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Racial Justice
Closing Our Eyes Won’t Make Racial and Ethnic Inequalities Disappear
(Photo: Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier)
Native Americans have been in the United States from the beginning, yet according to health and employment statistics, they, like other people of color, still have not achieved equality. For example, between 1998 and 2000 Native American infants in the United States were 1.7 times more likely to die than white infants in their first year of life (Tomashek et al.).
The Lakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota, who supported the culturally and politically nationalist American Indian Movement, faced brutal counter-insurgency tactics complete with FBI-armed and -trained death squads that murdered 61 political activists on the reservation between 1973 and 1976. As part of that terror war against America’s first nations, American Indian Movement member Leonard Peltier was framed by the FBI and remains in prison to this day.
Native Americans have been in the United States from the beginning, yet according to health and employment statistics, they, like other people of color, still have not achieved equality. For example, between 1998 and 2000 Native American infants in the United States were 1.7 times more likely to die than white infants in their first year of life (Tomashek et al.).
The Lakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota, who supported the culturally and politically nationalist American Indian Movement, faced brutal counter-insurgency tactics complete with FBI-armed and -trained death squads that murdered 61 political activists on the reservation between 1973 and 1976. As part of that terror war against America’s first nations, American Indian Movement member Leonard Peltier was framed by the FBI and remains in prison to this day.
Closing Our Eyes Won’t Make Racial and Ethnic Inequalities Disappear
By STEVEN ARGUE
Republican candidate Ron Paul, exposed as having voted against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that gave Blacks the right to vote; exposed for knowingly accepting a donation from former KKK Grand Dragon and Nazi Stormfront radio host Don Black; and exposed for having put out a racist-sexist-homophobic newsletter in his name for decades that opposed Martin Luther King and desegregation; now makes the claim, “I am the most anti-racist because I don’t see people in collective groups” (CNN). Interestingly enough, Nazi Stormfront members Don Black and David Duke make the same claims of not being racist (Stormfront). To them, the real racists are those who speak out against the inequalities suffered by people of color.
Racism and xenophobia take many forms, both subtle and overt. While overt racism and national chauvinism are still very much a problem in America, one of the most insidious forms of racism is promoted in the form of denying that these problems even exist. Ron Paul and Stormfront are on the fringes, yet this form of racism has become common place in the American corporate media and the mainstream politics of the Democrat and Republican Parties.
One case in point is Kotkin and Tseng’s Washington Post June 8, 2003 article, “For Young America, Old Ethnic Labels No Longer Apply”. It contains a bad argument based on a fundamentally false premise. That premise is the idea that because immigrants are becoming assimilated into the mainstream of U.S. culture, ethnic groups will no longer exist in the future. Based on this false premise the authors go on to make a number of unsound arguments about changes to education and business policies.
The idea that separate ethnicities will disappear due to the blending of immigrant groups into the mainstream misses two key aspects of American life. One is continued immigration and the other is continued racism. Neither of these fundamental aspects of American society are even remotely considered in the essay.
In a world where immigrants continue to flee the economic exploitation and political repression of U.S. imperialist hegemony in most of the third world, and as long as those immigrants continue to be accepted as a cheaper source of labor within the confines of U.S. borders by U.S. capitalists, immigration into the United States will not end. Thus, the authors’ assertion that the linguistic preferences of second and third generation immigrants for English “would seem to challenge the continued viability of programs such as bilingual education” is utterly absurd. Bilingual education helps ease immigrant children into a learning process that is made much more difficult by English-only education.
Another aspect of American culture not considered in the Washington Post essay is the deep and pernicious racism of this society. People of color are offered fewer opportunities in this society on many levels, including the opportunity to assimilate.
Blacks have been here for hundreds of years and they still, by and large, have not assimilated. They suffer over double the infant mortality of whites and by every other health and economic indicator are worse-off than whites. For Blacks in the United States between 1995 and 2002, the infant mortality rate was 13.9, more than double the rate of 5.9 for whites in the same time period (Center for Disease Control). Life expectancy of Blacks is 5 years less than whites, with 2005 statistics showing whites living on average to 78.3 years of-age and Blacks only living 73.2 years (CNN.com). Blacks also suffer double the unemployment of whites. Consistent with long-term ratios, 2002 statistics gave a white unemployment rate of 5.2 percent and a Black unemployment rate of 10.7 percent (Robinson).
These types of data are reflected in other populations of color in the Unites States as well. For instance, Native Americans have been in the United States from the beginning, yet according to health and employment statistics, they still have not assimilated either. For example, between 1998 and 2000 Native American infants in the United States were 1.7 times more likely to die than white infants in their first year of life (Tomashek et al.).
These sad realities, all too often ignored by the mainstream press, fly in the face of the Washington Post’s bold declaration of, “Welcome to post ethnic America.” It has an absurd bellicose ring to it, like George Bush declaring victory in Iraq in 2003.
It is from the fewer opportunities that many ethnic groups face that the cultural nationalism of oppressed groups arises. Yet these Washington Post authors, in ignoring these inequalities, along with pretending that new immigrants will not keep coming to the United States, see “cultural nationalists as a disease that infests most Chicano studies departments.” As opposed to seeing such manifestations as a healthy reaction to the racist, imperialist, and exploitative U.S. society, the authors instead blame the victims of this society that stand up for their culture and their rights. It is from such imaginary premises as the idea of ethnic divisions no longer playing a role in society, that the authors come to racist conclusions against those people of ethnic and racial groups that stand up for social justice for their groups.
Unfortunately, the Washington Post is not alone in seeing manifestations of cultural and political nationalism as a disease. It has long been U.S. government policy to treat people of color that stand up to American racism as a cancer.
The Lakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota, who supported the culturally and politically nationalist American Indian Movement, faced brutal counter-insurgency tactics complete with FBI-armed and -trained death squads that murdered 61 political activists on the reservation between 1973 and 1976 (Churchill). As part of that terror war against America’s first nations, American Indian Movement member Leonard Peltier was framed by the FBI and remains in prison to this day.
Blacks have faced similar political repression in the United States, also orchestrated by the FBI. In the 1960’s and 70’s the U.S. government liquidated the Black Panther Party through the murders of 39 members, including the police shooting of Fred Hampton in his sleep, and through political frame-ups such as that of Geronimo (Ji Jagga) Pratt who was finally exonerated (i.e. found innocent) after 30 years in prison. Other framed Black Panthers still sit in prison and Black Panther Assata Shakur lives in exile, granted political asylum by Cuba, but with a one million dollar bounty put on her head by the U.S. government.
