THOMAS SOWELL, SYSTEMIC RACISM, AND STATISTICS

 

 

Thomas Sowell is an American economist, turned social theorist, political philosopher, and author. He is currently Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford. (Wikipedia)

 

Disparities in outcome do not prove systemic racism (SR). Instead, Sowell argues that statistics have been erroneously invoked to make charges of SR. One example is that blacks have been turned down for loans twice as much as whites. However, the charge of racism can only be made if certain other stats are ignored. Sowell writes:

 

·       If such data are included, it turns out that, in 2000, black applicants were turned down for prime mortgage loans twice as often as white applicants—and white applicants were turned down nearly twice as often as Asian American applicants. (Intellectuals and Race)

 

Sowell reasons that since it cannot be that whites are turned down twice as often as Asians because of racism, then there is no clear grounds to assume SR in regards to the rejection of blacks. Besides:

 

·       black-owned banks turn down black mortgage loan applicants at an even higher rate than do white-owned banks, and it seems equally unlikely that this is due to racial discrimination.

 

The Left can point to disparities to erroneously use them to prove SR and to inflame blacks against the system. Sowell demonstrates that the misuse of statistics doesn't stop there:

 

·       It is much the same story in the public schools, where black students are disciplined for misbehavior more often than white students—who in turn are disciplined more often than Asian American students.

 

Therefore, these simple disparities do not constitute evidence of white discrimination against blacks.

 

Sowell credits the paternalistic Left and its “I know better than you” attitude for the problems in his community:

 

·       At the heart of the Left’s vision of the world — and of themselves — is that they know better what is good for other people. This means that the Left sees itself as having both a right and a duty to take away other people’s options.

 

Sowell had experienced this “I know what’s better for you” attitude in many ways:

 

·       Many years ago, in a debate on William F. Buckley’s program Firing Line, I was told by a left-wing lawyer that black parents without a good education themselves could not make wise choices for their children’s education. But hard evidence says otherwise. There are whole chains of charter schools, such as the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) schools and the Success Academy schools, where ghetto kids have academic achievements equal to those of children in affluent suburbs — and sometimes higher achievements…Black parents who enroll their children in charter schools have apparently made better choices than the know-it-alls on the left.

 

Sowell also claims that the “I know best” Left has also hurt and marginalized by denigrating law-enforcement:

 

·       When it comes to crime and violence, the political Left, including much of the media, are having a great time demonizing the police. Blacks are the biggest victims of the sharp upturn in murders that has followed. But, yet again, hard evidence carries very little weight when the Left is feeling good about themselves, while leaving havoc in their wake. The absurdity to which this kind of media frenzy about the police can lead is shown by the fact that a black policeman in Charlotte, North Carolina, shooting a black suspect who had a gun, has been blown up into a racial issue across the nation. Have we become so gullible that we are so easily manipulated and stampeded? http://www.nationalreview.com/article/441176/california-ballot-proposition-58-shows-left-taking-school-choices-away-parents

 

 

The “divide and conquer” Leftist strategy has hurt whites as well as blacks:

 

·       None of the most popular political panaceas for helping black communities has a track record of making things better, and some have made things much worse. (Sowell)

 

This should raise the question, “Who really cares, who is truly our friends, and who is just using us are a pawn to support their political agenda?” According to Sowell:

 

·       Many things that are supposed to help blacks actually have a track record of making things worse. Minimum wage laws have had a devastating effect in making black teenage unemployment several times higher than it once was.

 

·       In later years, as the minimum wage was repeatedly raised to keep up with inflation, black teenage unemployment from 1971 through 1994 was never less than 3 times what it was in 1948, and ranged as high as more than 5 times the 1948 level. It also became far higher than the unemployment rate of whites the same age.

 

Ironically, the Left continues to unfold their charges of SR and the alleged racist attempts to maintain “white privilege,” creating hatred, distrust, and polarization However, the Left’s attempts to replace the present system might have done more to un-privilege the black community than anything else. Sowell charges:

 

·       The relations between the police and the black community are another issue that has gotten a lot of attention, and produced counterproductive results. After all the rhetoric and all the efforts towards more tightly restraining the police, the net result has been that murder rates have soared in cities where that policy has been followed — and most of the people killed have been black.

 

Our culture of blame and shame refuses to compare the status of blacks before and after the institution of their liberal policies. However, Sowell wants us to see the larger picture:

 

·       In my own life, I was very fortunate when I left home in 1948, at age 17 — a high school dropout with no skills or experience. At that time, the unemployment rate of black 16- and 17-year-old males was 9.4 percent. For white males the same ages, it was 10.2 percent. http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell091316.php3#4KH2HlYyLYYSVZxU.99

 

The Left has little interest in such statistics, only those that they can twist to show that our entire system is so corrupt that it must be removed.

FASHIONABLE RACISM AND UNFASHIONABLE RACISM

Racism has become fashionable among the Left, as long as it is directed against certain skin-tones. (I’ve yet to see a scale delineating which tones are given a pass. And where do Asians, Indians, and Jews fall by this racial measure? Evidently, racism only makes sense when it is not examined too closely.)

