Who Is 'Racist'? (Thomas Sowell)

http://www.creators.com/print/conservative/thomas-sowell/who-is-racist.html ^ | April 24, 2012 | Thomas Sowell

[jazusamo]

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the case against George Zimmerman for his shooting of Trayvon Martin, what has happened already is enough to turn the stomach of anyone who believes in either truth or justice. An amazing proportion of the media has given us a painful demonstration of the thinking — and lack of thinking — that prevailed back in the days of the old Jim Crow South, where complexion counted more than facts in determining how people were treated. One of the first things presented in the media was a transcript of a conversation between George Zimmerman and a police dispatcher. The last line in most of the transcripts shown on TV was that of the police dispatcher telling Zimmerman not to continue following Trayvon Martin. That became the basis of many media criticisms of Zimmerman for continuing to follow him. Only later did I see a transcript of that conversation on the Sean Hannity program that included Zimmerman's reply to the police dispatcher: "O.K." That reply removed the only basis for assuming that Zimmerman did in fact continue to follow Trayvon Martin. At this point, neither I nor the people who assumed that he continued to follow the teenager have any basis in fact for believing that he did or didn't. Why was that reply edited out by so many in the media? Because too many people in the media see their role as filtering and slanting the news to fit their own vision of the world. The issue is not one of being "fair" to "both sides" but, more fundamentally, of being honest with their audience. NBC News carried the editing even further, removing one of the police dispatcher's questions, to which Zimmerman was responding, in order to feed the vision of Zimmerman as a racist. In the same vein were the repeated references to Zimmerman as a "white Hispanic." Zimmerman is half-white. So is Barack Obama. But does anyone refer to Obama as a "white African"? All these verbal games grow out of the notion that complexion tells you who is to be blamed and who is not. It is a dangerous game because race is no game. If the tragic history of the old Jim Crow South in this country is not enough to show that, the history of racial and ethnic tragedies is written in blood in countries around the world. Millions have lost their lives because they looked different, talked differently or belonged to a different religion. In the midst of the Florida tragedy, there was a book published with the unwieldy title, "No Matter What ... They'll Call This Book Racist." Obviously it was written well before the shooting in Florida, but its message — that there is rampant hypocrisy and irrationality in public discussions of race — could not have been better timed. Author Harry Stein, a self-described "reformed white liberal," raised by parents who were even further left, exposes the illogic and outright fraudulence that lies behind so much of what is said about race in the media, in politics and in our educational institutions. He asks a very fundamental question: "Why, even after the Duke University rape fiasco, does the media continue to give credence to every charge of racism?" Harry Stein credits Shelby Steele's book "White Guilt" with opening his eyes to one of the sources of many counterproductive things said and done about race today — namely, guilt about what was done to blacks and other minorities in the past. Let us talk sense, like adults. Nothing that is done to George Zimmerman — justly or unjustly — will unlynch a single black man who was tortured and killed in the Jim Crow South for a crime he didn't commit. Letting hoodlums get away with hoodlumism today does not undo a single injustice of the past. It is not even a favor to the hoodlums, for many of whom hoodlumism is just the first step on a path that leads to the penitentiary, and maybe to the execution chamber. Winston Churchill said, "If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost." He wasn't talking about racial issues, but what he said applies especially where race is involved.

[Tax-chick]

Once Dr. Sowell has spoken, there’s really very little left to be said.

[jazusamo]

*PING*
Thomas Sowell

Recent columns
The 25 Best Quotes From Thomas Sowell
Mixing and Matching
Random Thoughts

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to or removed from the Thomas Sowell ping list…

[jazusamo]

Amen, he sure nailed this.

[ClearCase_guy]

Letting hoodlums get away with hoodlumism today does not undo a single injustice of the past.