Immigrants who speak out are also caught in the government’s cross-hairs. Worst off in terms of political rights are Near and Middle Eastern immigrants, including U.S. citizens, who, in the eyes of the authorities, become too vocal about racism and U.S. imperialism. They are now labeled “enemy combatants” without cause and can disappear into America’s torture chambers or be outsourced for torture and murder by being shipped back to their native lands. Some have never been heard from again, with international human rights organizations denied documentation; while others reemerge after prolonged mistreatment such as Maher Arar, a leader of a mainstream Arab American advocacy group who was shipped to Syria by the U.S. government for torture (Klein). A clear message has been sent to Arab-Americans: watch your tongue or you’ll be the next Maher Arar.
Like the Washington Post, the U.S. government sees no need for these ethnic groups to stand up for themselves, and when they do they sometimes treat such manifestations as pest “infestations”, and the government sends in their FBI and local law-enforcement exterminators.
While the Washington Post article attacks Chicano studies departments, locally in Santa Cruz we have a similar example of racism in the media with the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s attacks on Latino Santa Cruz City Councilperson Tony Madrigal. The focus of these attacks are the fact that Tony Madrigal stood up for people of color, at least in a small way, by voting against increased police measures, including against triple fines, downtown on Halloween. Here is what Tony Madrigal said:
"I was really bothered by the fact that I witnessed a bunch of officers pat down a group of Latino youth that were standing on the sidewalk by, I think it was Community Television. They were standing by there. They weren’t doing anything. They were just watching everybody go by.
"They patted them all down, searched them, and then left them alone.
"I asked the guys 'Are you bothered by this? Are you okay?' They didn't want to do anything about it, but they did make a good point.
"They said "Look. They just patted us down but they are walking right past another group of kids who are making more noise than us. They don't look like us" implying that they were Latino.
"I just feel to a certain degree that there might be some racial profiling going on. And those issues do concern me. I don't think that’s what we're supposed to be doing on Halloween. I do understand there are all kinds of procedures the police department has to be going through and everything.
"I just think there is a different way to go about making downtown safe for Halloween." (Johnson)
In response, the Santa Cruz Sentinel declared in their September 16, 2007 editorial, “As We See It, Tony Madrigal’s Immature Remarks,” “Madrigal once again showed that he hasn’t grown into the office when he accused the Santa Cruz police of racial profiling.” Other eyewitnesses, including Mark Halfmoon, saw this same incident of racial profiling as well as other incidents that same night. Yet the editorial went so far as to suggest Tony Madrigal resign.
That same Sentinel editorial went on to claim that racial profiling does not exist, stating, “In fact, the city of Santa Cruz has done studies – with academic rigor – to examine arrest reports in order to find evidence of profiling. The data shows otherwise.” No further information is given on these studies, but the point is clear enough, Tony and other eyewitnesses have no right to believe their own eyes; the white power structure has done studies on itself and has declared this form of racism does not exist.
Likewise, the Sentinel, never friendly to reports of police abuse, criticizes Tony Madrigal for not reporting the incident earlier, stating: “It was irresponsible of him not to check out his information through the proper channels.” What are the proper channels? Presently the Citizen’s Police Review Board has been dissolved, partly at the urging of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. That leaves police Internal Affairs, notorious for exonerating their fellow officers, to investigate. The proper channels that the Sentinel has referred Tony to are in fact useless channels and, as Tony pointed out, the victims weren’t interested in pursuing the case. As an elected official, what is a more proper channel for Tony Madrigal to use than voting against expanded police powers and explaining his vote?
Inside of racist America, a mass incarceration of the poor, especially the poor of color, has taken place, while at the same time the multi-racial working class and poor are subjected to a lack of healthcare and dramatic drop in our standard of living. The inner cities of America have, by and large, been abandoned by the same capitalists that got rich off of the jobs that they have now exported, just as the victims of hurricane Katrina were left to die by this same racist system.
Yet the capitalists continue to profit off of this misery and “justify” it through racism. The capitalists profit from the mass incarceration of the poor through the prison industrial complex where they get almost free labor and they get additional money from the increasingly privatized prisons. A good percentage of those people being rounded up for these modern day plantations are people of color, while America’s racist police are now modern day slave catchers.
Likewise, the U.S. government practices racist policies against Near and Far Eastern immigrants as part of a wider policy of war, death, and profit, “justified” by racism. Want an example? Just look at Bush on Iraq. He repeatedly states that people from that part of the world “did” September 11. Yet when a reporter asked, “What did Iraq have to do with September 11?” Bush responded, “nothing.” Bush keeps repeating what seems like an obvious mistake to people that aren’t racists, but to the racists Bush’s argument makes perfect sense, people from that part of the world did it and any dead towel-heads will do.
Looking at the mainstream media in America, however, one would think that the question of racism in America has been solved. The truly shocking issues of racism are routinely glossed over, ignored, or denied. These Washington Post and Santa Cruz Sentinel articles are good cases in point. They argue that there is no racism, and promote hostility against those standing up against racism. When the Washington Post pretends that racial and ethnic equality have been achieved, one must question if they are living on the same planet, or just lying to achieve some other goal.
The Washington Post and Santa Cruz Sentinel are corporate newspapers. Like all of the mainstream media in this country they are corporate owned, and in addition, sell advertising to other corporations. As such, these papers are beholden to corporate interests, and do their duty spreading corporate propaganda on behalf of the ruling American capitalist class. That capitalist system was racist from birth in profiting from slavery and the mass murder of Native Americans, and profits from racism now through war, prisons, and paying less for the labor of immigrants and people of color.
While pretending to hold no bias, the bias of the Washington Post and Santa Cruz Sentinel are so pro-capitalist, pro-imperialist, and pro-racist that their main tactic of debate on these issues is to pretend the words that describe them don’t even exist. The most insidious racists in journalism are those who either ignore the problem or insist that problems of institutional racism do not exist.
It took a mass movement outside of the capitalist power structure to win the rights that people of color have achieved so far. Yet there is still a long way to go until we can declare victory and full equality. Closing our eyes will not make racial and ethnic divisions disappear. It will only be through recognizing the prevalent nature of problems such as racism and American nationalist chauvinism that we will be able to achieve equality and justice, not by glossing over these problems and pretending they don’t exist.
