Holding and Folding the Race Cards

Group membership identity is a natural human (and, for that matter, animal) tendency.   It is not necessarily a bad thing.  Unfortunately, it is often used as a pretext for condoning if not supporting the poor behavior of particular group members.

Such a theme reverberated in this Blog's posting of 17 February 2010, which discussed the attitudes of certain Jewish groups and individuals to the execution of Florida cop-killer Martin Grossman, and the flak I as a Jew took on account of my refusal to subscribe to the supplications for clemency.

This is not to say that lenity doesn't have a place in the criminal justice system, but in the particular case of Martin Grossman, the criminal's serious recidivistic crime squarely warranted the penalty which was in fact imposed.

Within the African-American community are some very vocal spokespersons who are all too quick to use membership in their group as justification for excusing and encouraging the most violent of criminals.  It is not the purpose of this posting to analyze the reasons why such individuals hold so much sway in the African-American community, nor the connection of the actions and attitudes precipitated by such individuals to the reported percentage statistics of African-Americans as lawbreakers.  Those of us who advocate for a government of laws and not persons should be rooting for all law-abiding citizens regardless of race or ethnicity, and should support the imposition of the appropriate negative consequences upon those who violate the law, without regard to race or ethnicity.

With that as a background, I note that SEIU 1199, the scummiest of the scum as far as labor unions go, has cancelled a pro-gun control rally in Albany for fear of causing racial friction (or, more specifically, racial friction which would be inconvenient for their agenda).  SEIU's rank-and-file membership is largely Black and Hispanic, while the more vocal opponents of Governor Cuomo's gun-grab law are white.  There is no doubt in my mind that Cuomo, with his aspirations to sit in the Oval Office, was behind 1199's change in plan, being that he stands to have mud splattered upon him if a racial confrontation ensues.

My observations and comments on this:

A.  Given the historic use of gun control as a means of oppressing the African-American community, it is they who should logically be opposed to the Cuomo gun grab.

B.  Whatever the reasons may be for the disproportionate tendencies of Black people to commit crimes, the persons most likely to be the victim of a violent Black criminal are themselves Black.

C.  A story now making the rounds is that of Deyfon Pipkins, a Black man with a prior criminal record who was shot dead while in the act of burglarizing a home.  What is not being discussed in the news clips is that the event occurred in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, a predominately Black neighborhood.  The homeowner who performed the valuable service of permanently retiring Pipkins from the active criminal league's roster has not yet been identified, but there is a better than even chance that he is Black and/or Hispanic.

Maybe the SEIU 1199 leadership fears that this, too, might fall onto the table if it were to play its race cards at its now-scrubbed gun-grab rally.

Voter Registration Forms in Color

According to the New York Post, Peter Rivera, a New York State Assemblyman from the Bronx, seeks to introduce a bill to require racial and ethnic data on voter registration forms.

This is, of course, absurd on its face. For one thing, there has not really been any racial purity amongst the population for the past 2,000 years or so. How would someone of diverse parentage and grandparentage fill out the form? And, of no less concern, what would be gained by placing what would inevitably be a strain on the New York State Budget, which is in poor shape as it now is?

What is even more amazing (though not at all unwelcome) is that the Congress for Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) and the NAACP are not warming up to the idea! Given the historical stances taken by those two groups, one would not be surprised to see either back such a scheme.

But it does sort of make sense for CORE and NAACP to steer clear of this one. They stand to gain little, and in fact, it may well backfire by yielding statistics which would embarrass them. There is too much of whatever credibility CORE and NAACP may possess that would be risked. Hey, it is so easy to register to vote by mail anymore that NAACP and CORE would be very hard pressed to find any of their constituents actually being denied the right to vote on racial or ethnic grounds.

Whether the nonplussedness (if there is such a word) of CORE and NAACP is based upon principle (which I sort of doubt) or practicality, it should be a signal to Rivera to forget about the whole thing and stick his proposed bill into the paper shredder.

Color Us Angry

During the past few weeks, various incidents of local, national and/or international proportions have implicated the topic of Black-Jewish relationships. I do not now purport to try to solve the strained relations between the two communities, and indeed, the observations set forth in this post will (at least in the short run) likely cause some degree of discomfort on either or both sides. Just for the record, however, let my disapproval of certain straight-up racist comments that have emanated from certain quarters be noted.

