RACE, THE FORBIDDEN WORD

Every few days the forbidden word RACE appears in the news or is whispered behind closed doors. I cannot think of a word that can create greater emotional tensions and reactions, but Islam is running a close second. Race is not only a forbidden word, but a frequently avoided subject of discussion.

Recently I received an electronic communication (email) from a friend and I thought it should receive wider circulation and consideration. I am not suggesting any action, but simply consideration of one individual’s point of view. You decide whether there is any validity to any of this individuals’ remarks, and please do not let the name of the author scare you away because of prior conceptions. Just take a look and think about it.

“Finally............It is Said Publicly.
I have never seen the white side explained better!
Pat Buchanan had the guts to say it.
It is about time."

"BUCHANAN TO OBAMA
by Patrick J. Buchanan

Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America. Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to.... This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard.

And among them are these:

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known. The Rev. Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ' 60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.
Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks -with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas - to advance black applicants over white applicants.

Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated their time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.

We hear the grievances.
Where is the gratitude??

Barack talks about new 'ladders of opportunity' for blacks. Let him go
to Altoona. And Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for 'deserving' white kids...?

Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America’s fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?

Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?

As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence.

Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?

Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?

We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke Rape case and Jena. And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.

Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago."

WOW! That certainly states Buchanan’s position, however, I do not totally agree with him, because I believe the subject is far more complicated than he has outlined. My entire purpose in passing these comments forward is to get you to think about this inflammatory subject now, and in the future. We must address RACE, and we must collectively solve the failures of the issue. We just cannot keep throwing money at this subject to garner the Black vote.

In my opinion politics is the core of the problem, and we all have been kicking the can down the road for decades with little or no achievement for either side of this equation. Solutions must be found and found quickly, because we cannot afford to keep feeding an endless stream of dollars to solve the problems without any significant results.

COMMANDER GRANGER