This is an article of Liberation News, subscribe free:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news
Works Cited:
“American Life Expectancy Longer Than Ever”. CNN.com. 13 September, 2007. Accessed 14 October, 2007 . Available from: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:dVGstzs3iBEJ:http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/09/12/life.expectancy.ap/index.html+black+life+expectancy&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us
“As We See It, Tony Madrigal’s Immature Remarks.” 16 September, 2007. Santa Cruz Sentinel .com. Accessed 14 October, 2007. Available from http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/September/16/edit/stories/01edit.htm
Churchill, Ward. "Indians Are Us?: Culture and Genocide in Native North America" Common Courage Press, 1994. (pp. 198-205)
“David Duke and Don Black Discuss How Ron Paul Can Win.” Stormfront Radio. Accessed 19 January 2008. Available from (Warning: Nazi Website): http://www.stormfront.org/audio/stormfront_radio-dr_david_duke_and_don_black-01-09-08.mp3
Johnson, Becky. “What Tony Madrigal Really Said (Transcription of Tony Madrigal’s remarks from Community Television Video).” Audio archived at: http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb070916.mp3
Klein, Naomi. “Torture’s Dirty Secret, It Works.” 13 May 2005. Accessed 15 October, 2007. Available from: http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2005/05/tortures-dirty-secret-it-works
“Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Infant Mortality --- United States, 1995-2002”. 10 June 2005. MMWR Weekly. Center for Disease Control. Accessed 26 September, 2007. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5422a1.htm. Internet.
Robinson, Samantha. “Study Shows Black Unemployment Doubles That of Whites.” Daily Egyptian. 17 November, 2005. Accessed 14 October, 2007 . Available from: http://newshound.de.siu.edu/online/stories/storyReader$5316
“Ron Paul Interview, Racist Writings Under Scrutiny.” CNN. Accessed 21 January, 2008. Available through Atlantic Free Press: http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3217&Itemid=81
Tomashek, Kay, MD et al. “Infant Mortality Trends and Differences Between American Indian / Alaska Native Infants and White Infants in the United States, 1989-1991 and 1998-2000.” 2006. American Journal of Public Health. Accessed 15 October, 2007 . Available from: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/12/2222
This is an article of Liberation News, subscribe free:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news
By STEVEN ARGUE
Republican candidate Ron Paul, exposed as having voted against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that gave Blacks the right to vote; exposed for knowingly accepting a donation from former KKK Grand Dragon and Nazi Stormfront radio host Don Black; and exposed for having put out a racist-sexist-homophobic newsletter in his name for decades that opposed Martin Luther King and desegregation; now makes the claim, “I am the most anti-racist because I don’t see people in collective groups” (CNN). Interestingly enough, Nazi Stormfront members Don Black and David Duke make the same claims of not being racist (Stormfront). To them, the real racists are those who speak out against the inequalities suffered by people of color.
Racism and xenophobia take many forms, both subtle and overt. While overt racism and national chauvinism are still very much a problem in America, one of the most insidious forms of racism is promoted in the form of denying that these problems even exist. Ron Paul and Stormfront are on the fringes, yet this form of racism has become common place in the American corporate media and the mainstream politics of the Democrat and Republican Parties.
One case in point is Kotkin and Tseng’s Washington Post June 8, 2003 article, “For Young America, Old Ethnic Labels No Longer Apply”. It contains a bad argument based on a fundamentally false premise. That premise is the idea that because immigrants are becoming assimilated into the mainstream of U.S. culture, ethnic groups will no longer exist in the future. Based on this false premise the authors go on to make a number of unsound arguments about changes to education and business policies.
The idea that separate ethnicities will disappear due to the blending of immigrant groups into the mainstream misses two key aspects of American life. One is continued immigration and the other is continued racism. Neither of these fundamental aspects of American society are even remotely considered in the essay.
In a world where immigrants continue to flee the economic exploitation and political repression of U.S. imperialist hegemony in most of the third world, and as long as those immigrants continue to be accepted as a cheaper source of labor within the confines of U.S. borders by U.S. capitalists, immigration into the United States will not end. Thus, the authors’ assertion that the linguistic preferences of second and third generation immigrants for English “would seem to challenge the continued viability of programs such as bilingual education” is utterly absurd. Bilingual education helps ease immigrant children into a learning process that is made much more difficult by English-only education.
Another aspect of American culture not considered in the Washington Post essay is the deep and pernicious racism of this society. People of color are offered fewer opportunities in this society on many levels, including the opportunity to assimilate.
Blacks have been here for hundreds of years and they still, by and large, have not assimilated. They suffer over double the infant mortality of whites and by every other health and economic indicator are worse-off than whites. For Blacks in the United States between 1995 and 2002, the infant mortality rate was 13.9, more than double the rate of 5.9 for whites in the same time period (Center for Disease Control). Life expectancy of Blacks is 5 years less than whites, with 2005 statistics showing whites living on average to 78.3 years of-age and Blacks only living 73.2 years (CNN.com). Blacks also suffer double the unemployment of whites. Consistent with long-term ratios, 2002 statistics gave a white unemployment rate of 5.2 percent and a Black unemployment rate of 10.7 percent (Robinson).
These types of data are reflected in other populations of color in the Unites States as well. For instance, Native Americans have been in the United States from the beginning, yet according to health and employment statistics, they still have not assimilated either. For example, between 1998 and 2000 Native American infants in the United States were 1.7 times more likely to die than white infants in their first year of life (Tomashek et al.).
These sad realities, all too often ignored by the mainstream press, fly in the face of the Washington Post’s bold declaration of, “Welcome to post ethnic America.” It has an absurd bellicose ring to it, like George Bush declaring victory in Iraq in 2003.
It is from the fewer opportunities that many ethnic groups face that the cultural nationalism of oppressed groups arises. Yet these Washington Post authors, in ignoring these inequalities, along with pretending that new immigrants will not keep coming to the United States, see “cultural nationalists as a disease that infests most Chicano studies departments.” As opposed to seeing such manifestations as a healthy reaction to the racist, imperialist, and exploitative U.S. society, the authors instead blame the victims of this society that stand up for their culture and their rights. It is from such imaginary premises as the idea of ethnic divisions no longer playing a role in society, that the authors come to racist conclusions against those people of ethnic and racial groups that stand up for social justice for their groups.
Unfortunately, the Washington Post is not alone in seeing manifestations of cultural and political nationalism as a disease. It has long been U.S. government policy to treat people of color that stand up to American racism as a cancer.
The Lakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in North Dakota, who supported the culturally and politically nationalist American Indian Movement, faced brutal counter-insurgency tactics complete with FBI-armed and -trained death squads that murdered 61 political activists on the reservation between 1973 and 1976 (Churchill). As part of that terror war against America’s first nations, American Indian Movement member Leonard Peltier was framed by the FBI and remains in prison to this day.
Blacks have faced similar political repression in the United States, also orchestrated by the FBI. In the 1960’s and 70’s the U.S. government liquidated the Black Panther Party through the murders of 39 members, including the police shooting of Fred Hampton in his sleep, and through political frame-ups such as that of Geronimo (Ji Jagga) Pratt who was finally exonerated (i.e. found innocent) after 30 years in prison. Other framed Black Panthers still sit in prison and Black Panther Assata Shakur lives in exile, granted political asylum by Cuba, but with a one million dollar bounty put on her head by the U.S. government.
Immigrants who speak out are also caught in the government’s cross-hairs. Worst off in terms of political rights are Near and Middle Eastern immigrants, including U.S. citizens, who, in the eyes of the authorities, become too vocal about racism and U.S. imperialism. They are now labeled “enemy combatants” without cause and can disappear into America’s torture chambers or be outsourced for torture and murder by being shipped back to their native lands. Some have never been heard from again, with international human rights organizations denied documentation; while others reemerge after prolonged mistreatment such as Maher Arar, a leader of a mainstream Arab American advocacy group who was shipped to Syria by the U.S. government for torture (Klein). A clear message has been sent to Arab-Americans: watch your tongue or you’ll be the next Maher Arar.
Like the Washington Post, the U.S. government sees no need for these ethnic groups to stand up for themselves, and when they do they sometimes treat such manifestations as pest “infestations”, and the government sends in their FBI and local law-enforcement exterminators.
While the Washington Post article attacks Chicano studies departments, locally in Santa Cruz we have a similar example of racism in the media with the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s attacks on Latino Santa Cruz City Councilperson Tony Madrigal. The focus of these attacks are the fact that Tony Madrigal stood up for people of color, at least in a small way, by voting against increased police measures, including against triple fines, downtown on Halloween. Here is what Tony Madrigal said:
"I was really bothered by the fact that I witnessed a bunch of officers pat down a group of Latino youth that were standing on the sidewalk by, I think it was Community Television. They were standing by there. They weren’t doing anything. They were just watching everybody go by.
"They patted them all down, searched them, and then left them alone.
"I asked the guys 'Are you bothered by this? Are you okay?' They didn't want to do anything about it, but they did make a good point.
"They said "Look. They just patted us down but they are walking right past another group of kids who are making more noise than us. They don't look like us" implying that they were Latino.
"I just feel to a certain degree that there might be some racial profiling going on. And those issues do concern me. I don't think that’s what we're supposed to be doing on Halloween. I do understand there are all kinds of procedures the police department has to be going through and everything.
"I just think there is a different way to go about making downtown safe for Halloween." (Johnson)
In response, the Santa Cruz Sentinel declared in their September 16, 2007 editorial, “As We See It, Tony Madrigal’s Immature Remarks,” “Madrigal once again showed that he hasn’t grown into the office when he accused the Santa Cruz police of racial profiling.” Other eyewitnesses, including Mark Halfmoon, saw this same incident of racial profiling as well as other incidents that same night. Yet the editorial went so far as to suggest Tony Madrigal resign.
That same Sentinel editorial went on to claim that racial profiling does not exist, stating, “In fact, the city of Santa Cruz has done studies – with academic rigor – to examine arrest reports in order to find evidence of profiling. The data shows otherwise.” No further information is given on these studies, but the point is clear enough, Tony and other eyewitnesses have no right to believe their own eyes; the white power structure has done studies on itself and has declared this form of racism does not exist.
Likewise, the Sentinel, never friendly to reports of police abuse, criticizes Tony Madrigal for not reporting the incident earlier, stating: “It was irresponsible of him not to check out his information through the proper channels.” What are the proper channels? Presently the Citizen’s Police Review Board has been dissolved, partly at the urging of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. That leaves police Internal Affairs, notorious for exonerating their fellow officers, to investigate. The proper channels that the Sentinel has referred Tony to are in fact useless channels and, as Tony pointed out, the victims weren’t interested in pursuing the case. As an elected official, what is a more proper channel for Tony Madrigal to use than voting against expanded police powers and explaining his vote?
Inside of racist America, a mass incarceration of the poor, especially the poor of color, has taken place, while at the same time the multi-racial working class and poor are subjected to a lack of healthcare and dramatic drop in our standard of living. The inner cities of America have, by and large, been abandoned by the same capitalists that got rich off of the jobs that they have now exported, just as the victims of hurricane Katrina were left to die by this same racist system.
Yet the capitalists continue to profit off of this misery and “justify” it through racism. The capitalists profit from the mass incarceration of the poor through the prison industrial complex where they get almost free labor and they get additional money from the increasingly privatized prisons. A good percentage of those people being rounded up for these modern day plantations are people of color, while America’s racist police are now modern day slave catchers.
Likewise, the U.S. government practices racist policies against Near and Far Eastern immigrants as part of a wider policy of war, death, and profit, “justified” by racism. Want an example? Just look at Bush on Iraq. He repeatedly states that people from that part of the world “did” September 11. Yet when a reporter asked, “What did Iraq have to do with September 11?” Bush responded, “nothing.” Bush keeps repeating what seems like an obvious mistake to people that aren’t racists, but to the racists Bush’s argument makes perfect sense, people from that part of the world did it and any dead towel-heads will do.
Looking at the mainstream media in America, however, one would think that the question of racism in America has been solved. The truly shocking issues of racism are routinely glossed over, ignored, or denied. These Washington Post and Santa Cruz Sentinel articles are good cases in point. They argue that there is no racism, and promote hostility against those standing up against racism. When the Washington Post pretends that racial and ethnic equality have been achieved, one must question if they are living on the same planet, or just lying to achieve some other goal.
The Washington Post and Santa Cruz Sentinel are corporate newspapers. Like all of the mainstream media in this country they are corporate owned, and in addition, sell advertising to other corporations. As such, these papers are beholden to corporate interests, and do their duty spreading corporate propaganda on behalf of the ruling American capitalist class. That capitalist system was racist from birth in profiting from slavery and the mass murder of Native Americans, and profits from racism now through war, prisons, and paying less for the labor of immigrants and people of color.
While pretending to hold no bias, the bias of the Washington Post and Santa Cruz Sentinel are so pro-capitalist, pro-imperialist, and pro-racist that their main tactic of debate on these issues is to pretend the words that describe them don’t even exist. The most insidious racists in journalism are those who either ignore the problem or insist that problems of institutional racism do not exist.
