[abner]

Best article I've seen in a long, long time...

[mattdono]

I may have to print this article out and just hand it to some of the idiots that I have debated about this issue.

By the way, I am finding the easiest way to pick a debate with a douche-bag liberal is to walk into any coffee shop with a shirt that says, "I love Bush". Most everyone that hangs out at these places seems to be a psuedo-intellectual Marxist piece of crap. Very easy to debate and conquer. Handing them this article when they talk about "oppression" might be some additional ammo. Of course, when handing them this article, it would be best to add, "...and while you are trying to improve yourself, bath."

[thegreatbeast]

I'm pissed that he let Lincoln's name be besmirched. He should have piped up then.

[Little Ray]

Lincoln, by the standards of today, WAS a racist ('course these days anybody who believes that a person should be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin is probably a racist by NAALCP standards...). Among other things, he wanted to colonize blacks back to Africa. He fought the Civil War (aka War of Northern Agression) to preserve the Union, not to free the slaves; slavery was largely a propaganda issue to keep England and France out of the war.
That said, we can't really judge him by the standards of today. For the mid-19th century his outlook was reasonable and benign; there were many folks (North AND South) that didn't even see blacks (or Indians, or Chinese, or Irish...) as human...
As shown in the anecdote, Lincoln treated blacks as equals whether or not he believed they were equal and believed that was the law should deal with them this way also.

Not my favorite President, but not the monster of "The Real Lincoln" either.

[Huck]

It was between two young baggers who were talking about an article one of them had read regarding President Lincoln. Both men happened to be black. One of them informed the other that President Lincoln cared nothing about blacks and was actually a racist.

With one or two well chosen pings, I could turn this into a civil war thread. I won't do it. But I could. Instead, I'll just make a crack and say I hadn't realized Lew Rockwell was actually a black grocery store clerk, and leave it at that.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[Rodney King]

have at it.

[dead]

Besides, if there were such a thing as institutional racism no blacks would have ever made it. They’re be no Cedric the Entertainer’s, Deion Sanders’, Tiger Woods’ or Halle Berry’s.

Not to nitpick, but he really should have tried to name somebody who isn’t an entertainer.

Maybe Clarence Thomas, Neil Tyson, Condoleeza Rice, etc.

[WestPacSailor]

EXCELLENT ARTICLE

I just want to know when we are going to celebrate White History Month, when there will be a box labled "European-American" to check on my drivers license application, and when can I expect my reparations check from the government for killing many of my German ancestors?

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

...It is unfortunate that I, and numerous other Caucasians, do not always emphatically state our views when asked...

I always have.
Course, I've never been able to work in the corporate world where PC and BS is a way of life.

As to Institutionalized Racism, there certainly is that. The Supreme Court made it the law of the land with their recent decision.

It just happens to be anti-white.

[rdb3]

He made the point that “institutional racism” is the reason many blacks “have not made it.” I told him there was no such thing. It is a creation of the university Marxists who have substituted “African-Americans, Hispanics, women and gays” for the word “proletariat.”

Lends credence to my theory that American blacks are in what I call "The Marxist Laboratory."

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Damn - its a working morning - I can't grab a bucket of popcorn and a beer to watch this one.

[driftless]

Conservatives will always have problems attracting the have-nots, because the conservative message is to tell someone that they are better off earning things on their own than stuff being given to them. Opportunity is the only thing that is owed all Americans. Liberals will always have the edge in attracting "the less fortunate", because people will always support the people that "give" them something. That "minorities" do not realize that all liberals give them are anchors around their necks is a tragedy. President Bush has a bully pulpit, and he must use it. He must pound home the conservative AMERICAN!! message.

[A_perfect_lady]

He argued that blacks have put their blood and sweat into this country’s infrastructure and deserve reparation for their effort.

Okay. Here's $45, thanks for all the cotton.

But seriously, our country's economy isn't based on agriculture. If it were, the South would have won.

[dwd1]

OK, let's dance...

I respect everyone's right to express an opinion but I respect no one's right to be wrong in their facts.

The institutional racism did and in some areas does exist. Please refer to any Tuskegee Airman that returned after WWII and were not permitted to submit an application...Anyone who applied for admission to University of Alabama before George Wallace was president...Anyone who wanted to have lunch at the restaurant of their choice in North Carolina...The silencing of Benjamin Davis at the US Military Academy...The fact we fought the world's ultimate racist during World War II with a segregated army(or was that executive decree by Truman simply reaffirming something done earlier...
The racial profiling that is still persistent in many parts of our country today..
Separate but equal...Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896 to Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954...1954 to 1957 Little Rock...1957 to 1964 before the Civil Rights Act...And what were these Grandfather Clauses... Oh...and Ladies...How many elections did you participate in before 1920?...

As black conservatives we are never going to have credibility if we accept the opinion of a revisionist who denies that black people have been treated unfairly by both political parties at times when it served their needs.

When the economy gets bad, everyone here knows that there is that fear that they will be laid off and that if an equally qualified black person is competing against an equalified white person for a job or a contract, the black person does not always feel that he is on an even playing field.

We will move forward if we deal with the history and the present honestly.

I would love to have a discussion about how it is that Blacks came to support the Democratic Party so heavily... I have the feeling it may have something to do with the perception that we were sold out so that Rutherford B. Hayes could gain the presidency (removing those federal troops from the south and all)... Then the Jim Crow laws... Somewhere in there, black people must have felt their best interests were not being served by the Republican Party...

We can say that conservatives treat us more fairly TODAY and we can say that conservative IDEALS serve us and empower us TODAY but we also have to understand that our acceptance into the corridors of opportunity and success are based only on what we do...We are not going to be given many second chances (or do you think that JC Watts is going to be running for Governor, Senator, or be appointed to some cabinet or administration post some time in the near or distant future)... Do you think Colin Powell is going to be given a second chance to fail?

Let us all take a breath of reality and realize that we are on our way to becoming an established interest and with the education and opportunity provided to us recently, we have an opportunity to secure our future by joining the conservative movement...

But let us not slip into complacency and think that there are not those that in both parties that will sell us out in a moment if circumstances dictate...

Also, I notice that the writer seems to always point to persons that are not necessarily in the mainstream of our community and define our entire community based on the attitudes of those persons... In other words, they tend to grasp every opportunity to think the worst of us...I think there is room for improvement here on all sides...

I would say that maybe the real truth may be that there are many among us who have outgrown what the Democratic Party has for us but we would be lying to ourselves if we walk around trying to act like conservatives have always been as fair and open minded as they are today.

Live in the present, but learn from the past...

[goodnesswins]

bump for later reading

[decimon]

Towards the end of our exchange, the reader admitted that he felt blacks should not have to work more than one job and do overtime to get ahead in life. Their route should be more direct. He felt long hours were for immigrants and that “we’ve already played that game.”

I've heard much the same from too many white people who'd find excuse to not work. "My father did all of this!" and "My grandfather did all of that!". Ridiculous but a common attitude.

[billbears]

bump

[sandydipper]

Very Good Post - I have never quite got the handle on "African American". To me either you're African or American - unless you were born in Rawanda and then became a US citizen. I do believe there is "institutionalized" blacks - they are the 4th and 5th generations who live in City Housing and get Government welfare checks. Never gonna change and they blame whites for it.

[Jason_b]

bump fo' later read.