The White And Black Eye-For-An-Eye

The Fox News morning show just had on the Reverend Al Sharpton, who was apparently decrying the lack of attention being given to the Jena Six in Louisiana. As most of you know, I’ve written recently against what I believe is race exploitation by liberals like Amy Goodman at “Democracy Now!”. I believe it to be exploitation when one side’s plight is regarded as a travesty while ignoring other stories that have other people just as outraged.

For that reason, I’ve always been careful when addressing race issues. The ones I address highlight a double standard, and for that, I get the usual retorts. I’m called many names, and all that tells me is that some are not looking for honest discussion. Some are comfortable in the “victim” role, and for anyone to attempt to hold people responsible for their own actions, you’ll incur their wrath and are thus fair game for the very racism they hold in contempt.

I have to be very careful nowadays about what I write about regarding specific race issues. The companies that host the search engines that point people to the sites that carry my commentary, are now very sensitive as to who says what about whom. For example, I cannot say that “some Muslims” are terrorists. While that may be an accurate assessment based on current events, if I am not “specific”, a company may opt to drop that site from their search engines. Racial insensitivity is not allowed. That is, depending whom that insensitivity is being directed.

On one of the sites owned by a company we are trying to keep happy, a comment about me by one of their subscribers is prominently displayed….

“fucking nigger go help your niggers in the hood your people killing people nigger are killers crack heads low lifes you need to be slaves
you where born to do that niggers are slaves ill niver change”

Now, while I have the ability to “block” this user and his (or her) multiple comments like that one, this is also a classic illustration of selective outrage by the left. If similar comments were posted on an Al Sharpton page, that user would probably be banned by that company. In my case, it’s probably regarded as “free speech”.

After my Jena Six column was posted, it also appeared on several websites, and many of the comments offered were expectedly negative. I also received emails with similar sentiments. I replied to some of the more level-headed, and even gave them my home phone number and invited them to call me over the weekend so we could converse in an atmosphere less abrupt than a website forum. The only condition: please don’t call during the Patriots-Jets game.

I didn’t receive one phone call.

However, I did receive many emails about stories the media and blaxploitation participants avoid. One such story was about the murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom. According to an article by James H. Lilley…

“On Saturday January 6, 2007 Hugh Christopher Newsom, age 23 and Channon Gail Christian, age 21, both students at the University of Tennessee went out on a date. They were driving in Channon’s Toyota 4-Runner when they were carjacked at gunpoint. Suddenly the crime turned far more savage than an armed car theft. Chris and Channon were kidnapped and driven to 2316 Chipman Street where they were forced into the home at gunpoint. While Channon was forced to watch, her boyfriend was raped prison style and then his penis was cut off. He was later driven to nearby railroad tracks where he was shot and set afire. But Channon’s hell was just beginning. She was beaten; gang raped repeatedly in many ways, had one of her breasts cut off and bleach poured down her throat to destroy DNA evidence – all while she was still alive. To add to Channon’s degradation the suspects took turns urinating on her. They too set her body afire, apparently inside the residence, but for some reason left her body there – in five separate trash bags….”

The difference between the Jena Six sentencing outage and the murders of these two young people were that the Jena Six are black and were targeted by a white district attorney. Christian and Newsom were white and killed by Blacks. When race is brought into the mix, that’s where we have media coverage problems.

Because of political correctness, we aren’t allowed to look at crime as just that, crime. When a racial component is introduced, that’s when the traditional responses and excuses are displayed and God help anyone who strays from that playbook.

One can’t talk about black-on-black crime, which is a huge unreported problem, especially in New Orleans. That’s considered “airing dirty laundry” and you risk the typical vitriolic onslaught. One can’t talk about black-on-white crime because that’s racially insensitive. However, you can go to the mountain top and scream all day about white-on-black crime, because that’s the perfect forum for bringing up the legacy of Jim Crow, slavery, and point the finger of individual responsibility away from the criminals and back onto society as a whole. Should I bring it up, I become Uncle Bob again.

I have been very consistent through my years of writing to not make excuses for Black people. I believe we are capable of discerning right from wrong, and until we beat back those who treat us as anything but thinking human beings, there will justifiably be those who will look at us with disdain and thus, a lack of concern when Jena Six situations occur.

It also perpetuates racial divisions within our nation when we are forced to leave out components of a story because we are afraid to “offend”. It took a couple of days for us to find out that the D.C. snipers were Muslim. It took awhile for us to find out that the man who murdered actress Adrienne Shelley, as well as those who executed the four college students in Newark were illegal aliens. As long as selective reporting and exploitation is continued by media and social activists, the very racism they decry will continue. I sincerely hope this is not by design, but I have my suspicions.

So, I’ll continue to bring up these issues in a manner the mainstream media and/or activists won’t. I know what’s coming, but I will not demean the capability of anyone to know right and wrong behavior. This is not my living in a glass house, but holding everyone to an equal standard.

Until we do, the racial divide in this country will not be closed. Some may want us to remain divided. I see no benefit to this.

Many people have been able to climb out of whatever adversity blocked their paths to “success”. To say that others can’t is insulting and, in my opinion, racist. Many have recommended I explain the path to success instead of tearing my own people down. I have done so on many occasions, and I consider it stating the obvious.

Staying in school. Ignoring the excuse that studying is “acting white”, and taking whatever education is offered. Not making excuses and taking advantage of the opportunities offered in this country and not succumbing to any of the obstacles put in your way. Sure, it sounds simplistic, but many have taken this route so it can be done.

But making excuses for bad behavior is racist, demeaning, and you will find none of that in anything I’ve ever written regarding race issues. That’s the difference between myself and an Al Sharpton or Amy Goodman. If that makes them saviors to some and me the bad guy, that says more about the state of our national dialogue than anything I could ever write.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. | 22 views | Trackback | Print this page |

Bob Parks is a member/writer for the National Advisory Council of Project 21, and VP of Marketing and Media Relations/Staff Writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. | More from Bob Parks