Huffington Press writes approvingly of a video of an interview of Muhammad Ali making a case in favor of judging according to skin color:

·       In a clip from a 1971 interview on the British chat show Parkinson (above) that’s now gone viral on Tumblr, boxing icon Muhammad Ali perfectly explains why the existence of some “good” white people isn’t always enough. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/muhammad-ali-on-not-all-white-people_us_563a5e9ee4b0307f2cabb2e6

Here is what Ali stated in the clip:

·       There are many white people who mean right and in their hearts wanna do right. If 10,000 snakes were coming down that aisle now, and I had a door that I could shut, and in that 10,000, 1,000 meant right, 1,000 rattlesnakes didn’t want to bite me, I knew they were good... Should I let all these rattlesnakes come down, hoping that that thousand get together and form a shield? Or should I just close the door and stay safe?

Ali used this reasoning to justify not forgiving people who share a skin color like those who had committed heinous crimes against Africans under Jim Crow. Essentially, his rhetoric is racist. While his analogy makes good sense regarding rattlesnakes, whites aren’t rattlesnakes. Besides, it is difficult to exercise discernment when it comes to rattlesnakes. However, we can regard people as individuals and judge them accordingly.

Individuals are different and should be regarded differently. That’s the way justice should work. This also had been the ideal of M.L. King who affirmed the biblical ideal of judging people according to their character and not their skin color.

However, Ali had opted for judging according their skin color. While this was far more understandable back in 1971, it is not today. Nevertheless, our media and leadership continue to talk in terms of skin and not character, heightening racial division and hatred. If the skin-tone isn’t right, then it reeks with guilt. Huffington Press concludes:

·       Ali’s words are still a pretty powerful reminder of the reality of being black in America. It’s pretty amazing, if unfortunate, that over 40 years later his words still resonate.

Huffington talks as if racism remains unchanged. While these words should resonate during Jim Crow, they should not today. Yes, there still are racists, but they are found among all colors. Ironically, today, the only racist laws on the books are those that favor people of color.

However, this is not enough to satisfy the Leftist media, which has invented new “crimes” to shame and silence the people of less color, at least all of those who do not think like communists. Consequently, such “good” white people are guilty of “White Privilege,” and if this charge doesn’t stick, they are guilty of “Systemic Racism.” If that’s not enough, then they are also guilty of secret negative assessments of the people of color. And if they can’t admit to these, then they are in denial. And so how can you forgive such devious people? You can’t!

Those who are unwilling to forgive will always find “justification” for their inflammatory remarks. However, hiding behind unforgiveness is the belief that:

·       “I am better than you. I would never have done to you what you had done to me. Consequently, you do not deserve to be forgiven.”

Sometimes, racist rhetoric is purposely exploited to create division, using those who have suffered most as kindling for their fires of hatred and revolution. Instead, we all need to be forgiven. However, we often refuse to see this, prompting Jesus to teach:

·       For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Meanwhile, crimes must be dealt with legally, as designated by law, not as blanket denunciations against people of a certain coloring. Racism cannot be healed by more racism.

Andrew Breitbart and His Battle to Expose the Media

The Mainstream Media has been granted many protections under the First Amendment because of the role it was to play in holding politicians accountable. And this they have performed very well when it comes to politicians which they find distasteful.

This imbalance raises in important question – Who will hold the Media accountable? One small, yet significant, but now silenced voice had been that of Andrew Breitbart. On May 7, 2010 LifeSiteNews.com wrote:

• The bias of the liberal media is so deeply ingrained that it is an essential part of its structure - one that conservatives must fight hard to challenge effectively, according to conservative new media guru Andrew Brietbart. "The left, to me, in essence, is the media," said Breitbart an interview with CBN's Matt Brody.

About liberals like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Breitbart observed,

• "Their ability to get what they need to get done is because they're carrying the water of the media. The media is a left-of-center ecosystem, it's a left-of-center organism. So the media can change the dynamics of what we're talking about."

Although he wasn’t “strongly religious,” Breitbart stated that the media’s incessant attack on Christians "angers me to no end." However, he did take issue with turn-the-other cheek Christians. He was also disturbed by Mainstream Media’s attempts to undermine the traditional values upon which this country rested: "It's a distinctly Judeo-Christian one and I think that it works":

• “I aim everything at attacking the media for its biases and holding them accountable for their biases, and the things that they report incorrectly, or the things they fail to report,”

• “By aiming everything at the media I’ve pretty much done the one thing they ask you not to do. ‘Please accept the premise that we’re fair, and let’s move on.’ No. I’m not going to accept that premise.

• “For these people to tell me with a straight face that they don’t come to the media and their jobs from a political perspective, from a left-of-center perspective, is just a bald-faced lie.”

• “I want to break down this politically correct paradigm. These are rules that tell conservatives: you're not allowed to say this, you're not allowed to think that. This type of Orwellian thought crime crap is what I'm fighting against."

The Mainstream Media has become far too powerful and influential, but who is left to sound the alarm? The Media clearly won’t do it. Andrew, you will be missed!

(Please see one of his last interviews:  http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/the-need-for-the-right-voice/1445859698001