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Jewish World Review Jan. 21, 1999/4 Shevat, 5759
Larry Elder
Racism is only a conservative problem, right?
(JWR) --- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) LAST YEAR, REP. BOB BARR, Republican of Georgia, gave the keynote speech
before the Council of Conservative Citizens.
What is the Council of Conservative Citizens? It is a southern organization
that considers whites superior to blacks and equates interracial marriage to
white genocide.
And Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) also
has ties to the CCC, where he, too, has spoken. Lott's uncle called the
senator an "honorary member" of the CCC, a tribute Lott disputes. For what
it's worth -- and it may not be much -- both Lott and Barr recently
denounced the CCC's racist ideology. Even if insincere, the Lott/Barr
backpedaling is a far cry from the defiant, Jim-Crow-loving Alabama Gov.
George Wallace, who bellowed, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow,
segregation forever."
But did the decibel level get this high when then-NAACP Executive Director
Ben Chavis embraced Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam? An
accomplished demagogue, the Rev. Farrakhan has called Judaism "a gutter
religion," Adolf Hitler "a great man" and Los Angeles Korean shop owners
"bloodsuckers."
No one equates the NAACP, the venerable civil rights organization, with the
racist CCC. But if, by association, we assume Lott and Barr share the CCC's
repugnant ideology, do we also draw the same connection between the NAACP
and Farrakhan?
Years ago, Cleveland, Ohio, hosted a national conference of black mayors,
some of whom headed towns with majority white populations. How should the
non-black citizens of those towns feel? Did the voters in XYZ city elect a
mayor to serve as a "black mayor," or did they elect someone to fix the
potholes and handle snow removal? Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California)
represents a district where Asians, Hispanics and whites outnumber blacks.
Yet, Waters became president of the Black Congressional Caucus. So, what is
everybody else --- potted plants?
And Waters accuses the CIA of playing a major role in the Los Angeles
cocaine trade, an assertion dismissed by the Los Angeles Times, The
Washington Post and The New York Times. Still, Waters thundered, "If it's
the last thing I ever do, I intend to make somebody pay for what they have
done to my (emphasis added) people." My people? And the others in her
district are what, hood ornaments?
In many American cities, minority police officers form organizations to
protect the interests of officers of their own color. Is it OK for white
officers to do likewise? After all, many whites abhor affirmative action,
arguing that preferences sacrifice quality, compromise public safety and
unfairly deny them opportunities.
A few years ago, Cal State Northridge played the racial-identities game
when the school set up a debate on affirmative action. Whom did the students
invite and pay to argue the anti-affirmative action side? David Duke.
(Anybody who opposes affirmative action is, therefore, a bigot --- get it?)
How ironic that the Barr/Lott "scandal" should erupt around Martin Luther
King's birthday. Today, our teachers ask school kids, "How would King feel
were he alive today? Would the country be 'further along' in race
relations?"
Who knows? But we can, with certainty, say one thing. The Rev. King would
have condemned the NAACP's embrace of Louis Farrakhan just as aggressively
as he would have condemned Barr's and Lott's dance with the CCC. King would
have branded someone who condemns Jews as unfit to be called a man of God.
King would have rejected the politics of racial identity, whether from the
left or from the right.
The harsh glare of national attention on Barr and Lott demonstrates our nat
ional abhorrence to white racism. Let us condemn all racism just as harshly.
For the enemy remains the mentality that favors group rights over individual
rights.
The majestic late Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas once said, "We are one, we
Americans, we are one. And we reject any intruder who seeks to divide us on
the basis of race and color. We must not allow ideas like political
correctness to divide us and cause us to revert hard-won achievements in
human rights and civil rights. ... We reject both white racism and black
racism. ... Our strength in this country is rooted in our diversity. Our
history bears witness to that fact: E pluribus unum! From many, one. It was
a good idea when the country was founded, and it's a good idea
Close affiliation with a white supremacist group suggests either racism,
stupidity or reckless negligence, none of which is excusable. Politicians,
pundits and newspaper columnists across the country quite properly blast
away at Barr and Lott for their coziness to the CCC. Yes, let us all reject
racial identity politics, whether coming from the left or coming from the
right.
Barr
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