Black hoodlums mostly oppress other blacks. When White Liberals push for letting hoodlums get away with hoodlumism, they are basically punishing black communities. This is, in my opinion, a way of keeping the black man "in his place". Black neighborhoods cannot thrive if they are consumed by lawlessness. Democrats have always been trying to keep black men down. They are doing it still today.

[Jack of all Trades]

Democrats are, and have always been the festering pustule of racism in America.

[Hodar]

It seems that the only way people who are “Racist” can ‘win’ an argument, in by injecting race into the argument.

A person lives in a community, and is a part of the coumminty watch. On his rounds, he is legally armed with a sidearm, which is is authorized to carry. He spies an individual acting ‘unusual’ and proceeds to follow this person, he calls 911 and reports this individual.

He is attacked, has his head pounded against the sidewalk, and uses his sidearm to defend his life, thus killing the attacker.

Those are the basic facts. The fact that the attacker is Black, and the ‘victim’ is hispanic are really unimportant. My view wouldn’t change, no matter what the racial background of the characters were. One person was a champion for good, the other a champion of evil.

[jazusamo]

Please bump the Freepathon or click above and donate or become a monthly donor!

[Pollster1]

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
- Joe Biden

It's a shame Biden doesn't think Sowell is good looking, and Sowell is not interested in personal power. Otherwise, we might have a president who is patriotic and capable as well as "articulate and bright and clean".

[MrB]

This is exactly what the charge of “racist” is about these days - silencing speech that is truth, oppositional and exposes the left.

Time to laugh at the charges of both “racism” and “McCarthyism”.

The left needs to be hung with their communist sympathies and have to deal with defending them.

[Roccus]

From the 9/12/09 Tea Party, D.C.

[redgolum]

Now imagine if someone like Mark Steyn wrote this.

[Pollster1]

Democrats have always been trying to keep black men down. They are doing it still today.

Except for the hatred for America, the Klansmen of long ago would fit right in with today's Democrats. They'd probably even be impressed with the cleverness of using liberal indoctrination to get blacks to keep each other where the Klan thinks they belong, and to get blacks to do far more killing of each other than the Klan ever did. I'm disgusted by liberals who are not ashamed of what they do to the groups they pretend to help.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Koran-Burning Pastor To Hold Rally For George Zimmerman

http://www.alan.com/2012/04/17/koran-burning-pastor-to-hold-rally-for-george-zimmerman/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+liberaland+%28Alan+Colmes+Liberaland%29

[jazusamo]

Yep, but the leftists hate Dr. Sowell for speaking out, they just can’t say much about it.

[DirtyDawg]

“In the same vein were the repeated references to Zimmerman as a “white Hispanic.” Zimmerman is half-white. So is Barack Obama. But does anyone refer to Obama as a “white African”?”

I had exactly the same question. As Mr. Sowells says, the media in this country is so sold out to their world view that truth and justice have taken a back seat. I am very worried for my children and grand children.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Pastor Terry Jones says Zimmerman told him not to come To Sanford

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-21/news/os-george-zimmerman-terry-jones-picnic-20120421_1_trayvon-in-self-defense-pastor-terry-jones-shooting-death

[chris37]

It is the plantation and its inhabitants that are racist, Dr. Sowell.

Every one on it, those who run and those who reside on it are the racists of America.

[Tax-chick]

Is “Pastor” Terry Jones’s picture in the dictionary to illustrate “attention whore”?

[Sherman Logan]

On his rounds, he is legally armed with a sidearm, which is is authorized to carry.

He wasn't "on his rounds." He was on his way to Target and happened to spot Trayvon.

[loveliberty2]

Prayers for a long life for Dr. Sowell!

The Creator blessed him with a superior intellect, as well as an effective ability to share his insights with others.

He truly is a man for this season in the struggle to preserve individual liberty, calling out the tactics of those who would mislead, divide, and gain power over all, in the name of "helping."

[rlmorel]

PING FOR LATER.

[jazusamo]

BTTT

[Tenacious 1]

Great article.

