Redbeard, I’m with you on the Ford/Hitler saga. It is only with the hindsight of 40 – 60 years of future passed that we realize that some “bright” ideas are really bunk. Without factoring the prevailing values and morals of a time in question, it’s all too easy to miss the object lessons and risk repeating those fundamental mistakes.

To wit, Nazism, New Deal, Affirmative Action, Communism/Socialism all contained elements of discrimination, racism, eugenics, victimism, reparations, etc. And of course, all sounded good until actually put in practice.

The big question is whether or not, one realizes the error and “repents”:

Henry did. Hitler lost. (no direct correlation required)

Margaret Sanger didn’t. Jesse Jackson sold his soul into her scheme (foresight notwithstanding).

Anyhoo, time’s up. Just wanna give a shout out to LaShawn & friends… Let the New Year begin!!

Ciao

The Day Begins
Cold hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is gray and yellow, white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

Brave Helios, wake up your steeds
Bring the warmth the countryside needs
The Moody Blues, DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED

Just because race cannot be defined scientifically doesnt mean it doesn’t exists (difine love, virtue, and honor scientifically). But please do not misunderstand, I was not attempting to bring “race” into anything in the same manner as the notorious race baiters/hustlers.

The problems in the Black community/culture… “desparate culture” as you aptly described it,.. can be solved in the same way as any other people: by kneeling and repentance and endevoring to follow God’s Law and His standards, which is the perfect Law of Liberty (II Timothy)

Again, please do not construe anything I may have said as inflammatory (for we both know the kind who does that)!

So long as we ignorantly believe in and allow the bogus issue of differentiated “race” to persist, it is fair game to attribute strengths and deficiencies as characteristics due to race.

Most prejudice and bigotry stems from what we behold with our eyes. That phenomenon is entirely cultural and can be unlearned.

The desperate culture among an outrageously large number of black skinned Americans is an obscenity that must be destroyed. That culture is rife with drugs, single young teen mothers, males who do not get basic education and end up in prison at rates beyond imagination. They are stirred up by violence, malnourished from trash diets and encouraged by musical propaganda and hoop dreams.

Nothing in the bleak picture painted above is about race. It is tribalism most foul and about a culture of misery and failure.

To try to defend or explain it misses the point entirely. No force is aligned and organized to make these people this way and to keep them acting as they do.

The dialog is not about race, it is about culture and culture alone.

Close your eyes to the color of the skin, the texture of the hair, shape of the eyes, etc. Put the person behind a curtain. Now list his problems and his strengths. Would changing one physical characteristic make a positive difference? Of course not.

Since Reggie White and God got thrown into this discussion, may I offer that “yes, Jesus loves me……” Race divides us, culture brings us together. Especially the culture of love.

The race pimps depend on keeping the “race” issue in the forefront while burying the cultural depression of so many. You buy into their race-baiting and religious voodoo and medicineman tactics at your own peril.

I’m merely subscribing to the philosophy of the late, great Bible preacher and multi-year all-pro defensive lineman Reggie White, who once celebrated in a sermon the glories of race as a sign of the virtuosity of God’s creation.

Hey, don’t laugh. It makes about as much sense as most of the other racial stereotypes out there.

I offer the following excerpt about the “biology of race” to help explain why a “conversation of race” is bogus.

From Dr. Dennis O’Neil Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College, San Marcos, California:

“In the final analysis, it is important to keep in mind that all humans around the world today are biologically quite similar despite our superficial differences.  In fact, we are 99.9% genetically identical.  Most of the differences between us are due to our unique individual traits and being male or female.  When we are compared to many other kinds of animals, it is remarkable how little variation exists within our own species.  There is 2-3 times more genetic variation among chimpanzees, 8-10 times more among orangutans, and thousands of times more in many insect species.  Most physical anthropologists would agree that human variation is not now sufficient to warrant defining separate biological races, varieties, or sub-species.  However, it very likely was in our prehistoric past.

In order to better understand the true patterns of human variation, physical anthropologists have gathered detailed data about genetically inherited traits.  Most of this work has been done with blood typing, but DNA sequence comparisons are now providing an even more detailed understanding of our human biological diversity. 

The more we study the precise details of human variation, the more we understand how complex are the patterns.  They cannot be easily summarized or understood.  Yet, this hard-earned scientific knowledge is generally ignored in most countries because of more demanding social and political concerns.  As a result, discrimination based on presumed “racial” groups still continues.  It is important to keep in mind that this “racial” classification often has more to do with cultural and historical distinctions than it does with biology.  In a very real sense, “race” is a distinction that is created by culture not biology.”

Next, after acknowledging that America is the greatest and most free nation in the world, which is the reason why we’d have so many different cultures and sub-cultures represented in the “conversation” with the freedom to converse in the first place, I’d acknowledge the positive things people of other cultures and religions have contributed to this country. The whole conservation would be a sham, however, if we didn’t eventually get to negative aspects of “multiculturalism” and why I think it’s a destructive, divisive, and unnecessary ideology.

Then on to the ubiquitous white/black issue. We’d openly discuss the stereotypes each race has about the other and the truth of some of those stereotypes (criminality, perceived racism, etc.). We’d have an honest dialogue about why blacks are perceived a certain way, and we’d do the same with whites. Despite all that, what common ground do we have? We’re Americans with all the rights of citizenship guaranteed in the Constitution, etc.

The “dialogue” would be vast, deep, and no-holds-barred, but the one ground rule established would be no “dead white male” bashing without an equally voracious bash of males of other races. In other words, if the world is a mess, we all have a share in the blame.

I doubt such a “conversation” would ever take place among liberals, but since I don’t hang out with liberals much anymore, I could be mistaken.

Frequent reader, first comment. I’m wondering what you would consider to be a more useful or constructive dialogue about race. Or do you believe that all such “dialogues” are a waste of time. If you were planning to have people talk about race what you do differently and what would be your objective?

First, there is conflicting information about Ford’s WWII German plant. According to Snopes, “Professor Simon Reich of Pittsburgh University has concluded that the Ford Company in America had lost control of Ford in Germany during the war and so did not profit from its activities.” I hope that is the case. This is not to white-wash Henry Ford by any means. He was, to his infinite discredit, a virulent anti-semite. This won him the admiration of Adolph Hitler in the days prior to WWII, earning Ford the medal you mentioned. But Ford did renounce his anti-semitic writings, and when war broke out he destroyed his Nazi medal. In context, we need to remember that prior to WWII there were many prominent and loyal Americans who were suckered in by the Nazi rhetoric, good people who would come to their senses once the beast revealed itself.

Secondly, it’s sad to see how such a grand philanthropic foundation as the Ford Foundation has been turned into the primary funding arm of the leftist movement. But the Ford Foundation is a totally independent entity and is not controlled by Ford Motor Company nor by the Ford family.

Mea culpa. I drive a Ford pickup. LOL

We both, at almost the same instant, said, “What a moron.”

I then said, “It’s your shot.”

My buddy said, “9 ball, corner pocket.”

I love courageous discussions about race.

I’d respond to your comparison of Jackson and Sharpton to Sowell et. al., but to do so would just give credence to one of the most preposterous analogies I have ever read.

Sheesh.