An “honest discussion about race” …

“We need to have an honest discussion about race in America.”

How many times have we heard this? 

Problem is, the people asking for this don’t really want an “honest” discussion. 

And they don’t want to discuss all races.  What they want is to deliver another lecture about black people, by black people, to everybody who isn’t black, about how tough it is to be black, and how blacks therefore deserve preferential treatment.   

There will be no “discussion”; they aren’t interested in exchanging views. 

Despite that, and only because they continue to ask for it, here’s my view:

The only people who think about race all the time are racists. 

And yes, blacks certainly can be racists. 

I’m thinking in particular about those who view everything in the world through the prism of race – like Obama, Holder, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, John Lewis and others who always see a honkie in the woodpile. They are racists, plain and simple.   

To maintain that blacks can’t be racist because they’re black is as silly as saying that everybody who isn’t black is a racist.

Jeez., Give it a rest.

Okay, so this is for you – Sharpton, Jackson, Lewis, Rangel, Holder, et al: 

You know who I’m talking about – the black “leaders” who are always first to interject race, no matter what the context. Yes, you are the same ones who treat the black community as helpless children incapable of fending for themselves.    

You are obsessed with race.  We’re not. 

Outside of the black community, most of us don’t care what race anybody is. 

No, honestly and truly, we don’t.  That’s probably a surprise to you. 

Then again, as cynically as some of you try to manipulate events, perhaps not. 

We hardly ever think about race unless someone jams race in our face.  Or tries to transform something that isn’t about race into something that is, as you are wont to do. 

The Trayvon Martin circus, the manufactured outrage over voter ID laws and changes to the Voting Rights Act come to mind.    

However, just because the media make a big deal out of stuff like this, and you can put crowds in the streets, that doesn’t mean it’s a big deal to all of us.  Or even most of us.   It isn’t.    

By this point, we’re more like dogs watching TV – we hear what you’re saying, we see what you’re doing, we understand why, but it doesn’t make any difference to us. It’s nothing more than background noise to most of us.   

You see, we’ve heard it all before.  Your problems and issues never change. 

You’re always offended by one thing or another, regardless how innocent or innocuous.  You hear imaginary “dog whistles” of hidden racism all the time.  You don’t think a black person can get a fair hearing, much less justice, in this country.  You don’t think blacks are treated fairly but you can’t define what “fairly” is.

And you seem to be pissed off about something most of the time. 

It’s exhausting dealing with you.  And fruitless.  So many of us are giving up. 

No matter how much we try to help – or appease – the black community, nothing we do seems to work.  Nothing seems to please you.  There’s never enough.

When society tries to help the black community we apparently often do more long-term harm than the value of any short-term good.  So instead of giving a hand up to self-sufficiency, we end up giving a handout that leads to more dependency.

It’s the fulfillment of the cynic’s creed:  No good deed goes unpunished. 

Still, according to many black leaders, things are worse for blacks now than they’ve been in years, especially in terms of racism and discrimination. 

Since many of us lived through the 50s and 60s, we – and you – know that’s complete bullshit.  Society’s come a long way.  But a lot of black leaders keep beating that dead horse. 

Here’s a big heads-up to today’s black leaders:  It’s time to leave 1960 and the days of Bull Conner … America has moved on.  It’s okay to put the bullhorn down and join us. 

Want proof? 

Since the 1960s Americans of all races elected a black President, not once but twice. 

They’ve also elected black governors, legislators and other officials.  There are blacks serving as the heads of Federal, state and local government agencies, and black judges on a variety of state and Federal benches, including the Supreme Court. 

There are many other successful blacks in leadership positions in business, industry, healthcare, communications and education throughout our society.

How do you explain them? You don’t. You look the other way and pretend they don’t matter. 

You won’t be happy until … until … well, we honestly don’t know.  Perhaps never. 

And that’s part of our frustration, leading to our growing indifference. 

In many ways, your black community is like a black hole in our society – no pun intended. 

America’s poured trillions of dollars down that hole, created special programs out the wazoo and it’s like it never happened.  All of it gets sucked into a bottomless vortex.  After about 50 years of shoveling resources into that hole we don’t have a lot to show for it as a society.   

There are some positives.  Black life expectancy has gone up by almost 30% since the 1960s and is now roughly the same as whites.  Education has also improved:  in 1960 only about 21.7% of blacks had completed high school; in 2010 it was 84.2%, about the same as whites.  In 1960 only 3.5% of blacks had college degrees; by 2010 it was 19.8%.

So health and education have improved for blacks, which are usually key building blocks for success by other races.  What’s been the result?     

Unemployment remains much higher for blacks than for other races.  When the rate recently dropped to an average of 7.3%, the black unemployment rate jumped to 13.5%. The overall teen unemployment rate is 25.1%; but for black teens it’s up to 43.1%.    

Blacks account for about 13% of the U.S. population, yet account for about 40.1% of all males in prison or in jail, about 39% of all welfare recipients, and about 22% of all food stamp recipients.  The black population is disproportionally represented in being in the system, and largely supported by the system. 

Not a great record.  What’s the cause? 

Black leaders say it’s all the result of a justice system stacked against blacks, bias and prejudice in hiring, and a lack of funding for inner-city programs and schools.     

Okay.  Could there be different causes – maybe some more obvious causes?  

1. Perhaps more black males are in prison or jail because more crimes are committed by them, and some already have a criminal record that started in their teens which results in harsher sentences. 

2. Employers are less likely to hire someone with a prison record, which is their right, and many now do criminal background checks.  If you’re a black male of any age with a criminal record, your employment prospects are severely limited. 

3. Only about 9% of black married couples live in poverty.  Since 38.2% of black children are living in poverty, the vast majority of those are in single-parent or caretaker households. 

4. If you’re a single female in your teens with a couple of kids – and their baby daddies are in prison – you’re going to have a hard time finding and keeping a job regardless of what race you are.  

Don’t know about you, but I find these more plausible causes than a vast conspiracy by the legal system, employers, and state and Federal officials against blacks.

Frankly – and I think I may speak for a sizable portion of the non-black population when I say this – we’re tired of all the excuses.  We’re also tired of being blamed for your woes. 

It’s not our fault the black community as a whole has not been more successful.  We’ve done everything we could. 

But we can’t solve your epidemic of out-of-wedlock births, now approaching 75%, which almost assures a life of poverty for mother and child.  Just about all your other social and economic problems stem from this alone.  Yet you are unwilling to address it.  

Maybe if you tried to fix some of your own problems we’d be more compassionate.  But as long as you blame others for all your misfortunes, we don’t see the point. 

We know black leaders want us to think about the black community and its problems every minute of every waking hour but the reality is we don’t. 

We sense that we’re somehow supposed to feel guilty about something related to the black community all the time.  Probably slavery.  Sorry, but we don’t.    

Despite what some in your community say, we don’t sit around and plot how to keep blacks down, from voting, or how to imprison as many black men as we can.

It’s pathetic so many of your community still think a sizable number of Americans do.  It’s shameful that some black leaders perpetuate these myths. 

The truth is, most of us are pretty much done caring.  Plus, we’re kind of busy trying to manage our own lives; we don’t have time for endless reruns of the same stuff.  

We don’t look down on you, nor do we look up to you.  However, it’s fair to say that you’re strangers to us who, except for living in the same country, appear to have little in common with us, by your own choosing. 

We also don’t care how you vote, for whom, or why.  You’ve proven that you’ll vote against your own self-interests, and against your own beliefs, purely on the basis of race.

Which seems to us to beg the question:  Who is the racist here? 

So can we end this discussion?  Now you know how we feel.  Get used to it.