Recently I wrote a column about an interchange with a liberal white person about race. On the heels of that a Black man addressed his thoughts to me about some racial issues. Here is the exchange.
“I hope you and family are well. This is an old article, yet I have always felt professionally written article. I am curious as to your perspective. The confederate ‘heroes’ and that colorful flag that is so proudly defended is no different to African Americans than Nazism and swastikas. It is tantamount to honoring Mussolini, Stalin, Hirohito or Pol Pot. The rhetoric to maintain them for historical sake is beyond me.”
My reply:
That is easy. The flag should go. I never understood that. The question on statues and naming of forts is more complicated. The generals served the country before and some after the war. Some were instrumental in healing the divide after the war. They were classmates, for the most part, of the generals in the union army at West Point. Their relationships were pivotal after the war.
I find it funny that some say a young Black should not be forced to serve at a base named for a Confederate general. This is a generation that struggles to tell you who the president was before George W. Bush, yet supposedly knows Bragg was a Confederate general. I did not know Bragg was a Confederate general and I bet few could tell you that.
As for those other guys. People celebrate Mao who was a mass murderer. The biggest. People at these protests I assure you were wearing Che t-shirts. I see one and I ask the person if that is from their mass murderer collection.
His reply:
“This may be true about the many uneducated and sometimes misguided people involved in protest. This is America where Jerry Springer has been on air for probably 20 years. Really think most of the White Americans in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana are that sophisticated and are knowledgeable of these facts?
The other night I had a good Asian citing statistics on fatherless Black children during a discussion about the police shooting. Meanwhile, he was lamenting on the injustice of his kid not getting into Harvard-Westlake (an elite private school) with stellar test scores. The stats were valid and deserve attention, albeit I could have referenced several other stats on multiple levels in that regard; it was not the point. There are many, many situations where deadly force is necessary in law enforcement. I know and respect officers of the law. However, when it’s basically at a point when a police call for a bear or cougar is likely to result in a secondary assessment and the animal being tranquilized; but humans of a particular race shot in the back for a DUI stop or choked out for passing a $20 bill, there is a systemic problem.
You are extremely knowledgeable and well-travelled, much more so than I. However, these are extremely personal issues and unless you have been pulled over by police because you ‘met the description’ of a crime committed by a bald, black male and had guns drawn on you, these stats don’t matter. Yes, they could argue that a bald, black male statistically had higher likelihood of the blond woman running the stop sign in front on me. That is not the point. There is generational anger and passion. So, no, I do not care so much about stats when people are being shot for misdemeanor crimes. It does not matter whether statistically they would have only lived 10 more years. Speak statistics to a Holocaust survivor about the new Germany, an elderly Chinese woman about old Japanese men or an elderly Armenian about the Turks. Historical human atrocities are not statistical.“
My reply:
I agree with what you say, and I agree that a Black pulled over by a cop is not the same as me being pulled over by a cop, but it is also a reaction. This is not the 1960’s. The police forces mirror the faces of the communities today.
All that being said, tear down every statue, rename every base and where does that get the Black Community? That gets them no better educational system protected and run by Democrats. It is gets them no better opportunity to get rid of the bad cops protected by police unions protected by the Democrats.
It also gets them no better family structure that allows 70% of their children to be born with one parent.
His reply:
“Agreed. Also, thanks for your opinions today. Always appreciated. I hope they turn this into a human rights issue and break away from the destruction of Black people very soon or else this will get uglier and not benefit anyone.”
Two observations:
1. He never nails me down on what my position on the renaming is because I defined the situation, but never took a position. Here is my position. I think the entire matter is counterproductive and stupid. Yet, I am not going to fall on my sword defending the naming of forts for Confederate generals. It does go deeper, and it is a potential slippery slope as the uneducated heathens doing this have toppled some statues that are unrelated like Raoul Wallenberg, a Holocaust hero.
2. I am not asserting that the exchange here is common between a Black and White in today’s environment. But notice how much more meaningful it is than it was with the White liberal.
That is because a major part of the problems with Blacks are caused by White liberals and their failed “help” to the community.