I'm not a Dr of phsycology. But there are cultural links to be found between the underwhelming minority population in the country and overwhelming prison population. And contrary to NAACP belief, it has little to do with racism.

I would go a step further and suggest that the culture prevalent in the inner city that promotes gangs, street cred, anti-authority and welfare are all residual (if not immediate) symptoms of entitlement mentality because of the “wrong that was done” so many years ago.

There are a lot of proud criminals in jail. Out of ignorance or learned behavior, this is all that was expected out of them. Their cultural leaders are Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Reverend Wright, etc. The only hope they troubled and violent youth stuck in this cycle is that prominent black leaders not only begin to stand up and call it like they see it, but that other socially responsible black leaders support each other and influence the likes of the NAACP, ACLU and democratic party.

I heard someone recently say something to the effect, “You can be fined or imprisoned for feeding the wildlife in Yellowstone National Park because it is bad for the wildlife. It will kill them as they become dependent on hand outs. Yet we actively push and encourage this practice for humans in this country and around the world. It's tragic that we care more about black bears than we do about minorities and the poor.”

[stephenjohnbanker]

” Once Dr. Sowell has spoken, there’s really very little left to be said.”

True

[MHGinTN]

Amen to that!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Democrats are, and have always been the festering pustule of racism in America.”

Democrats are suppurating infected butt warts!

[brityank]

[Author Harry Stein] asks a very fundamental question: "Why, even after the Duke University rape fiasco, does the media continue to give credence to every charge of racism?"

Because the Media never held Heimy-town Jackson or Tawana Sharpton accountable for the murder and mayhem they instigated.

[jazusamo]

Exactly right.

[Jack of all Trades]

Democrats are suppurating infected butt warts!

Heck of a bum-per sticker.

[rockinqsranch]

Thanks for the ping jaz. Dr. Sowell again right on the mark.

[rockinqsranch]

Disgusting, but true.

[SaraJohnson]

Letting hoodlums get away with hoodlumism today does not undo a single injustice of the past. It is not even a favor to the hoodlums, for many of whom hoodlumism is just the first step on a path that leads to the penitentiary, and maybe to the execution chamber.

---

This is the worst of all liberalism’s attacks on the Black race in the name of Marxist “change.” It severely terrorizes and abuses all people who come in contact with this. It is a well nurtured criminal insanity liberals name black liberation and pride.

Liberals are soul snatchers. Dr. Sowell has served life as a soul-snatcher-backer.

[GBA]

This is the first time I've heard/read that Zimmerman said "Ok" when asked not to follow the person he called 911 about. Un-be-freaking-lievable!

We have freedom of speech, but we don't have the freedom to withhold truth in an effort to create a crisis, stir up tension and division or cause chaos.

I fully expect Zimmerman and that elderly couple to file lawsuits. At what point do we have grounds for a class action suit?

We are all put at risk when our domestic tranquility is deliberately effed with like these corporate news stooges have deliberately done.

It doesn't get more blatant than with this case and there are plenty of specific offenders as well as deep pocket employers of said offenders.

Time to use this opportunity to make an example out of the many offenders and their deep pocketed employers.

They aren't afraid of abusing their fellow Americans with their political propaganda and psyops.

Clearly, it's past time to clear up that misunderstanding.

Now it's time to turn the mob they created against them!

[GOPJ]

Why was that reply edited out by so many in the media? Because too many people in the media see their role as filtering and slanting the news to fit their own vision of the world. The issue is not one of being "fair" to "both sides" but, more fundamentally, of being honest with their audience.

NBC News carried the editing even further, removing one of the police dispatcher's questions, to which Zimmerman was responding, in order to feed the vision of Zimmerman as a racist.

NBC News has more in common with racist whites of the old south than they might know... Old time racists would lie about blacks to justify horrible treatment of them... Modern day 'journalists' do the same - but to a different 'color'. Same hate, same justifications -same evil - they've switched the color of their victims.