It took a mass movement outside of the capitalist power structure to win the rights that people of color have achieved so far. Yet there is still a long way to go until we can declare victory and full equality. Closing our eyes will not make racial and ethnic divisions disappear. It will only be through recognizing the prevalent nature of problems such as racism and American nationalist chauvinism that we will be able to achieve equality and justice, not by glossing over these problems and pretending they don’t exist.
This is an article of Liberation News, subscribe free:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news
Works Cited:
“American Life Expectancy Longer Than Ever”. CNN.com. 13 September, 2007. Accessed 14 October, 2007 . Available from: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:dVGstzs3iBEJ:http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/09/12/life.expectancy.ap/index.html+black+life+expectancy&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us
“As We See It, Tony Madrigal’s Immature Remarks.” 16 September, 2007. Santa Cruz Sentinel .com. Accessed 14 October, 2007. Available from http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/September/16/edit/stories/01edit.htm
Churchill, Ward. "Indians Are Us?: Culture and Genocide in Native North America" Common Courage Press, 1994. (pp. 198-205)
“David Duke and Don Black Discuss How Ron Paul Can Win.” Stormfront Radio. Accessed 19 January 2008. Available from (Warning: Nazi Website): http://www.stormfront.org/audio/stormfront_radio-dr_david_duke_and_don_black-01-09-08.mp3
Johnson, Becky. “What Tony Madrigal Really Said (Transcription of Tony Madrigal’s remarks from Community Television Video).” Audio archived at: http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb070916.mp3
Klein, Naomi. “Torture’s Dirty Secret, It Works.” 13 May 2005. Accessed 15 October, 2007. Available from: http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2005/05/tortures-dirty-secret-it-works
“Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Infant Mortality --- United States, 1995-2002”. 10 June 2005. MMWR Weekly. Center for Disease Control. Accessed 26 September, 2007. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5422a1.htm. Internet.
Robinson, Samantha. “Study Shows Black Unemployment Doubles That of Whites.” Daily Egyptian. 17 November, 2005. Accessed 14 October, 2007 . Available from: http://newshound.de.siu.edu/online/stories/storyReader$5316
“Ron Paul Interview, Racist Writings Under Scrutiny.” CNN. Accessed 21 January, 2008. Available through Atlantic Free Press: http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3217&Itemid=81
Tomashek, Kay, MD et al. “Infant Mortality Trends and Differences Between American Indian / Alaska Native Infants and White Infants in the United States, 1989-1991 and 1998-2000.” 2006. American Journal of Public Health. Accessed 15 October, 2007 . Available from: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/12/2222
This is an article of Liberation News, subscribe free:
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The smear comments about Ron Paul are all really quite appalling.
Why smear a good man?
I think I now know why the New Republic is down 40% in circulation since 2000. They also likened Ross Perot to Hitler. Just amazing.
Go here for the definitive explanation/rebuttal by Justin Raimondo:
Remove asterisks to go that site
ht**tp**:/**/w**ww**.**takimag**.**com/site/article/why_the_beltway_libertarians_are_trying_to_smear_ron_paul/
Ron Paul in my opinion is an anti-racist, "pro-individual rights" hero.
Why smear a good man?
I think I now know why the New Republic is down 40% in circulation since 2000. They also likened Ross Perot to Hitler. Just amazing.
Go here for the definitive explanation/rebuttal by Justin Raimondo:
Remove asterisks to go that site
ht**tp**:/**/w**ww**.**takimag**.**com/site/article/why_the_beltway_libertarians_are_trying_to_smear_ron_paul/
Ron Paul in my opinion is an anti-racist, "pro-individual rights" hero.
(Photo: Ron Paul with Don Black. Don Black is the former Grand Duke of the KKK and a known Nazi Stormfront spokesperson. Ron Paul knowingly took campaign donations from Don Black.)
Besides voting against the Voting Rights Act, opposing the Civil Rights Act, accepting donations from the former Grand Wizard of the KKK, and pretends race is no longer an issue, this is what Ron Paul had to say about Dr. King in his Ron Paul Newsletter:
“Martin Luther King: Socialist. St. Martin was a world class philanderer who beat up his paramours (“non-violence” didn’t apply in all spheres I guess). He was a flagrant plagiarist with a phony doctorate. He replaced forced segregation in a few states with forced integration in all states. And he was a dedicated socialist. What a guy. He probably deserves two holidays.”
Besides voting against the Voting Rights Act, opposing the Civil Rights Act, accepting donations from the former Grand Wizard of the KKK, and pretends race is no longer an issue, this is what Ron Paul had to say about Dr. King in his Ron Paul Newsletter:
“Martin Luther King: Socialist. St. Martin was a world class philanderer who beat up his paramours (“non-violence” didn’t apply in all spheres I guess). He was a flagrant plagiarist with a phony doctorate. He replaced forced segregation in a few states with forced integration in all states. And he was a dedicated socialist. What a guy. He probably deserves two holidays.”
Steven//the links are not working.. the sounds ones are..but the websites aren't
and yep..what happened to Peltier is horrible.. I had hope that Clinton would pardon him
but nope..pardoned all his criminal buddies instead...
and Ron Paul and DAVID DUKE..scare the bejebus out of me
and yep..what happened to Peltier is horrible.. I had hope that Clinton would pardon him
but nope..pardoned all his criminal buddies instead...
and Ron Paul and DAVID DUKE..scare the bejebus out of me
Yes, what Clinton did to Peltier was criminal.
I notice the first couple websites aren't working, but most others are. I guess that's a hazard of citing things on the internet, articles don't always stay up on sites.
I notice the first couple websites aren't working, but most others are. I guess that's a hazard of citing things on the internet, articles don't always stay up on sites.
Is Fox News getting a bad rap?
