Chapter One
It's the media, stupid
Media malpractice: the shameful willingness to provide a megaphone for baseless, outlandish charges of racism; the failure to highlight the tremendous progress of minorities over the past forty years; and the unwillingness to seek out minority voices to counter the histrionics of the Jesse Jacksons, the Al Sharptons, and their willing liberal conspirators in the media and the Democratic Party.
Consider the stupid, silly, or just plain ignorant statements made by angry blacks—statements that go unchallenged by the mainscream media.
"Race stories" Fill our newspapers. "Hate crimes." Unjustified accusations of "police brutality." "Cultural bias" in standardized testing. "Discriminatory" college and university admissions when some groups are admitted at higher rates than others. The alleged Hollywood "blackout" that argues show business—despite being chock-full of liberals—discriminates against minorities.
If a black person says this, he is an Uncle Tom.
America is more inclusive and just than at any point in her history. When one considers the staggering diversity and continued prosperity of the American people, racism approaches near insignificance. If a white person says that, he stands accused of blindness, if not outright bigotry. If a black person says this, he is an Uncle Tom. Yet those who consistently—and often without evidence—cry "racism," attract attention, sympathy, and votes.
Blacks overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic Party, the party that counts on receiving more than 90 percent of the black vote.2 Democrats need and rely on the black vote the way humans need oxygen. Thus we hear absurd, hysterical statements that racism remains the principal problem facing "black America." The Democratic Party then mounts the white horse and charges into this battle against racism. And, since racism remains enemy number one against blacks, voting for Democrats becomes not only a matter of self-interest, but a moral necessity!
But where's the proof that social programs and redistribute-the-wealth schemes work? Who cares? Social programs show that Democrats "do something." Whether by offering ineffective "jobs programs," or providing welfare without work, these programs say that Democrats are clearly here to help.
Gutless Republicans—in fear of the racist label—often keep silent rather than speak out against verbal outrages. So when black New York City Councilman Charles Barron says, "I want to go up to the closest white person and say, 'You can't understand this, it's a black thing,' and then slap him, just for my mental health,"3 many blacks applaud.
Did Barron apologize afterward? When WABC radio's Steve Malzberg asked him for clarification, Barron said, "I think everybody knew that was what we call . . . oratorial improvision [sic] and black hyperbole. And y'all wouldn't understand that 'cause you're uptight and you're gonna take it where it was not intended."4 Oh.
The actions of the race baiters go beyond irresponsible. They border on evil. And a compliant media goes willfully along. Imagine, for example, what the media coverage would be like if a white public figure said he or she wanted to slap the nearest black person. For many days, it would be front-page news, the lead story on television news, and editorials everywhere calling for the politician's resignation.
Cosby urged blacks to embrace education, speak standard English, and obey the law. How dare he?
Bill Cosby, the legendary actor/entertainer/philanthropist, gets it. He said, "[I]n our cities and public schools we have fifty percent drop-out. . . . No longer is a person embarrassed because they're pregnant without a husband. No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child."5 Cosby urged blacks to embrace education, speak standard English, and obey the law. How dare he?
But in a book called Is Bill Cosby Right? author Michael Eric Dyson accused Cosby of unfairly attacking blacks, blaming "the victim." This professor from the University of Pennsylvania downplays or dismisses the tragedy of babies having babies, the 50 percent inner-city dropout rate, and the disproportionately high percentage of black youth involved in crime. Obviously, the white man made them do it.
Many in the media go jelly-legged if someone like Cosby calls on blacks to take responsibility. The Today show invited Dyson to discuss his book and his attack on Bill Cosby. But who conducted the interview? Cohost Matt Lauer? No. Then cohost Katie Couric? No. Al Roker, the black weatherman. Nice guy, Roker, but by using him the Today show protected Lauer and/or Couric from injecting themselves into a race debate. The "white man done me wrong" theme remains a staple of mainscream media malpractice, and clearly the Today show producers felt so uncomfortable about having one of its stars involved in this the argument that they devalued this serious issue by letting the weather guy handle the task. It went like this:
"Do you think there's any validity in some of the things he said?" asked Roker.6
"Oh sure . . . there's validity always," said Dyson. "Tim[othy] McVeigh had a point. The state is overreaching. But the way you do it, dropping bombs and castigating of human beings, that's terrible. . . . Let's hold the larger society accountable for creating the conditions that lead to some of the downfalls of the poor people."7
What? Roker said nothing.
Roker then read three quotes from Cosby: "Those people are not Africans; they don't know a damn thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail." Next, "All this child knows is 'gimme, gimme, gimme.' These people want to buy the friendship of a child . . . and the child couldn't care less. . . . These people are not parenting. They're buying things for the kid. $500 sneakers, for what? They won't . . . spend $250 on Hooked on Phonics." And finally, "You can't land a plane with 'why you ain't'. . . . You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth."8
Dyson responded, "Black people have always been creative in naming their children. Africans name their kids after the days of the week, after conditions of their birth. Black people in 1930s gave their kids names after consumer products, Cremola, Listerine, Hershey Bar. So black naming has always been creative. I'm not worried about Shaniqua and Taliqua, I'm worried about Clarence and Condoleezza, who can hurt us in high places of power in America."9
What? Roker said nothing.
Because Cosby served as a "pitchman" for Jell-O Puddin' Pops he, according to Dyson, "created artificial desire in people to spend beyond their means."10
What??!! Roker said nothing.
"So I'm speaking forth," Dyson continued, "on behalf of those people who are poor, because, after all, I was a teen father, lived on welfare until I was twenty-one, then went to get a Ph.D. at Princeton. Now I'm gonna have Afro-nesia [sic] and forget the people from which I've emerged? No, bro, I ain't the one." To which Roker ".red back" with this show stopper: "You know, you gotta come out of your shell."11
Would Dyson have called Couric or Lauer "bro"?
RIP (Rest In Peace) to radio host Don Imus's CBS radio show and its simulcast. The .ring of the longtime host represents another example of hypocrisy, selective outrage, and our society's obsession with the "pervasiveness" of anti-black racism. The ensuing feeding frenzy over Imus's remarks occupied the mainscream media for almost two weeks, until a horrific campus shooting pushed Imus from the front pages and lead stories.
Imus, on April 4, 2007, referred to the predominately black Rutgers female basketball team as "nappy-headed hos," after Imus's morning show executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, called the women "hard-core hos." Furthermore, McGuirk described the women's NCAA championship match between Rutgers and Tennessee as the "jigaboos versus the wannabes"—a reference to Spike Lee's movie School Daze about the tension between dark-skinned blacks and light-skinned blacks.12
After first dismissing the remark as a joke, Imus apologized several times. No doubt fearing the career-ending label of "racist," Imus agreed to go on Al Sharpton's radio show for a beat-down.
Sharpton: What is any possible reason you could feel that this kind of statement could be just forgiven and overlooked?
Imus: I don't think it should be. . . . I think it can be forgiven, but I don't think it can be overlooked. . . . I apologized. And I didn't say what everybody says, "If I offended somebody, I'm sorry," 'cause I knew I offended somebody. . . .
Sharpton: Mr. Imus, do you think it's funny to call people "nappy-headed hos"?
Imus: No, I don't. . . .
Sharpton: "Nappy" is racial.
Imus: Yes, sir, I understand that.
...
