Free Republic

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) says the United States must acknowledge a “painful” history of racial discrimination that still affects many minorities. Rubio told reporters in South Carolina on Monday that the biggest problems are a lack of economic opportunity and sour relationships between minority communities and law enforcement. ..... Rubio said he will discuss race more prominently “when it’s appropriate.”

There have been several notable cases of racial fakery. Years ago, then-law professor Elizabeth "Fauxcahontas" Warren falsely claimed that her great-grandfather was Cherokee Indian. A diversity-starved Harvard University jumped at the opportunity to hire her. She was so good at the racial fakery that a 1997 Fordham Law Review article lauded now-Sen. Warren as Harvard Law School's "first woman of color." Racial fakery for private gain has been going on for decades. In 1990, there was a highly publicized case of outright racial lying. Two white men, twins Philip and Paul Malone, took the Boston Fire Department test. They failed....

Seven years ago, in the gauzy afterglow of a stirring election night in Chicago, commentators dared ask whether the United States had finally begun to heal its divisions over race and atone for the original sin of slavery by electing its first black president. It has not. Not even close.A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted last week reveals that nearly six in 10 Americans, including heavy majorities of both whites and blacks, think race relations are generally bad, and that nearly four in 10 think the situation is getting worse. By comparison, two-thirds of Americans surveyed shortly after President...

In the wake of the recent murders in a South Carolina church, the killer's hope of igniting a race war produced the opposite effect. Blacks and whites in South Carolina came together to condemn his act and the race hate behind it. Some saw in the decision to remove the Confederate flag from in front of the state house a symbolic repudiation of the old South's racial past — and the end of the Civil War. But, unfortunately, wars do not end until both sides decide that it is over. The black parishioners who expressed forgiveness toward the killer did...

The Supreme Court has just agreed to reconsider the constitutionality of racial preferences in university admissions (although the advocates of these preferences prefer the seemingly more uplifting term “affirmative action.”) It is long past time that the Supreme Court declared this insidious and counterproductive policy unconstitutional for public universities and colleges, and hopefully private institutions will decide that it is incumbent upon them to also stop basing admissions decisions on race, gender or sexual preference. The idea of granting preferences based on race, gender or sexual orientation is so offensive and so un-American that its proponents have had to...

Almost immediately after a white killer gunned down nine black worshippers at a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina, out came the politics. On the Capitol grounds in Columbia flies the battlefield flag of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, often erroneously called the "Confederate flag." Right after the shooting, calls came for the flag's removal. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, until now, had defended the compromise that moved the flag in 2000 from the Capitol dome, where it had flown since 1962, to a nearby Confederate soldier memorial on the statehouse grounds. The killer did not pull...

When horrible things happen, such as the tragic mass murder that occurred at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, we try to understand because it is through understanding that we solve problems. Speaking about the incident, Hillary Clinton said: "It is tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident -- to believe that in today's America, bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism no longer exists. But despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, America's long struggle with race is far from finished." Some of the Republican candidates for president are taking heat because...

The mass murder of nine innocent black Americans attending a Bible study in a Charleston church by a drug-addled, racist, terrorist thug was as close to universally condemned as anything can be in a country like America. Expressions of sorrow over what happened and loathing for the killer are everywhere. Moreover, the shooter was quickly apprehended and the governor of South Carolina has already called for the death penalty. Hopefully, she’ll get her wish. Supposedly, the shooter had the same lunatic dream as Charles Manson did back in 1969: he was hoping to start a race war. That won’t work...

Have we found Time’s Person Of The Year? As a colleague of mine said concerning the whole Rachel Dolezal fiasco, “she's the gift that keeps on giving.” In this case, she didn’t want Tim Wise, an antiracism scholar, to come to Eastern Washington University, where she was an adjunct professor teaching Africana Studies. Regardless, he delivered his lecture on February 24. Wise recounted what has become a bizarre incident concerning Dolezal to the International Business Times [emphasis mine]: There's a professor in the Africana Studies department who doesn't think you should come and speak because, as a white person, you have no authority to...

Up to 200 South Philadelphia residents organized a large protest this week to take a stand against what they describe as “racial attacks” from four black women towards white residents. Residents claim that these four women have been “terrorizing” the neighborhood. Speakers said things like “white lives matter” and held up signs saying things like “We know who you are!” and “White women’s lives matter.” And they’re not just upset at these women, they’re outraged that the police haven’t taken any serious action against them. 911 calls were placed, but there were reportedly zero reports taken. Anonymous individuals told WPVI...