This is in reply to Steve's suggestion that racism is often simply ignored by the media. If the degree to which a news outlet ignores racism is is an indication of the depth of bias of a particular news outlet, then some of us who attack Fox News may be a bit off base. Here's why:
I've watched enough of both the local Fox news (channel 2 ktvu SF) and the local NBC affilaite (kntv Ch11) to note a discernable difference in reporting on stories about the underdog white people as well as the people of color between the two stations. It seems that Ch11 ignores the underdogs for the most part while Ch2 at least reports on them if only to see them squirm. I saw much more coverage of the Santa Cruz LBAM spraying controversy before the spray on Ch2 than I did on Ch11 for instance. Ch2 also often focuses on Bayview Hunter's Point stories of people in substandard housing or people protesting Lennar corp or the latest attempt by the SF police to brush off a possible hate crime as "mere coincidence". For some reason, I still haven't found the evening national news show on Fox. Maybe that is it: The "World News" at the end of the local news broadcast? Fox's daytime shows literally suck, with too much emphasis on Black people having out of wedlock babies and so on. But their local news, while possibly being self serving , at least reports occasionally on people of color. This does not include the occasional violent incident in Oakland or SF that every station reports on. Just my two cents. Reading or viewing (and even quoting) your opposition sometimes doesn't hurt as much as you might think.
This is in reply to Steve's suggestion that racism is often simply ignored by the media. If the degree to which a news outlet ignores racism is is an indication of the depth of bias of a particular news outlet, then some of us who attack Fox News may be a bit off base. Here's why:
I've watched enough of both the local Fox news (channel 2 ktvu SF) and the local NBC affilaite (kntv Ch11) to note a discernable difference in reporting on stories about the underdog white people as well as the people of color between the two stations. It seems that Ch11 ignores the underdogs for the most part while Ch2 at least reports on them if only to see them squirm. I saw much more coverage of the Santa Cruz LBAM spraying controversy before the spray on Ch2 than I did on Ch11 for instance. Ch2 also often focuses on Bayview Hunter's Point stories of people in substandard housing or people protesting Lennar corp or the latest attempt by the SF police to brush off a possible hate crime as "mere coincidence". For some reason, I still haven't found the evening national news show on Fox. Maybe that is it: The "World News" at the end of the local news broadcast? Fox's daytime shows literally suck, with too much emphasis on Black people having out of wedlock babies and so on. But their local news, while possibly being self serving , at least reports occasionally on people of color. This does not include the occasional violent incident in Oakland or SF that every station reports on. Just my two cents. Reading or viewing (and even quoting) your opposition sometimes doesn't hurt as much as you might think.
For more information:
http://www.pagesincolor.com
Fox TV and even news on local Fox affiliates is not the same thing as the Fox News channel. It seems like there has been some pressure by NewsCorp to integrate some Fox News nonlocal coverage into the local newes coverage on affiliates but since the worst aspects of Fox News come from its management rather than NewsCorp management (which allows the Simpsons for example to even make fun of Fox News) I'm guessing local affiliate have some freedom to not use the national coverage if it could alienate the local audience (which in the case of SF wouldnt stand for Fox News style coverage)
Thanks Steve for continuing to make us look at the issues. Your writing has gotten really good. I very much appreciate you posting a tidbit on Leonard Peltier, whose plight is more known to Europeans than Americans these days. Clinton had his chance and caved due to 12 FBI agents picketing against it; he did not have the balls. Then the long Bush Years. Its sad because in truth, whoever gets elected will not think of a pardon for this man until their last breath in office, meaning 8 years as they will not pardon if they think they have a rats chance for a next term and even then its unlikely.
He has spent longer than Mandela in prison. I think its 31 years this year. I could go kill now as a white man and do far less time. I would be out in ten years max. Yet he was defending family, elders and children, and likely killed no one.
Thanks Steve!
Tim Rumford
He has spent longer than Mandela in prison. I think its 31 years this year. I could go kill now as a white man and do far less time. I would be out in ten years max. Yet he was defending family, elders and children, and likely killed no one.
Thanks Steve!
Tim Rumford
Mr. Argue, this post has nothing to do with ron paul, yet you turn it into any opportunity to smear ron paul (again) by ... ta da! posting a picture of him. Come on you can do better than that. Even if he took a contribution from this man that doesn't matter. All candidates get contibutions for people all over the political and ideological spectrum and candidates rarely ever give money back even if some random donation is from a person of questionable background. This is well known and reveals how much of a cheap shot this is. I will consider your MLK quote. If it is true, please provide the source, otherwise do not bother. The ron paul smearing is getting old.
Thanks Tim!
**********
RE: Pdog
Pdog says, "Mr. Argue, this post has nothing to do with ron paul, yet you turn it into any opportunity to smear ron paul (again)"
Perhaps you should read the post.
My source on the Ron Paul Newsletters is the Ron Paul newsletter, the Martin Luther King quote was in one of the following:
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/March1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/January91.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/October1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/June1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/August1990.pdf
**********
RE: Pdog
Pdog says, "Mr. Argue, this post has nothing to do with ron paul, yet you turn it into any opportunity to smear ron paul (again)"
Perhaps you should read the post.
My source on the Ron Paul Newsletters is the Ron Paul newsletter, the Martin Luther King quote was in one of the following:
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/March1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/January91.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/October1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/June1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/August1990.pdf
i really enjoyed it. very well written with many facts that have been swept under the rug. remember fred hampton.
Whats with the random smearing of Ron Pauls name in all your pieces, Steven? How are your opinions of him worthy of the leading piece of "information" in these articles? They more closely resemble rants than honest attempts at journalism.
I was disturbed by what appears to be a conscious misrepresentation of the facts. You use a quote from Dr. Paul explaining his views on race when interpreting legislation to somehow give the impression he denies racism exists at all. I challenge you to produce a reliable source quoting Ron Paul denying the existence of racism. You won't find it, just as you won't find any direct quotes from him that give any credence to the accusations being thrown at him.
Later in your article you cite as pieces of this problem of racism such things as "free trade" agreements, the growth of the prison-industrial complex, and abuses of power stemming from the patriot act. I think you've failed to notice that Ron Paul seeks to address all of these problems in a way I imagine you'd find reasonable.
Ron Paul has made promises to:
- dismantle free trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA.
- end the war on drugs and immediately release all non-violent drug offenders.
- repeal the patriot act.
Relegating our politics to the fringe will never allow us to make any of the positive changes we all seek for our society. We need to elect politicians working towards our ideals and who would create a more favorable political environment for progressive idea's to be voiced.
I was disturbed by what appears to be a conscious misrepresentation of the facts. You use a quote from Dr. Paul explaining his views on race when interpreting legislation to somehow give the impression he denies racism exists at all. I challenge you to produce a reliable source quoting Ron Paul denying the existence of racism. You won't find it, just as you won't find any direct quotes from him that give any credence to the accusations being thrown at him.
Later in your article you cite as pieces of this problem of racism such things as "free trade" agreements, the growth of the prison-industrial complex, and abuses of power stemming from the patriot act. I think you've failed to notice that Ron Paul seeks to address all of these problems in a way I imagine you'd find reasonable.
