{"id":7811,"date":"2013-07-25T15:39:02","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T15:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=7811"},"modified":"2013-07-25T15:39:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-25T15:39:02","slug":"a-national-shouting-match-on-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=7811","title":{"rendered":"A national shouting match on racism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"longstreets-june-2012-headshot\"<\/a>by J.D. Longstreet<\/p>\n

As a Southerner, I am used to\u2014well, allow me to rephrase that:\u00a0 as far as it is possible, I am used to being called a racist, a bigot, a redneck, and several other epithets that I refuse to print here.\u00a0 That is not to say that I am comfortable with them, I am not.\u00a0 Nevertheless, again, as a southerner, hardly a day goes by that such disparaging words are not used, in reference to yours truly, singularly, as an individual, or collectively, as a member of the politically conservative right, or regionally, as a Southerner.<\/p>\n

I suppose the thing about all this infantile name calling that troubles me most is the utter hypocrisy of those using such hurtful language. I have learned as an adult that many, if not most, of those tossing about such colorful, yet hollow charges, are soaked in ignorance of the origins of such words and the history of the my region of America, and indeed, the history of America itself.<\/p>\n

For instance\u2014before the American Civil War, (you know\u2014the war we Southerners refer to, and think of, as \u201cThe War for Southern Independence,\u201d) it was the Democratic Party, that had a death grip on the Southern States, which our young scholars have been erroneously, taught were the only slave holding states in the country.<\/p>\n

That is far from the truth, very far. The Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States, including Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, had legally sanctioned slavery in the 17th, 18th and even part of the 19th centuries.<\/p>\n

This may come as a shock to you but\u2026 not only were black people enslaved in the North for over two hundred years, but the vast majority of all slave trading in America was done by northerners. Yes, we did just say: \u201cThe VAST Majority\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Remarkably, half of all North American voyages involved in the slave trade originated in Rhode Island, and all the northern states benefited. This is a fact much hidden from the youthful eyes of America\u2019s young scholars for many, many, decades.\u00a0 In fact, many of those folks who so piously refer to Southerners as racists (because of our ancestors participation in the detestable trade) themselves hail from regions (and, yes, even families) that made fortunes on the trade of African blacks into slavery.<\/p>\n

Shocked?\u00a0 You needn\u2019t be.\u00a0 It has been SOP in America\u2019s public (Government) school system for many years.\u00a0 It is the foundation of the ignorance from which springs the scurrilous charges made against so many of my ancestors and yes, even this scribe today.<\/p>\n

I tell you this so you will be less shocked when we say that much of the name calling of southerners and politically right conservatives is coming from Representatives and Senators, of those Northern States who desperately want to paint all members of the political right as racists, and bigots.<\/p>\n

There is also a statement made, time and again, which goes something like this:\u00a0 Blacks, or, if you prefer, African-Americans, cannot be racists because they lack power or clout.\u00a0 That is absolutely pure, unadulterated nonsense, clap-trap, BS, horse hockey, and a few other things we dare not print for general consumption.\u00a0 If one human hates another because of the color of his skin, regardless of the color of his own, that is bigotry.\u00a0 We see it everyday, as well, or hear it referenced every day in the music popularly known as \u201cRap\u201d Music and \u201cHip-Hop\u201d music.<\/p>\n

The left claims to want a national \u201cconversation\u201d about racism in America.\u00a0 They don\u2019t, of course.\u00a0 If they did they\u2019d stop using the first sentences out of the mouths of members of the right to label them racists , which simply shuts off all conversation instantly.<\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 The left does not want a national confab on racism in America.\u00a0 It is a ploy, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

White America has grown tired of pretending not to see the overt racism of the left.\u00a0 We\u2019ve grown exceedingly resentful of being used as a punching bag and we\u2019re beginning to punch back.<\/p>\n

The national conversation on racism in America, the left claims to want, may yet materialize \u2013 in the streets of the nation\u2019s cities as black and white mobs clash.\u00a0 It will be a conversation of the fist and club and, eventually, the gun.<\/p>\n

Nobody in their right mind wants this to happen. But that is exactly where America is headed once the last straw is applied to the camel\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

I DO realize the weight of the words above.\u00a0 I DO realize, as well, that until we are ready, as a people, as a nation, to face up, honestly, to the racism of the left\u2014and the black community in particular \u2013 then it is a non-starter.\u00a0 Until that time a civil conversation will not be had for it cannot be had.<\/p>\n

The best we can hope for is the continued stand-off and the barely concealed hatred boiling just beneath the surface. The plain truth is, I believe, the very best we can hope for is that the black community will continue to pretend they\u2019re not racists and the white community will continue to pretend that it doesn\u2019t notice black racism.<\/p>\n

No, there will be no national conversation on racism.\u00a0 There WILL be more shouting matches, bruised egos, and hurt feelings, which will do nothing to salve the wounds of the vicious national argument on racism.<\/p>\n

WE Americans have tried for 237 years to hold the people of the country together in some sort of union\u2014even with the numerous cracks and fault lines running between us.\u00a0 Today those cracks and fault lines have become chasms. And some are un-crossable. This is one of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by J.D. Longstreet As a Southerner, I am used to\u2014well, allow me to rephrase that:\u00a0 as far as it is possible, I am used to being called a racist, a bigot, a redneck, and several other epithets that I refuse to print here.\u00a0 That is not to say that I am comfortable with them, I … Continue reading “A national shouting match on racism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[492],"tags":[4315,4312,157,4314,4313,4316],"class_list":["post-7811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-hip-hop","tag-j-d-longstreet","tag-racism","tag-rap","tag-southerner","tag-the-left"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/longstreets-june-2012-headshot.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7813,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7811\/revisions\/7813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}