It's as if the Germans started putting the French in concentration camps and ovens and couldn't understand why they weren't getting 'credit' for not killing Jews.

It's horrible.

Just as bad as it used to be... Shame on NBC - shame on the MSM ... they're no different = just changed the color of their stripes - color of their victims.

[GOPJ]

Harry Stein, a self-described "reformed white liberal," raised by parents who were even further left, exposes the illogic and outright fraudulence that lies behind so much of what is said about race in the media, in politics and in our educational institutions. He asks a very fundamental question: "Why, even after the Duke University rape fiasco, does the media continue to give credence to every charge of racism?"

Why indeed? (I'm guessing, but I'd say it's because journalist/liberals are closet racists and don't know how to deal with blacks except through the filter of 'all blacks must be perfect. Anything less would be an admission of racism'... The so called press is a big part of the reason race relations have stayed in la la land.

[TheOldLady]

Click the Drop!

It may seem like a drop in the ocean
But even small monthly donations
Will keep Free Republic running smoothly

Sponsors will squeeze out $10
every time a new monthly donor signs up

[jazusamo]

We have freedom of speech, but we don't have the freedom to withhold truth in an effort to create a crisis

Very well said. Good posts by the both of you, back to back.

It seems the MSM keep pushing the envelope further and further for their agenda. They don't give a whit about presenting a balanced report if one side of a story goes against that agenda be it for political, financial or their preconceived societal outlook.

It's way past time to turn this around and hold them responsible for outrages like this one.

[Jean2]

How true that is.

[oldbrowser]

White-africans, that may be the key.
Most blacks in this country have some white DNA. It's very likely that the source of the DNA is the long ago slave owner. So if they are the victim they are also the victimizer.

[rwilson99]

I would actually disagree with the notion that there isn’t evidence that Zimmerman cut off pursuit at his ‘OK.’

After this statement his labored breathing begins to subside and more definitely the sounds of wind whipping into his phone speaker stop on the non-emergency call tape.

In face he spends at least another minute speaking to the dispatcher.. Giving out his home address and present location.

If the incident actually happened 70 yards from Trayvon’s destination... It was plenty time for a fit teenager to walk home... Much less run.

[William Tell]

Tenacious 1 said: "Black neighborhoods cannot thrive if they are consumed by lawlessness. "

Tenacious 1 also quoted: “You can be fined or imprisoned for feeding the wildlife in Yellowstone National Park because it is bad for the wildlife. It will kill them as they become dependent on hand outs. "

Your second comment anticipated my reaction to your first.

I think we could compose:

The Ten Democrat Commandments for Blacks:

1. Thou shall not go armed or support the Second Amendment.

2. Thou shall not oppose gangs or drug dealing.

3. Thou shall not support getting an education.

4. Thou shall not support the sanctity of marriage.

5. Thou shall covet all that thy neighbor has.

6. Thou shall not strive for economic independence.

7. Thou shall not own a home, but shall rent and periodically join outraged mobs in burning the rental properties.

8. Thou shall vote Democrat ( the party of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the KKK )and shall vote as many times as possible.

9. Thou shall support leaders based on the color of their skin regardless of the content of their character.

10. [Fill in the blank]

Help me out here. This should be a group exercise.

The mystery to me is how black people have tolerated the damage done to them by the Democrats over several generations.

[the OlLine Rebel]

These morons on YouTube need to read this (black) man.

I’m so angry over all this communist claptrap I can spit.

[RipSawyer]

“Once Dr. Sowell has spoken, there’s really very little left to be said.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Only an Amen! That goes to both Dr. Sowell and to your comment.

[RipSawyer]

“One person was a champion for good, the other a champion of evil.”
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Jackson, Sharpton and all the dingy left wing nuts would agree with you on that, the only disagreement is about which was which.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

This is the first time I've heard/read that Zimmerman said "Ok" when asked not to follow the person he called 911 about. Un-be-freaking-lievable!