Ron Paul has made promises to:
- dismantle free trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA.
- end the war on drugs and immediately release all non-violent drug offenders.
- repeal the patriot act.
Relegating our politics to the fringe will never allow us to make any of the positive changes we all seek for our society. We need to elect politicians working towards our ideals and who would create a more favorable political environment for progressive idea's to be voiced.
Ryan Schwab says, "you won't find any direct quotes from him that give any credence to the accusations being thrown at him [Ron Paul]."
I already have.
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/March1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/January91.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/October1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/June1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/August1990.pdf
In addition, even more important than what he said, he voted against the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act:
http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=296
Ron Paul uses the term liberty a lot, so let’s take a look at what he means by liberty.
The liberty Ron Paul demands is:
The liberty of the capitalists to exploit without labor laws and environmental protections;
The "state’s right” to prevent Blacks from voting without the interference of the Voting Rights Act (voted against its renewal in Congress);
The "state's right" to ban abortions without the interference of Roe v Wade;
The freedom of the government to deny same-sex rights (was an original sponsor of the "Marriage Protection Act");
The freedom of children not to attend schools (would abolish public education);
The freedom of the elderly and disabled to starve (would abolish Social Security);
The freedom of the sick to die (would abolish Medicare);
The freedom of the U.S. to destroy the planet without even the most basic limits on carbon emissions (opposes signing on to Kyoto and all other carbon limitations);
This is, in short, the liberty of a wealthy minority to make their money from the exploitation of labor and the environment with zero interference from labor laws, environmental laws, and the IRS. While his program is liberty for a minority of rich white heterosexual males, it is slavery for the majority.
Simply put, Ron Paul’s promises to end the war are not enough when one looks at the fact that he would eliminate two centuries of hard fought social progress in the United States.
One way we could mitigate health problems for people of color is with single payer or socialized medicine, yet Ron Paul opposes all such programs and would even eliminate Medicare.
A United Nations report on the status of Native Americans in Canada has credited Canada’s relatively recently established socialized health insurance system with drastically reducing an extremely high infant mortality among Native Americans (United Nations, 1993). In 1979, that death rate for Canadian Native Americans was 27.6 per thousand live births, but by 1999 it had dropped to 8.0 deaths per thousand live births (Treasury Board of Canada, 2003). These improvements coincide with Canada’s passage of the Canada Health Act in 1984 that brought their socialized insurance system to the entire country at that time (Health Canada, 2002).
For Blacks in the United States between 1995 and 2002, the infant mortality rate was 13.9, more than double the rate of 5.9 for whites in the same time period (Center for Disease Control, 2005). Canadian statistics are a strong indication that a socialized insurance system in the United States could both decrease the infant mortality rate of the general population and dramatically decrease the infant mortality of oppressed and impoverished minorities such as Blacks, as it did for Canadian Native Americans.
Yet at the root of the Ron Paul "revolution" is the dismantling of Social Security and the Department of Education as well as other basic social programs, and the elimination of worker and environmental protections. Advances like single payer health care? No way. Ron Paul's message is that you need to take care of yourself, and that there shouldn't be such government programs, nor such interference with private profit. Such a program would be a total disaster to all working class people, especially people of color.
The Case for Socialized Medicine in the United States, and the Struggle to Achieve It
by Steven Argue
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/02/18469739.php
I already have.
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/March1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/January91.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/October1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/June1990.pdf
http://www.tnr.com/downloads/August1990.pdf
In addition, even more important than what he said, he voted against the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act:
http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=296
Ron Paul uses the term liberty a lot, so let’s take a look at what he means by liberty.
The liberty Ron Paul demands is:
The liberty of the capitalists to exploit without labor laws and environmental protections;
The "state’s right” to prevent Blacks from voting without the interference of the Voting Rights Act (voted against its renewal in Congress);
The "state's right" to ban abortions without the interference of Roe v Wade;
The freedom of the government to deny same-sex rights (was an original sponsor of the "Marriage Protection Act");
The freedom of children not to attend schools (would abolish public education);
The freedom of the elderly and disabled to starve (would abolish Social Security);
The freedom of the sick to die (would abolish Medicare);
The freedom of the U.S. to destroy the planet without even the most basic limits on carbon emissions (opposes signing on to Kyoto and all other carbon limitations);
This is, in short, the liberty of a wealthy minority to make their money from the exploitation of labor and the environment with zero interference from labor laws, environmental laws, and the IRS. While his program is liberty for a minority of rich white heterosexual males, it is slavery for the majority.
Simply put, Ron Paul’s promises to end the war are not enough when one looks at the fact that he would eliminate two centuries of hard fought social progress in the United States.
One way we could mitigate health problems for people of color is with single payer or socialized medicine, yet Ron Paul opposes all such programs and would even eliminate Medicare.
A United Nations report on the status of Native Americans in Canada has credited Canada’s relatively recently established socialized health insurance system with drastically reducing an extremely high infant mortality among Native Americans (United Nations, 1993). In 1979, that death rate for Canadian Native Americans was 27.6 per thousand live births, but by 1999 it had dropped to 8.0 deaths per thousand live births (Treasury Board of Canada, 2003). These improvements coincide with Canada’s passage of the Canada Health Act in 1984 that brought their socialized insurance system to the entire country at that time (Health Canada, 2002).
For Blacks in the United States between 1995 and 2002, the infant mortality rate was 13.9, more than double the rate of 5.9 for whites in the same time period (Center for Disease Control, 2005). Canadian statistics are a strong indication that a socialized insurance system in the United States could both decrease the infant mortality rate of the general population and dramatically decrease the infant mortality of oppressed and impoverished minorities such as Blacks, as it did for Canadian Native Americans.
Yet at the root of the Ron Paul "revolution" is the dismantling of Social Security and the Department of Education as well as other basic social programs, and the elimination of worker and environmental protections. Advances like single payer health care? No way. Ron Paul's message is that you need to take care of yourself, and that there shouldn't be such government programs, nor such interference with private profit. Such a program would be a total disaster to all working class people, especially people of color.
The Case for Socialized Medicine in the United States, and the Struggle to Achieve It
by Steven Argue
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/02/18469739.php
Either you haven't done your research before referencing The New Republic articles on supposed Ron Paul newsletters, or you're deliberately hiding the full story. I'll assume its the former, and share some of the other side of this story.
The official statement from the RP campaign:
"The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts."
