A progressive acquaintance sent me a copy of the letter she
had written to the New York Times alleging that a local library was being
closed down because it was attracting too many Blacks into a largely White
area.
This was hard for me to believe, so I asked her what evidence she had to support her allegation. I was surprised by her answer. She merely suspected racism but had no actual evidence.
I was shocked that she would make such an inflammatory claim. However, it’s not unusual. I was beginning to notice that unsubstantiated charges by Whites against other Whites for their alleged racist motives had become so acceptable that they had reached epidemic proportions.
This was hard for me to believe, so I asked her what evidence she had to support her allegation. I was surprised by her answer. She merely suspected racism but had no actual evidence.
I was shocked that she would make such an inflammatory claim. However, it’s not unusual. I was beginning to notice that unsubstantiated charges by Whites against other Whites for their alleged racist motives had become so acceptable that they had reached epidemic proportions.
Of course, Blacks also make their own unsubstantiated
charges. In "The Silencing:
"How the Left is Killing Free Speech," liberal democrat, Kirsten
Powers, wrote:
·
Mary Frances Berry, an African American and
former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights under President Bill
Clinton, wrote in a Politico online discussion: “Tainting the tea party
movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for
Democrats.”
This should remind us of many similar charges, like the
Republican party's "war on women." This is not just laughable, but
also highly inflammatory! It is this kind of rhetoric that has caused racial
division and even violence, but is it true? Powers wrote:
·
Berry, a professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, added, “There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any
more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But
getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates
distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s
opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.”
African Americans tend to take these allegations as evidence
that the Left is on their side. However, such inflammatory words have also proven
to be highly divisive and have served to further alienate Black from White,
even though such lies have served to promote political aspirations.
Those who charge that this is still a racist nation allege
that the Constitution of the United States of America is racist, claiming that
it still regards the Blacks as only three fifths human. In support, they
erroneously hide behind this clause in the Constitution:
·
“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be
apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union,
according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to
the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term
of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”
(Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution)
Actually, the slaveholding South argued that their slaves
should be counted as a complete person, because this would have apportioned more
representatives in the US House of Representatives to the South by virtue of
having a greater overall population. In view of this, the Heritage Foundation
explained:
·
The three-fifths rule for counting slaves is
often misunderstood. When the Constitutional Convention debated the issue of
how to count population for the purposes of representation, the Southern
delegates to the Convention would have been pleased if nonvoting slaves had
been counted as full persons. That way, the Southern states would have had a
greater representation in the House of Representatives. In contrast, some
Northern delegates resisted counting slaves at all.
·
Furthermore, understood in context, the
apportionment rule was not proslavery. Even though slaves were property under
the laws of the Southern states, the Constitution itself acknowledged that they
were persons. In addition, by tying both representation and direct taxation to
apportionment, the Framers removed any sectional benefit, and thus any
proslavery taint, from the special counting rule. http://www.heritage.org/constitution?_ga=2.58975598.296536065.1507151256-659583315.1499514786#!/articles/1/essays/6/three-fifths-clause
Why am I outing these inflammatory strategies? Simply
because I see the hatred that they cause and how it is tearing apart our nation
and breeding suspicion even within the Church.
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