We have freedom of speech, but we don't have the freedom to withhold truth in an effort to create a crisis, stir up tension and division or cause chaos.

I’m shocked that a FReeper would take it for granted that journalistic reports are trustworthy without checking on FR, if not indeed listening to the unexpurgated audio personally.

But I know that that is the fundamental problem with journalism - people just can’t get their heads around the fact that journalism does not try to be objective. I make that claim without fear of successful contradiction, because it’s my settled opinion that the only way to try to be objective is to be open and above board about any reasons why you might not be objective. This is SOP in financial journalism; you don’t write about a stock without declaring whether you own that stock or have shorted that stock. But it is never done in commercial journalism - you cannot openly declare your interests and at the same time claim actually to be objective. You can claim to be objective, or you can actually make a serious attempt at objectivity - you cannot do both.

I fully expect Zimmerman and that elderly couple to file lawsuits. At what point do we have grounds for a class action suit?

You are talking my language! This is far from the first, or even the most egregious, example of slanted coverage which damaged the country. The Duke Lacrosse case was a hoax which was pretty transparent within a week, and seemed to drone on for a year before the complete exoneration of the Lacrosse team members. But the biggest one was probably the calling of Florida for Gore while the polls were still open in the Florida Panhandle. If that did not bias the result in Florida and elsewhere, TV advertising is seriously overpriced and overrated. And what would have been the effect in the West of revelation that Gore had lost his home state of Tennessee?? If Bush lost a state by as much as Gore lost Tennesee, the delay between closing and the call of the result would have been short enough that the West would have known of it before the close of the polls.

We are all put at risk when our domestic tranquility is deliberately effed with like these corporate news stooges have deliberately done.

It doesn't get more blatant than with this case and there are plenty of specific offenders as well as deep pocket employers of said offenders.

Time to use this opportunity to make an example out of the many offenders and their deep pocketed employers.

The target I want to see sued into oblivion is the Associated Press. Before the mid-Nineteenth Century founding of the AP, newspapers were notoriously independent of each other. The AP unified journalism, making it a single national institution (don’t think of the individual members of the AP individually, any more than you think about the Yankees and Red Sox as competitors without realizing that in fact they are two parts of Major League Baseball, and cooperate selling the conceit that their games are important).

They aren't afraid of abusing their fellow Americans with their political propaganda and psyops.

Clearly, it's past time to clear up that misunderstanding.

Now it's time to turn the mob they created against them!

They need to be hit with a civil RICO suit for treble damages. The fact that they have openly reported, without condemnation, the threats of the NBPP should be sufficient to make a racketeering case out of it.

[listenhillary]

ping

[neverdem]

Excellent!

[hoosiermama]

Was told in a word origin class that the “N” word actually meant unpure black and was given by the pure black slave to those fathered outside their community.
IIRC in most societies a mixed child is shunned.

[GOPJ]

NBC News carried the editing even further, removing one of the police dispatcher's questions, to which Zimmerman was responding, in order to feed the vision of Zimmerman as a racist.

NBC News carried the editing even further, removing one of the police dispatcher's questions, to which Zimmerman was responding, in order to feed the vision of Zimmerman as a racist.

A person who will lie FOR you, will also lie AGAINST you.

It's the same - and worse for companies - institutions like NBC, ABC, and the New York Times. If they'll lie to make a group look good - they'll also lie to make the same group look bad when the winds change.

When blacks wonder if they can 'trust' NBC the answer is NO. When whites wonder the same - the answer is NO. Same with ABC News.

NBC probably lied AGAINST blacks in the 50's and 60's. As did most of the MSM - the same groups that are lying FOR them now...

It's as if Germans - "having learned the lessons of World War II" - started building concentration camps, but this time killed the French... Then acting surprised people objected - saying, 'but we're not killing Jews....".