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS233377+08-Jan-2008+BW20080108
Other news sources:
“Ron Paul didn’t know about those comments, or know they were written under his name until much later when they were brought to his attention. There were several issues that went out with comments that he would not ordinarily make. He was angry when he saw them.”
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=41822
http://gays-for-ron.blogspot.com/2008/01/kirchicking-of-ron-paul.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul381.html
Audio of the president of the NAACP on Ron Pauls character:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qfx0mCW494
I understand and can respect that you're a socialist, but it gets in the way of your work as a journalist when you write things like your liberty list above. I thought we were talking about race, but if you wanted to discuss all of Dr. Pauls platform you could have done it in a more thoughtful, and less inflammatory way.
The official statement from the RP campaign:
"The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts."
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS233377+08-Jan-2008+BW20080108
Other news sources:
“Ron Paul didn’t know about those comments, or know they were written under his name until much later when they were brought to his attention. There were several issues that went out with comments that he would not ordinarily make. He was angry when he saw them.”
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=41822
http://gays-for-ron.blogspot.com/2008/01/kirchicking-of-ron-paul.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul381.html
Audio of the president of the NAACP on Ron Pauls character:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qfx0mCW494
I understand and can respect that you're a socialist, but it gets in the way of your work as a journalist when you write things like your liberty list above. I thought we were talking about race, but if you wanted to discuss all of Dr. Pauls platform you could have done it in a more thoughtful, and less inflammatory way.
So you think this was a ghost writer that put out the Ron Paul newsletters for decades?
Was it also a ghost voter that cast Ron Paul's vote against renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act?
And in 1999, what possessed Ron Paul to be the only Congressman to vote against giving Rosa Parks the Congressional Medal of Honor?
Ron Paul published those Ron Paul newsletters under the names "Ron Paul's Freedom Report", "Ron Paul Political Report", and "The Ron Paul Survival Report" from 1978 to 1996. All were under his name, and some were even signed by him. The newsletter was openly and consistently racist, sexist, homophobic, and anti-socialist.
"The Freedom Report's online archives only go back to 1999, but I was curious to see older editions of Paul's newsletters, in part because of a controversy dating to 1996, when Charles "Lefty" Morris, a Democrat running against Paul for a House seat, released excerpts stating that 'opinion polls consistently show only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions,' that 'if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be,' and that black representative Barbara Jordan is 'the archetypical half-educated victimologist’ whose 'race and sex protect her from criticism.' At the time, Paul's campaign said that Morris had quoted the newsletter out of context. Later, in 2001, Paul would claim that someone else had written the controversial passages." (Angry White Man by James Kirchick)
So which is it? Quoted out of context or not by Ron Paul? And why would Ron Paul put out newsletters for decades under his name where he had no control of the content? And why won't Ron Paul reveal who did the writing if it was not him? Simply put, Ron Paul's denials are not plausible.
In addition, Ron Paul's claim, “I am the most anti-racist because I don’t see people in collective groups”, not only a lie, not only serves to perpetuate racism because it pretends that the question does not need to be addressed, it is identical to those arguments made by Ron Paul supporters David Duke and Ron Black (who Ron Paul accepted a donation from).
In addition, here is further proof that Ron Paul is lying when he says he doesn't see people as collective groups. It is a current campaign add:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T-iJKwskH4&feature=related
While capitalist politicians and rightwing extremists like Ron Paul, David Duke, and Ron Black scapegoat immigrants, it is important for the working class on all sides of the borders to understand the cause of our problems is not immigrants, but exploitative capitalists, imperialism, and war. The capitalists get away with paying immigrants less because they give them fewer rights. Unions need to organize all who live in the United States and treat all as equals against the bosses. Full citizen rights to all living in the United States! Repeal NAFTA! Cancel the third world "debt"! End U.S. military aid to repressive capitalist third world governments! End CIA and U.S. military interventions! Reparations for imperialism!
Was it also a ghost voter that cast Ron Paul's vote against renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act?
And in 1999, what possessed Ron Paul to be the only Congressman to vote against giving Rosa Parks the Congressional Medal of Honor?
Ron Paul published those Ron Paul newsletters under the names "Ron Paul's Freedom Report", "Ron Paul Political Report", and "The Ron Paul Survival Report" from 1978 to 1996. All were under his name, and some were even signed by him. The newsletter was openly and consistently racist, sexist, homophobic, and anti-socialist.
"The Freedom Report's online archives only go back to 1999, but I was curious to see older editions of Paul's newsletters, in part because of a controversy dating to 1996, when Charles "Lefty" Morris, a Democrat running against Paul for a House seat, released excerpts stating that 'opinion polls consistently show only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions,' that 'if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be,' and that black representative Barbara Jordan is 'the archetypical half-educated victimologist’ whose 'race and sex protect her from criticism.' At the time, Paul's campaign said that Morris had quoted the newsletter out of context. Later, in 2001, Paul would claim that someone else had written the controversial passages." (Angry White Man by James Kirchick)
So which is it? Quoted out of context or not by Ron Paul? And why would Ron Paul put out newsletters for decades under his name where he had no control of the content? And why won't Ron Paul reveal who did the writing if it was not him? Simply put, Ron Paul's denials are not plausible.
In addition, Ron Paul's claim, “I am the most anti-racist because I don’t see people in collective groups”, not only a lie, not only serves to perpetuate racism because it pretends that the question does not need to be addressed, it is identical to those arguments made by Ron Paul supporters David Duke and Ron Black (who Ron Paul accepted a donation from).
In addition, here is further proof that Ron Paul is lying when he says he doesn't see people as collective groups. It is a current campaign add:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T-iJKwskH4&feature=related
While capitalist politicians and rightwing extremists like Ron Paul, David Duke, and Ron Black scapegoat immigrants, it is important for the working class on all sides of the borders to understand the cause of our problems is not immigrants, but exploitative capitalists, imperialism, and war. The capitalists get away with paying immigrants less because they give them fewer rights. Unions need to organize all who live in the United States and treat all as equals against the bosses. Full citizen rights to all living in the United States! Repeal NAFTA! Cancel the third world "debt"! End U.S. military aid to repressive capitalist third world governments! End CIA and U.S. military interventions! Reparations for imperialism!
Solid postings, Steve. While there are many things I wouldn't agree with you on, your take on Ron Paul is excellent. If people are looking to clean up a mess created by a homophobic, bigoted, free market conservative Republican white male from Texas, why would they think that could be done by ANOTHER homophobic, bigoted, free market conservative Republican white male from Texas? It staggers the mind...
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