Dakota Beacon

“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs – partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.” – Booker T. Washington, Chap. V, “The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob,” 1911, p. 118.

Over a hundred years ago Booker T. Washington, Negro educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute (1881), identified a problem that continues to plague us today.

As a kid growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, I believe my parents did a pretty good job teaching my sisters and me about decency in relating to kids of other races. I grew up in a military family and my early cultural education stood me in good stead on the playground. All of us kids from several different races integrated ourselves without parental interference.

Years later, following in my father’s footsteps, I chose a military career. As a result of federal government programs imposed from the top down I found myself along with tens of thousands of others required to take training courses in “race relations.” The vast majority of us thought the requirement absurd but, like good solders, we saluted and did what we were told. That’s when I first learned that I was, ahem, a racist. This was not due to my actions or behavior toward others but by virtue of the fact that I was “white” (a misnomer meaning Caucasian). There was no accusation, just innuendo and implication.

That was then. Today in many universities and even in some secondary schools the attribution of inherent racism is blatantly taught. Here we see the culmination of the affirmative action movement shepherded by liberals and run amuck.

A term occasionally heard is “white guilt.” One psychobabble definition of “white guilt” reads, “Individual or collective guilt felt by some white people for harm resulting from racist treatment of people of color both historically and currently.”

With this definition in hand, con artists, charlatans and race baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have had a field day. Shelby Steele, former professor of English literature at San Jose State University, responds rather nicely in his book “White Guilt.” Blacks in the political spotlight appeal to “white guilt” to their great advantage. Steele further contends that blacks together with white liberals have destroyed the promise of the civil rights era.

It would seem one set of rules should apply to all citizens. Unfortunately, races do not have equal protection under the law nor do they carry the same responsibilities. Minorities in general and blacks in particular are greater recipients of federal largess and preferential treatment. The race card is readily available.

Admission to universities must be based on racial diversity, not solely qualification.

Promotions in the military and fire and police departments conform to diversity.

Corporate work forces and government departments are judged not necessarily on the work they perform but on racial composition.

The national media adhere to a very specific reporting template, or narrative. If a white police officer shoots a black in the line of duty, the narrative deems this news worthy along with the requisite rioting. But, when the black-on-black slaughter continues in many major US cities week after week (Chicago comes to mind), that is outside the media template and is rarely covered.

Self-inflicted problems in the black community (single or no parent families, unemployment, disregard for education, disrespect for law and order) are problems only they can solve. I can’t solve them. The federal government with all its money and programs can’t solve them.

The avoidance of racial reference is not even-handed and often appears despotic. Politicians tiptoe around racial topics if they know what is good for them.

Defensive behavior by whites has become almost universal. Workplace discussion on the stupidity of the affirmative action program and the recurrent incompetence of that program’s product is conducted in hushed tones with furtive glances over the shoulder.

Liberals call for “starting a conversation.” That is the contemporary jargon designed for the naive. This is little more than an elaborate spectacle for the benefit of race baiters. Shades of disagreement are not permitted and “conversation” becomes an opportunity to lecture the rest of us.

Are race relations any better today than after the civil rights era? Or, has public resentment been piqued as liberals and progressives force their view of tolerance on America thus displacing freedom of conscience?

Most people will always have an aversion to others at some point in their life whatever the pretext. Is America contending with racism or resentment?

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)