of the black people who have gotten off of their rumps and made a better life for themselves? What of African immigrants who have never experienced the particular formative events which characterize ``blackness``? Do they benefit from the Meta-narrative, too, or do they have to pay for their ``whiteness``? Must we carry the bile of the past into the future?

This is best illustrated with John Conyers` demand for reparations for slavery. Now, there are numerous problems with this particular demand:

1.Nobody today has owned slaves, nor have their parents, nor grandparents.
2.There were black slaveholders-do their descendents get a cut of the
money, too?
3.Do people whose ancestors immigrated after the Civil War have to pay?
4.Do people whose ancestors immigrated from Africa after the War get a
cut?
5.If African-Americans can demand reparations, can other ethnic groups sue those who have wronged them? Can I sue Swedish people in
Minnesota because their Viking ancestors once enslaved my Irish
ancestors? Can American Jews sue me because I have German blood, and
Germans once imprisoned their ancestors in concentration camps?
6.Affirmative Action and the social safety net were, in my opinion,
intended as De-Facto reparations for slavery and racial
discrimination. If we have reparations, will it be a one-time
end of discussion thing? Can we end affirmative action, welfare,
AFDC, and all the other government programs which discriminate
against me and my ``whiteness``?

As reader Mike pointed out, some black people believe that Egypt was a black civilization; can the Jews sue them for keeping them in bondage?

The time has come for us to stop using hyphenations in our Americanism. That isn`t to suggest that we pretend there are no differences-there are many-but I am suggesting that we should at least try to recognize our common heritage.

There`s the rub! The Left often accuses America of being racist because Americans have traditionally demanded that newcomers (or old-timers, for that matter) adopt our culture and traditions. We have demanded enculturation, the acceptance of the mainstream as the price for admission to the benefits of Americanism. This has been the key to our success, because we have been able to absorb every immigrant group which has come here. It`s not that we don`t want them to remember their particular heritage; on the contrary, we celebrate it! How many St. Patrick`s Day Parades are there in America? How many Octoberfests? Italian Columbus Day festivals? Each group which has come here has added their own unique touch to the overall American experience, has helped to shape America in a special way. The only the America has asked is that you leave your previous baggage back home. If you want to be in America you must become an American.

That`s where multiculturalism comes in; the Left has propagated the concept whereby you DON`T leave your cultural baggage, where you demand the right to stay what you were while living here and enjoying the benefits of American life. While some on the Left may actually believe this is a good thing, I am convinced that many of the proponents of multiculturalism know full well that this will destroy America as surely as it destroyed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or is destroying the Holy Land. You do not have a nation when you have different cultures coexisting in the same space, you have an empire. Ultimately, an empire loses cohesion because the people do not have enough in common. It has to be held together not through commonality but through force of arms, which is a poor motivator. Why did we have ``ethnic cleansing`` in the Balkans? Once the iron boot was taken off of the communist foot, it was no longer pressing on the Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian/Albanian throats, and civil war broke out. That is ultimately what we are courting here in America with multiculturalism.

That is what is so dangerous about the racial divide in this country. African Americans now have what they have always sought, what Booker T. Washington asked for; the freedom of upward mobility. Doors are not closed to the educated, articulate, (dare I say clean?) black people. The barrier now is self-imposed by an antipathy towards education and enculturation as part of the authenticity of ``blackness``.

Don`t believe me? Why is the Clean candidate, Barack Obama, the talk of the town? Obama would be just another freshman Senator (if, indeed, he would be even that) if he weren`t a black Democrat. It`s not blacks who are supporting him, it`s whites! American white people, torn with what Shelby Steele referred to as white guilt, are ever eager to promote a person of color, if that person shows promise. You see that in the popularity of hip-hop and the cultural trappings which go along with it. Hip-hop is, by any reasonable definition, merely rhyming to rhythm, and the counter-culture which has accompanied it, with violence towards women, cop killing, and other deviant concepts, is nothing short of barbaric, yet white, upper middle class kids flock to it. They wear the clothes, talk the talk, and try to be as ``black`` as they can. Why? Why did actor River Phoenix say before his death that he greatly regretted being born a white male? Remember the Native American tribe which adopted the ``fighting whites`` as their mascot? White people bought their t-shirts in droves!

Unfortunately, a great many people have a vested interest in maintaining the racial plantation. The Democrats profit by keeping blacks poor and ignorant, Jesse Jackson and the Civil Rights Grifters likewise. The worst racism in America is not coming from White Southern Conservatives but from the people who claim to be the champions of the African-American community.

Talk of ``blackness`` and ``whiteness`` only separates us further, and pushes African-Americans further from the mainstream of society. It`s time to end this nonsense.