Racism Forever -- Please!

On June 14, 1997, President Bill Clinton announced with great zeal his proposed "dialogue" on race, his "One America in the 21st Century" initiative. America's "first black" president, I guess Mr. Clinton felt it his responsibility to lead such a conversation. In a 1995 speech, Mr. Clinton bandied about his racial bona-fides: "I graduated from a segregated high school seven years after President Dwight Eisenhower integrated Little Rock Central High School. My experiences with discrimination are rooted in the South and the legacy slavery left."

I dismissed the effort at the time because such -- a discussion on race -- was not possible then. Nor is it possible now. For whatever reason, any conversation on race evolves into a monologue, with blacks on one side, wagging their fingers at whites and saying, "Shame, shame, shame." Ward Connerly said the initiative was "the sound of one hand clapping." With the lefty panel Clinton appointed to head these "conversations," there would plenty of guilt trips laid out, and little conversation held.

At one time, I believed -- naively, it turns out -- that my generation, those born in the 1960s, would be the generation to put the "race" issue to bed. After all, we came of age after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Jim Crow was someone we never knew. We attended integrated schools. We were raised -- at least, my two brothers and I were -- not to judge someone on the color of their skin. We were the first generation to have some regular, and even daily, contact with that "other" race. Surely, all the mistrust, strife, anger and bitterness of the past, a past we had only heard of, would be buried by us.

How wrong I was.

I believe race relations are worse in 2007 than they were thirty years ago in 1977, my tenth grade year in high school. And things are only getting worse.

What the hell happened?

The "Racism Industry" is what. An amalgamation of activists (s--t starters), attorneys (well-dressed parasites with law degrees) and black-only organizations (Marxists with an axe to grind), the Racism Industry finds prosperity and political clout in keeping, not hope, but strife alive. If something causes animosity, bitterness or anger between the races, then there's a good chance you will find a member of the Racism Industry behind it. Long gone are the days of peaceful groups of well-dressed and well-spoken people rallying for the right to vote and a fair shot at the American Dream. They have been replaced with activists demanding equal outcomes and other assorted aims of the Racism Industry:

Of course, this sort of grievance-mongering is not new. Booker T. Washington spoke of such as early as the late 1800s: "There is a another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs -- partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances because they do not want to lose their jobs."

Mr. Washington was speaking of many of his critics, most notably W. E. B. DuBois, the Harvard grad noted for his "talented tenth" theory that the talented ten percent of blacks would lead the race. Mr. Washington's words aptly describe the latter-day crop of "DuBoisian" fellows: Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al. These two (and other like-minded players) have never met a racial stir -- real or perceived -- that they did not want to exploit for their own gain.

Jesse Jackson has established a profitable career for himself and his family. Like Tony Soprano used his "waste management" position to cover his illegal activities, so too does Jesse Jackson. His "Operation PUSH"-- People United to Save Humanity -- is a non-profit front used by Jackson to wash literally millions that have come Jackson's way. Kenneth Timmerman's 2002 book Shakedown highlights the good reverend's tactics and windfalls of his activism. Using 18 chapters, 400+ pages and an astounding 1,000 plus footnotes, Mr. Timmerman paints the picture of a guy always out looking for the next score. During the Carter Administration, Mr. Jackson was able to get millions of dollars in federal grants funneled into the education wing of PUSH. The jig was up, however, with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. The Reagan Administration and its audits led Reverend Jackson to his true calling: the corporate shakedown. Beginning with Coca-Cola in 1981, Jackson has used his tried and true tactics to extort millions from American corporations. The M-O is simple. First, find an alleged racial slight with a company (like Coca-Cola's dealings with apartheid South Africa). Secondly, threaten boycotts or protests of the company. By the second step, companies usually settle with Jackson. Literally. While other blacks have benefited from Jackson's efforts, no one has benefited like Jackson himself and those closest to him. His half brother, Noah Robinson, was awarded a syrup distributorship by Coca-Cola in September 1981, one month after a $30 million settlement had been reached. Jackson's two sons own a beer distributorship in Chicago -- gained in the same manner. Anheuser-Busch, Texaco and Nike have all felt the brunt of Jackson's "work." Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Jackson's mau-mauing toward corporations was as automatic as the John Stockton-Karl Malone pick and roll of the same era: guaranteed to deliver. Seeking "justice," Jackson got himself a lot of it in the form of dollar bills.

While Jesse Jackson is a racial extortionist, Al Sharpton is a racial arsonist. Jackson seeks financial gain, while Sharpton is out for political chits. The Reverend Al cut his teeth in the 1980s, when he, like some sleazy lawyer at an accident scene, would show up at any incident that hinted of a racial angle that could be exploited. With his James Brown hair-do, sweat suits and vituperative tongue, Sharpton fanned any racial flames he could, often making a tragic situation even worse. No incident shows Sharpton's dishonesty like the Tawana Brawley affair. In November 1987, fifteen year old Tawana Brawley claimed she was abducted, raped and smeared with feces by a group of white men, some of whom were police officers with the Duchess County (New York) police department. A grand jury determined that Brawley's story was a hoax, designed to cover her being out too late one night. Despite any evidence to support Brawley's claim, Al Sharpton and his goons -- in this case, attorneys Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason -- arrived to exploit the race aspect of the case. The three even went as far as to accuse Duchess County assistant district attorney Steven Pagones of taking part in the fictional assault and rape. Sharpton even told Pagones to "sue" him if he was lying, which Pagones did in 1997. A jury awarded Pagones a $345,000.00 judgement, of which the good reverend has yet to pay one red cent.

Similar protests by Sharpton in 1991 (Crown Heights) and and 1995 (Harlem's Freddy's Fashion Mart) actually resulted in the deaths of people. Jackson, while dishonest to the core, does not cause the deaths of people in his wake.

One might think that such shady dealings and outrageous rhetoric would take away the credibility of someone. Think again. Both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have run for the presidency (as Democrats, of course). If anything, it appears that each's record has heightened their profile. Judging from events of the past year, Jackson and Sharpton have taken on Christ-like proportions, as white people who make "insensitive racial remarks" must trek to Jackson or Sharpton and pay tribute and beg for forgiveness. Michael Richards, the former Seinfeld star, went to Jackson to beg forgiveness for his use of the word "nigger" on a comedy stage. Don Imus used "nappy-headed hos" to describe the Rutgers women's basketball team, and the next week he appeared on Sharpton's radio show to grovel and kiss the ass of Sharpton. At this writing, it is not certain which of the race-hustlers Dog the Bounty Hunter will appeal to to atone for his racial comments made during a private conversation with his son.

What irony. Al Sharpton, who has called Jews "diamond merchants, and Jesse Jackson, who referred to New York City as "Hymietown," are now the arbiters of the speech police. What a country.