Integration?

Dennis Prager has an article out today in which he laments the state of race relations today. Like many liberals and ex-liberals, his righteous feelings about equality of the races blind him to his own racism.

A little history: Back in the 1950's, there were indeed serious problems in the way race relations were handled in this country. I remember, in 1957, while my family was visiting Washington, DC, a sign at a public restroom read: NO dogs, NO niggers, NO jews. At least it didn't refer to us as kikes. I'll never forget that sign. In our nations capital, no less. Something had to be done. The civil rights movement began to pick up steam. With great leaders like M.L.King and Malcolm X, the blacks demanded equality of opportunity. King saw a future America that would be color blind. Malcolm saw a proud people which would keep its pride in a separate society within the larger nation. Pride and equality were the goals.

Then, in the 1960's, as much progress was being made, Black Muslim fanatics gunned Malcolm down, and white fanatics did the same to King. A great people no longer had great leaders. Those who took their place were more concerned with power and money than pride and equality. Things began to go downhill. Affirmative action and diversity were the new goals. Integration became a tool of oppression.

How's that? Well, when Leroy and Shakira are told that they can not possibly get a good education unless they were in the same classroom with Brent and Buffy, what does that do to the pride a black child should feel for his or her people? If "separate cannot be equal" is a true statement, what does that say about black intelligence? If blacks must be hired and promoted based on their skin color rather than their ability, is that empowerment? Or is this a statement that institutionalizes black inferiority. Nixon (and Prager) agreed to foist affirmative action on the American people due to their own blindness to their own racism. Many now see their mistake. Integration and affirmative action only make sense if one believes that blacks are inherently inferior to whites. For whites, this is merely a manifestation of their own, hidden, racism. They'll get over it. To blacks, this is a tragedy.

What happened? Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond, Al Sharpton, and a host of other race racketeers, that's what. Self promoters who live large, who require that the black race in America be marginalized, have feasted on the feelings of inferiority that integration and affirmative action have foisted on a generation of black children. They have developed a huge amount of political power that, I submit, is used today to continue to oppress their own people. With the black vote a monolithic block for the Democrats, there is no reason for the Democrats to do anything to empower the blacks. When has a Democrat administration given cabinet positions that are other than tokens to blacks? The Republicans, with no hope, it seems, of ever getting substantial black votes, give position to blacks for merit (there can be no other reason, as Bush got less that a tenth of the black vote in 2000). That's why Bush's foreign policy team is dominated by blacks (Powell as Secretary of State, Rice as National Security Advisor), while Clinton, the "First Black President," gave them token positions in the less important cabinet positions (Espy at Agriculture, Herman at Labor, and Brown at Commerce).

Why don't blacks use their political power to help themselves? Are they really better served by racial extortion rackets like the "diversity" industry than school vouchers? When Jesse Jackson and Alexis Herman shake down corporate America (One of Jackson's specialties the last decade or so has been threatening boycotts of major corporations unless they show their appreciation for diversity -- by hiring Miss Herman as a consultant. So Alexis Herman raked in bucks as a ``monitor'' of quota ``covenants'' between Jackson and companies like Burger King and Coca-Cola), are the few jobs that result worth more than a good education for everyone? Maybe not, but it sure does help them make their mortgage payments. Mfume, Bond, and Sharpton live pretty good, as well. These people rely upon the Democrat Party to continue with these failed policies, fuelled by white liberal guilt over their own racism, so they continue to demagogue and try to destroy their own nascent awakening. There are plenty of blacks today who are willing to nurture equality of opportunity, knowing that to have equailty one must give up some of their hard-won entitlement. Leaders like Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly; commentators like Tom Sowell, Walter Williams, and Ken Hamblin, regularly have their character assasinated by the black and liberal establishments.

Without great leaders, great changes cannot be wrought. With otherwise brilliant and well-meaning men like Dennis Prager actually believing that "integration" is the answer for the blacks (Prager himself does not believe that his own people, the jews, should be "integrated" within the larger white society), and Ward Connerly being widely demonized by black opinion leaders for his stand that blacks are inherently equal, the prospects for King's dream coming true, any time soon, are bleak. But I have hope. The young generation, in recent polling, sees its problems as less the result of white racism than their elders do. With public opinion coming around, I hope that a colorblind society is possible within my lifetime.