Monday, October 1: Here’s another from the smart and brave Heather Mac Donald, responding to this op-ed by Orlando Patterson. An excerpt (emphasis added):

“Patterson’s discussion of black crime rates and family breakdown is anti-climactic. But just to make sure that his standing with liberal elites is unassailable, at the end of his piece, Patterson lets fly a few swipes at conservatives. He blames the black incarceration rate on, inter alia, the ‘hypocritical refusal of conservative politicians to put their money where their mouths are on family values.’ This charge, like so much else, is made up out of whole cloth. The only politicians and policy makers who have tried to programmatically strengthen family values are conservatives; the marriage movement, spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector, seeks to channel a portion of federal welfare dollars into marriage counseling for the poor. If any liberal politicians have gotten behind this idea, they are keeping quiet about it. And Patterson’s call for ‘greatly expand[ed] social services for infants and children’ –as if the last 40 years of poverty policy haven’t proven the futility of such money sinkholes — is a pathetic diversion from the only effective social service for children: two married parents.”

Saturday, September 29: I try not to blog on weekends, but I wanted you to see an op-ed by Carol Swain on Jena Six. She writes:

“Black crime is a serious problem that stereotypes all black youth. And it must be dealt with by a united black community that stands up and says enough is enough. Unfortunately, too many of our media-appointed leaders have failed to vigorously condemn the attack of the six against the one. This is unfortunate.”

Unrelated Note (9/28 @ 12:04 p.m.): Catch me on Bill O’Reilly’s radio show today around…now.

If you want to know what O’Reilly said about race relations in proper context (his conversation with Juan Williams), listen to his “controversial” comments in full (audio file - thanks IC!).

Later…For O’Reilly radio listeners looking for the CNN segment, here it is.

——————————————————————————–

This is an excerpt from a must-read column by Heather Mac Donald. But for copyright issues, I’d copy and paste the entire thing here. It’s long, but take the time to read it all. I agree wholeheartedly with every single word:

“The Jena protesters will go home in denial of these truths. In fact, the purpose of such mass celebrations — and that is indeed what they are — is to make sure that attention stays far away from the actual problems holding blacks back. Astronomical rates of black criminality are not the only topic that the Jena rallies have obscured. No one wallowing in Jena promotion has had the courage to speak about an even more important crisis, the breakdown of marriage. The nearly 70 percent national illegitimacy rate for blacks — a number that can approach 90 percent in inner cities — is a cataclysm. Its consequences go far beyond the harm to individual black children — especially boys — who grow up without fathers. The real poison of the marriage crisis is the message it sends to young men about personal responsibility. The first duty in civil society is toward one’s own children; everything else is built around it. But when boys are raised without any expectations that they will have to support their children and marry the mother of those children, they fail to learn the most basic lesson about responsibility. They also are freed from the civilizing force of the marriage requirement, which pressures young men to become attractive mates. With enough support, individuals can overcome the moral perils of the illegitimacy culture, but given the prevalence of black crime and disaffiliation from the working world, it’s clear that not enough young men are finding ways to do so.”

Read the rest of “The Jena Dodge.”

My anger about this “Jena Six” business is beyond expressing right now. I’ve never been so ashamed to see black people downplaying what these kids did and disgracefully comparing their treatment by the criminal justice system with what happened to blacks during the turbulent civil rights era. Invoking a moral struggle for justice that was owed to blacks in an attempt to garner sympathy for a cowardly group of young thugs-in-training who ganged up on one white kid? Turns my stomach.

Unfortunately, this is the state of race relations today, and it won’t get much better. The memory of actual discrimination and injustice against blacks is quickly fading. This “Jena Six” crap is the result. Nice message these protesting parents are sending to their children. And the cycle will continue.

[Joe Carter has PDF copies of Jena case hospital records, witness statements, and court documents.]

Well, I guess I found the words to express it.

I’m still nauseated from last night’s race pandering. More later…

Unrelated Addendum: Special thanks for all the kind and encouraging e-mail from people who saw my recent CNN segment and “discovered” my blog. You may not hear back from me, but I’ve read your words and found comfort in them. Rest easy, everybody.