And now, to stir up the hornet's nets, I will suggest that within the Jewish community there is a significant amount of anger towards the Black community. It is an anger which neither side is comfortable acknowledging; indeed, many if not most in the Jewish community are oblivious to their own anger in this regard. Consider the following:

A. Jews stood with the Blacks in the Civil Rights Marches of the 1950's and 1960's. Some even gave their lives in the fight against racial segregation in America. The incident near Philadelphia, Mississippi on 21 June 1964 is a case in point. Three civil rights workers disappeared, and their bodies were later recovered from an earthen dam. The three were James Chaney (Black), Michael Schwerner (Jewish) and Andrew Goodman (Jewish). The incident cost the Jewish community more -- both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of its membership -- than the Black community. After we did so much to end the legalized discrimination against the Blacks, they have turned upon us and support our enemies.


B. In the 1950's and 1960's, Israel sent its best and brightest to aid the developing African nations, and took the best and brightest of these developing African nations in to its colleges and universities for training. Every one of these African nations sided with the Arabs to vote against Israel!

C. We see and hear Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and all of these others spouting off their anti-Jewish garbage. Which wouldn't be so bad, except that thousands of Blacks fawn over these bigots, day and night, savoring and cheering their every word.

D. We are subjected to Black speakers who deliver venomous anti-Jewish speeches on the various college campuses, and whose speaking engagements are planned, organized and sponsored by the various Black student organizations on campus.

E. And, of course, there are the bad experiences in locales such as East New York, Mattapan, Parkside, Lawndale, Dexter-Linwood, Mt. Airy, Forest Park and other once-vibrant Jewish neighborhoods where the Blacks moved in, displaced the Jews, and made life dangerous for those Jews who remained.


In short, the Black community has too often showed gross ingratitude towards the Jewish community.


So if some Jewish youth, with the assistance of a few beers, spout off some racist anti-Black comments, then by all means condemn those racist comments (just as the anti-Jewish comments by Blacks, intoxicated or otherwise, ought be roundly condemned). But understand that the Jewish community has some real and valid gripes against the Black community in America and elsewhere, on account of the ingratitude we have been receiving.


Postscript: Some white supremacist nutjob killed Stephen T. Johns, an African-American security guard at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Officer Johns was, by all accounts, a very worthy man. The American Jewish Committee has set up a fund to help Johns's family.

There is no denying the nagging notion of the possibility that Johns's son might one day follow Black community precedent and turn against the Jewish people. But if I don't do at least something for Officer Johns's young son, then I will be no better than the Blacks who have ungratefully turned against the Jews.

And so, notwithstanding my reservations over the whole thing (including reservations about the American Jewish Committee itself), I have joined what surely will be many in the Jewish community, and have cut a check to the AJC to be used to help Officer Johns's family.

What Color is Your Racial Prejudice?

"Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House" an Associated Press article proclaims. It is available here, here, and here, and hundreds of other places. The article makes a big deal of the fact that many white people are reluctant to vote for Barack Hussein Obama because he is b-l-a-c-k.

Yes, there is prejudice in this country; this we cannot deny. And not voting for Obama on account of his race is very shortsighted, considering that there are so many cogent race-neutral reasons for not voting for him. His policies (or lack thereof). His lack of consistency. The people with whom he associates or formerly associated, including but not limited to Bill Ayers and Jeremiah "Pastor G-ddamn America" Wright.

One of my own numerous reasons for not voting for him is that he owes his meteoric rise to the Chicago Democratic political machine. He owes that machine a big time, jumbo mortgage debt at a subprime rate. McCain, on the other hand, has already paid his dues, including but not limited to his involuntary stay at the Hanoi Hilton for more than 5 years. McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has gone against her state's political establishment, and similarly does not carry a major political marker that can be called in.

Yes, there are people who will not vote for Obama on account of his race. While I cannot personally identify with such a mentality, such is their right when they step into the voting booth in this great Nation.

But I have an even bigger quarrel with many of those who criticize those race-based voters against Obama. Because, just as there are those who will not vote for Obama because he is b-l-a-c-k, there also are those who, this coming Election Day, will cast their vote for Obama solely on account of the fact that his is b-l-a-c-k.

Why isn't the latter manifestation of racial prejudice decried?