Richard Eber, California Political News and Views
Discussing race and politics does not mix very well in the Politically Correct (PC) #Me to” world we live in today. Those who are charged with committing alleged hate crimes are presumed to be guilty by “accusation” and sometimes “association”.
A prime time example of this is actor Jesse Smollett’s fake beating he set up himself. He pretended that white supremacists types, wearing Trump gear, were the culprits. Without facts being known about this case, prominent Democrats including, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren, were fighting for attention on Twitter to condemn President Trump for creating an atmosphere of hate, they said, led to the assault.
When it was revealed that Smollett set up and paid a couple of thugs to beat him, we did not see a lot of Democratic leaders show much remorse for their earlier comments. In the fake news milieu of 2019, anything said against conservatives, even if proven to be false, is considered to be acceptable collateral damage with the hate Trump movement
This type of flawed thinking is not limited to just politics. Anything that accusers say violates their sense of PC values is subject to discipline and possible legal consequences. As an example a close friend of mine who is working for a Non-Profit organization, made a reference at a staff meeting to have been “worked like a slave” lifting heavy objects while volunteering over the weekend at a Girl Scout overnight event.
Though no complaints were made about these remarks, a director in the agency found the “slavery” comparison to be offensive. As a result my buddy was forced to make a public apology or likely lose her job. No consideration was given to the fact that slavery is not limited to one race or people. History books going back to the empires of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other civilization are filled with human bondage.
Apparently what transpired in the past is meaningless in the PC rule book of today. The feelings of the accuser are all that matters.
This kind of convoluted logic has been used by the Democratic Party for years to control their African American constituents’, especially in locales such as Baltimore, Chicago, Ferguson Watts, and East Oakland. This concept of “ignorance plus hate equals power” first brought forth by Eugene Burdick’s 1956 novel The Ninth Wave, has been a mainstay for Democratic strategists to win the Black vote since Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.
Here is how the system works. You get people hooked on welfare and government assistance with limited paths of upward mobility. Under such a system spanning generations, family life in these areas has been damaged by hopelessness poor schools, and high crime rates.
Every election cycle “scallywagesque” politicians visit the ghettos blaming Republicans for the squalid conditions to garner votes. Promises to help are made but rarely kept. Nothing much happens until 4 years later when the same liberals come back using the same tactics to maintain their dominance at the polls.
Bill Clinton’s first term victory has been largely attributed to the large African American vote he received. Such loyalty was magnified by Barak Obama’s triumph in 2008 and 2012. Because of this, Hillary Clinton assumed she would inherit the same support given previous Democratic Presidents.
Despite attending and trying to dance at a fundraiser put on by Beyonce and JZ just prior to the election in 2016, this apparently did not resonate well enough with voters. The ensuing loss of significant portion of these African American ballots ended up costing Clinton from occupying the White House once again.
Hanging out with Ministers at church at Sunday Services and spewing hatred about Donald Trump may not be enough anymore. During the two years plus of the Trump administration by virtue of tax cuts, reducing government regulations and encouraging manufacturing, a reduction of black unemployment has taken place to its lowest level in 26 years.
The Rasmussen poll of African American voters conducted at the end of 2018, showed President Trump’s approval level going from 19% when he was elected to 36%. If present trends continue, the president will be in position to have a 40% favor-ability number with this group when November 2020 arrives.
This fact has not been lost by the ever longer list of Democratic hopefuls trying to unseat Donald Trump. They know more has to be done to earn back the trust of Black and other minority voters whose support is imperative for them to win back the Presidency.
Rather than giving even tacit approval to Republican economic policies, Progressives have little to offer than anti-Trump rhetoric and condemnation of capitalism. If this is not enough, they now are down to proposing reparations to the descendants of slaves who immigrated to the United States over 200 years ago.
The Wall Street journal reported in an article on April 11th that Democratic candidates at a Conference in New York were asked by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Should the U.S. government research how to make amends for centuries of enslavement and oppression of African-Americans?
They were led by Kamala Harris, best known as a member of the Senate for questioning the prospective CIA Director Mike Pompeo about LGBT policies at the agency and for implying the Catholic charity Knights of Columbus was a subversive organization. At the democratic forum, every other candidate present followed Harris’s lead in answering “yes” to Sharpton’s reparations question.
Pete Buttigieg, the gay white mayor of South Bend, Ind., went a step further about reparations saying “There’s a direct connection between exclusion in the past and exclusion in the present. That’s exactly why we need a rigorous, serious study,” he concluded
This issue was formalized back in 1989 when H.R. 40 was introduced that proposed studies to “remedy” slavery’s aftereffects. Now even Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi is on the bandwagon aiming to recycle this bill to pacify her Progressive political allies.
In analyzing the bizarre responses to the display of identity politics at the New York event, we have to ask how reparations issues will resonate with African American voters. Can this group be persuaded to pull the lever at polls in sufficient numbers for the Democratic Party, that has failed them so many times in the past 50 years? What will be more important to them; reparation studies or continued improvement of wages and a path to a better life for their families?
Democratic candidates need to stop hiding behind political correctness trying to outdo one another with stupid promises (lies), that will never be kept. In order to be elected one of these individuals must come up with practical ideas fixing immigration, our crumbling infrastructure, and the medical services morass. At the same time one of these wannabes, at the risk of being branded a “bigot”, needs to tell Al Sharpton to take a hike back to MSNBC to spout his brand of racial hatred.
In addition, Progressives might consider stop playing their divisive PC strategy of pushing identity politics at every opportunity. They are making Hillary Clinton’s Basket of Deplorables appear like a raffle item at a Baptist Church social! We must protect the First Amendment of the Constitution before making citizens become prisoners of compliance to PC values.
Richard Eber studied journalism at the University of Oregon. He writes about politics, culture, education restaurants, and was former city and sports editor of UCSB Daily. Richard is president of Amerasa Rapid Transit, a specialized freight forwarder.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of Citizens Journal.
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