Michelle Robinson Obama didn’t have it too bad growing up. And her affirmative action catapult ride to Princeton and Harvard, to prestigious jobs, and to the pinnacle of vast riches and power has been fabulously smooth sailing — that is, compared to the often grim life struggles of the unsung multitudes of downtrodden, creepy-ass crackers across this land (despite all that white privilege everywhere, eh). Still, something’s wrong at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. If anyone should be over-brimming with gratitude for assorted blessings afforded to them by our society’s institutions and people,she should. So what’s with her endless racial resentment and...

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was at the White House on Wednesday to attend meetings in the aftermath of the violent protests that rocked her city. Her visit to Washington come as President Obama grapples with how to address tensions between law enforcement and minority communities resulting from a string of police-related deaths of young black men, including Baltimore’s Freddie Gray last month. Rawlings-Blake (D) told a reporter she was at the executive mansion to attend meetings, but did not say which officials she would meet with. The president was in Connecticut to speak at the United States Coast Guard Academy’s...

With poor results at home and abroad, Obamas will continue to stir the racial pot, distract from their reign of error and lead Americans on a very disturbing race to the bottom on the issue of race relations As the Obama administration mercifully begins to wind toward the end of its second term, both the President and the First Lady will continue to distract from their horrible record. Their favorite distraction is to claim racial discrimination exists in this nation and it needs to be corrected through government action. Even though we are not living in Mississippi in 1964, the...

A new poll released Monday indicated that Americans believe race relations are at their worst in more than two decades. The CBS News/New York Times poll said 61 percent of Americans characterize race relations in the U.S. as “bad,” including a majority of white and black respondents. The figure is the highest since 1992. A total of 79 percent of African-Americans believe police are more likely to use deadly force against a black person than against a white person, while 53 percent of whites believe race does not play a role, the survey said.... ....Most respondents – 64 percent of...

Controversy over the use of the word “thug” in the wake of the Baltimore riots continued Sunday with former CNN host Soledad O’Brien weighing in to claim the word has racial overtones. “I can’t think of a situation where there’s ever been a headline or someone has called a white young person who’s in the middle of a violent protest, demonstration, whatever, a thug,” she told guest host Frank Sesno on “Reliable Sources.” “We use it all the time when we’re talking about people in the inner city.” Sesno pointed out that no racial connotation s given in the dictionary...

As our first African-American president, Barack Obama had the opportunity to personify the final triumph of civil rights, and in the process, become a celebrated and historic figure. Instead, his ironic legacy on race is one of abject failure, as the rioting and looting in Baltimore underscore. The tragic reality is that Obama passed on the opportunity to the “post-racial” president he promised to be when he first ran in 2008. Instead, he farmed out leadership on racial issues to Al Sharpton, for whom grievance is like oxygen. The prejudgment of George Zimmerman, and related fury, set the stage...

Arkansas black leaders are urging fellow minorities to take up arms, join gun clubs and help curb what they perceive as unjustified violence from police – the latest of many such call-to-arms among members of the black community. “Law enforcement has to understand, you cannot do what you please when you see us,” said Crittenden County NAACP chief, Shabaka Afrika, in a news conference reported by WTOC. Crittenden County Justice Commission founder Hubert Bass said locals ought to become better educated, especially about their constitutional rights, and should join gun clubs. “We’re going to study law,” he said. “What our...

On Wednesday, a young African American man posted a video to his Facebook page voicing his feelings after being pulled over by a police officer. His message has since gone viral with over 20,000 likes and 64,000 shares. The man in the video, 22-year-old Army National Guardsman Will Stack, was reportedly stopped by the officer after ‘improper use of a median.’ In the video, which was shared by Young Cons, Stack explains: “An officer pulled up behind me, throws on his lights. After understanding that he was there for me, I pulled off to the side and he came up...

Would you like a lecture on race with your latte? That may sound like the name of a breakout session at a “White Privilege” conference or a new class at an Ivy League university, but it’s the new corporate policy at Starbucks. You now can be lectured by an otherwise unemployable gender studies graduate while paying $7 for a a penny’s worth of hot water run over a nickel’s worth of ground coffee beans and a splash of milk. What took Madison Avenue so long to cook up this marketing scheme? I don’t drink coffee, never have. I’ve only been...

At Starbucks, we respect your heritage AND your order.