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The Problem with Mrs. Obama

Over at Global Politician, the curiously-named Mr. Guy White offers this contribution to the "debate on race":

The Darker the Berry, the Sweeter the Juice: Black Racism, Part I

Guy White - 3/9/2008

Accusations of white racism are rampant, with the topic of race turning immediately to the alleged hate deep in the heart of every white person. In fact, any ?dialogue? on race is nothing more than a vicious black attack on whites who cannot defend themselves and usually respond with a payment to black organizations and neighborhoods from the government and corporations. But what about black racism? Is it even possible? If so, does it exist? And if it exists, is it more or less virulent than white racism?

Is Black Racism Possible?

When black leaders are asked about the issue of racism in their own community, their inevitable answer is that racism is an ability to translate bigotry into policy, and the powerless blacks are incapable of doing so, meaning that they are by definition incapable of racism.

But power has nothing to do with racism. Either you judge people based on their race or you do not. Racism is an ideology, just as every other ?ism? is. Communists are communist even in a country where they are helpless. Capitalists are Capitalist no matter their power. All ?ism?s? are ideologies and do not depend on their power. Blacks are capable of being part of any ideology, as it requires only that one believes something. They are therefore capable of being racist.

The whole thing lives here.
We're inclined to agree with this thesis, although it might be more accurate to call it "race hatred" than "racism", especially when it comes to Mrs. Michele Obama. Our experience has been that there is a thin veneer of civility overlying a cesspool of racially motivated grievance and rage. We don't know how things are at other law schools, but our alma mater made a point of nurturing the injured feelings of minority students back in the 1980s, and as far as we can tell, continues to do so to this day. More recently, they seem to have shifted to encouraging the Islamization of American society and dismantling of the global war on terror.
We recall one guy who graduated a year ahead of us and went to work for our state's civil service, where he indicated to me that he planned to make up for 400 years of American mistreatment of Africans by screwing over every white person he came in contact with during the course of his employment. Our guess is that professionalism eventually prevailed. On the other hand, there are relatively few African-Americans in Kansas (6.0% of the population in 2006), and even fewer who would come into contact with his agency, so screwing over 94% of everybody would likely pass unnoticed as what state government usually does.
All this loops back to Marie's belief, which she articulated here, that whether or not the President of the United States in 2009 is a black man, race relations in this country are destined to go to hell.
Our plan is to go out to the back yard and grow cabbages.

Full post as published by West Neanderthal Drive on March 08, 2008 (boomark / email).