Preface
“The greatest challenge we face . . . is the oldest, and in some ways today, the newest: the problem of race,” said President Clinton at his historic “race relations” speech in 1997. “Race plays a part of everything in America,” says famed O. J. Simpson defense attorney Johnnie Cochran.
Nonsense.
These statements would be funny, if not so tragic. Americans want safe streets, good schools, and economic opportunity. But safe neighborhoods, especially urban ones, need community support of the police and of the criminal justice system. Good schools place high standards on students, demand homework, and expect parental involvement. Good economic opportunities require a skilled and motivated labor force, a safe location for employees, and a business-friendly environment of low taxes and limited regulation.
The civil rights movement properly demanded justice—by government. Many of today’s so-called black leaders seem incapable of distinguishing between equal rights and equal results. Results stem from hard work, focus, education and training, and the assumption of the consequences of one’s own actions.
Yet racism, say “black leaders” with their co-conspiring Democratic Party, remains the real roadblock—the moat, the ditch, the barrier—to self-improvement.
On today’s vital issues of crime, education, and employment opportunities, where does the “black leadership” stand? Unfortunately, they’re usually AWOL, stuck in a time-warped, decades-old “fight against racism” that vacuums up time, energy, and resources.
In reality, the formula for success is simple: work hard, make sacrifices, focus on education, delay gratification, avoid bad moral mistakes, and maintain optimism.
Bad schools, crime, drugs, high taxes, the Social Security mess, the health care “crisis,” unemployment, welfare state dependency, illegitimacy—and race and racism. What do these issues have in common? So-called black leaders—aided and abetted by the mainscream media, and cheered on by the Democratic Party—lie to us about them. They lie about the cause. They lie about the effect. They lie about the solutions. They make the most outrageous statements—and get away with it. Why? Many people refuse to challenge these outrageous statements for fear that they will be branded as racist. Others say nothing because keeping blacks angry and unduly concerned about racism advances the political agenda of the Democratic Party.
In reality, the formula for success is simple: work hard, make sacrifices, focus on education, delay gratification, avoid bad moral mistakes, and maintain optimism.
Negative outlook produces negative results. For example, when asked whether hard work offers little guarantee of success, 27 percent of whites agree. But a whopping 41 percent of blacks agree with that statement.3
Overcoming laziness remains one of life’s hardest challenges. Good parents tear their hair out trying to motivate their children to study. But give kids an excuse—like “The Man” holds him back—and watch them use this excuse as a badge and a shield instead of accepting personal responsibility for their own actions.
But people find ease in being a “victicrat.” If The Man conspires to bring you down, why try? If The Man stands ready to block my success, why study? Why work hard? After all, what’s the point? Forget, for a moment, about success. What about happiness? How can someone attain happiness if he or she feels that people and forces bigger than they are stand ready to strike them down and prevent them from succeeding?
Contrary to popular belief, most blacks lead working-class or better lives, and most live outside of the inner city. But the black so-called underclass—the 25 percent of blacks defined as living below the poverty rate4—are not helped by the angry, pessimistic rhetoric of those who claim to operate in their best interests. Getting ahead becomes elusive when you’re trained to think like a victim.
This book calls a lot of public figures’ bluffs—no more tiptoeing around. Stupid Black Men calls out black men and women, men and women of other races, the “empathetic” liberal media, and Democratic Party sympathizers for their racism-done-me-wrong statements and policy measures that maximize victimhood and minimize personal responsibility.
The left-leaning media happily assist. The mostly well-intentioned but condescending members of the mainscream media go the extra mile to avoid having charges of “racist” directed at themselves, so they seldom challenge “black leaders” when these race-baiters confuse equal rights with equal results. Thus, lower black college enrollment becomes “underrepresention” in higher education; the fact that white net worth exceeds black net worth becomes “disproportionate”; data showing banks decline black loans more readily than loans to whites becomes “discrimination”; blah, blah, blah.
Stupid Black Men calls for an end to BMW—Bitching, Moaning, and Whining. These so-called black leaders, mainscream media conspirators, and sympathizers in the Democratic Party send a simple, harmful message: standards of hard work and accountability do not apply to blacks. This hurts the very people they supposedly support. Because of the hard work, endurance, and suffering of many people, slavery and legalized segregation no longer exist. The racist, hard hearts and minds of an overwhelming majority of Americans is a long-gone thing of the past. While all societies have to endure a few wacko racists here and there, they don’t wield power and they face great forces aligned to call them out and crush them.
Stupid Black Men calls for an end to BMW—Bitching, Moaning, and Whining.
President John F. Kennedy once described happiness as the “full use of your powers along lines of excellence.”5 Can happiness coexist alongside exaggerated claims of racism, claims that turn people into victims and pawns? This kind of thinking may benefit the we’re-here-to-help Democratic Party and its pursuit of the monolithic black vote, but it downplays personal initiative and responsibility and makes people believe they are powerless to control their own lives. Stupid Black Men says this incessant harping about the “pervasiveness” of racism is not only wrong-headed, but downright dangerous. It diminishes personal responsibility and dupes people into thinking that their salvation rests with more government spending and the expansion of government programs.
Blaming racism is not just false, it is toxic.
It keeps races wary of each other. Watch what I say. Watch for an innocent remark that might be construed as “racist,” or “racially insensitive.” Unfounded charges of racism cause us to emphasize differences, rather than our broad and deep similarities.
Copyright © 2008 by Larry Elder. All rights reserved.
