Monday, October 22: See my review of Joseph Phillips’s book, He Talk Like A White Boy.
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Previous post: Reclaiming Our Destiny
No, no, no, Joseph! Porky Pig stutters, not Elmer Fudd!
I won’t give a play-by-play of the discussion, but I’ll make a few comments. The program could have gone on for several days. There’s never enough to time to say everything you want to say in group discussions, of course.
The conversation needs to be ongoing to be effective, which is why I spend a lot of time writing on this blog. We all seem to be locked in our respective positions and end up going around and around on the same issues. However…
Contrary to popular opinion, there is a such thing as absolute truth, and I believe God gave us enough information and brain power to determine the truth. When it comes to social policy, for example, the key is to determine what works and what doesn’t, what brings out the best in people, and what brings out the worst. It’s not enough to say “It’s the right thing to do,” or “This is what people need.” You must be able to demonstrate the “rightness” of it.
For example, we’ve had 40 years of well-intentioned and “right” social programs, and what’s the result? The black family is in tatters, the illegitimacy rate is scandalous, and people who once considered race-based categorization absolutely abhorrent embrace it with vigor and demand more. Something went seriously wrong.
This is what people have been reduced to. The very idea that any of us is owed something from the government other than its duty to govern and protect is appalling to me. Books have been and will continue to be written about this subject in an attempt to locate the exact point where America’s concept of what government is supposed to do radically changed. It has been to our detriment in general and black Americans’ in particular to expect the government to feed, clothe, and house us. It couldn’t be more apparent as we watch generation after generation born into unstable, disorganized, and undisciplined surroundings.
I don’t know where you people live or where you’re from, but it is quite unusual to meet a black child from an intact family, and that’s a darn shame. I lay the blame squarely on the federal government for giving young black women disincentives to marry by making welfare contingent on whether there’s a man in the house. But thanks to welfare reform, fiercely resisted by Democrats, the government no longer increases welfare payments with each baby. However, the generational damage has been done.
It’s ignorant and pointless to harp on racism, whether it exists in reality or in your own head. I always have and will continue to resist black liberals’ demands that I take whites to task for past grievances.
As I said yesterday and on this blog all the time, racism is so far down the list of concerns for the average person, it’s laughable to even factor it in at all.
Disagree, if you will. That’s the beauty of our God-given intellect. Reasonable people can disagree; my hope is for us to get to a point where we can discuss and debate without resorting to the unoriginal and increasingly tiresome personal attacks. Anti-intellectualism and resistance to sound and rational argumentation should be criminal, and if I were queen of the world, they would be. 
One more thing before I sign off. I sometimes hear black liberals say, “I’m independent, actually. Unlike you, I don’t tow the party line or align myself with a political agenda.” After I’m done laughing at the pseudo-righteous pomposity of such a statement, I discover that the person making it is usually a registered liberal Democrat.
I’m honest about who I am. I am independent, but I don’t use the word the way some do (i.e., moderate, centrist, progressive). I take an unambiguous stand on just about everything, and like it or not, there are only two viable parties to choose from. While I am not a Republican, I do for vote for them. And I am as conservative as they come, and unlike some liberals, not ashamed to shout it from the rooftops. The so-called I-don’t-tow-the-party-line types are often thinly-disguised Republican-hating liberals. Nothing more, nothing less. The righteous pose is embarrassingly asinine.
If you disagree with my opinions and want to comment on this blog for the first time, please read more than one or two posts. The archives go back to November 2003. Some people (too many) are lazy and won’t make the effort, so my expectations are very low. And that’s a shame. Don’t make assumptions about me, and remember your manners. If you want to attack the argument, go for it. If you want to attack me, get lost.
You can download the panel discussion here. I can’t get it to work; perhaps you’ll have better luck.
Related post: Reclaiming Our Destiny
Update: A commenter writes:
I dug through cspan’s terrible web coding (broken JS and whatnot..). Here is a direct link:
rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e101105_vanguard.rmJust take that link and paste it directly into real player. I am using this link to play the conference right now.
Update II: In Authentically Black, John McWhorter wrote about something most blacks can relate to but few will admit. No matter how untouched by discrimination or successful some blacks may be — Ivy League-educated, upper-class, etc., there’s still an urge to keep “whitey on the hook,” to never let white people forget our historical grievances. It doesn’t matter that the guilty whites are dead or dying. No matter how young or old, white Americans must always be reminded of black enslavement and discrimination. The urge is pathological.
I put a twist on the usual race-whining: I don’t let blacks “off the hook,” and my detractors can rage and gnash teeth all they want. Shelby Steele talked about blacks’ responsibility to better themselves despite racism and go after their dreams. If you haven’t listened to the panel discussion, you really ought to.
