Racism. Idiocy. But I repeat myself . . .

I'm appalled to read an article by Dr. Boyce Watkins at NewsOne ( which describes itself as "For Black America" and labels itself "part of the BlackPlanet Universe"). He claims that July 4th is "No Independence Day for Black People". His arguments are so warped and weird as to defy logic, and his attitude demonstrates very clearly that racism is, indeed, still a problem in America . . . because of people like him. I'll leave you to read the whole article for yourself, if you feel so inclined. Here are a few of his points, and my responses (in italics) beneath each one.


1) Large corporations like Viacom and Time Warner control major black media outlets like BET and Essence, giving them the right to shape our collective point of view. We depend on these companies to tell us what to think.

Dr. Watkins, if you believe that crap, you deserve every problem you've got! No-one - no individual, no corporation - has the 'right' to shape anyone's point of view. They can advance their point of view, but it's up to you and I to adopt or reject their perspective, as we see fit. As for 'depending on these companies to tell us what to think' . . . what have you been smoking? If you depend on anyone to tell you what to think, you're in so much trouble that you're probably beyond help. God gave you a brain of your own. Use the damn thing!


3) Black children’s minds are obliterated at an early age by media giants who mass market hip-hop music that sells black boys a recipe for self-destruction by the time they reach kindergarten. Capitalist and shareholder-created monstrosities like Lil Wayne teach them how to kill themselves and each other by the time they become teenagers.

Bull! 'Black children's minds are obliterated at an early age' by parents and other authority figures, who fail to fill those minds with good order and discipline, and instead allow them (by their own sins of omission and by default) to be filled with the cheap trash that is hip-hop and rap 'music' (I use the latter term very loosely, you understand). They learn from 'monstrosities like Lil Wayne' because their parents fail to provide them with - fail to BE - better examples from which they can learn!


6) Black unemployment is nearly double that of white Americans, with no politician in Washington expressing any interest in alleviating the suffering with targeted policy. We depend on politicians and a Democratic Party that fills our minds empty rhetoric, while not respecting us enough to deliver on campaign promises.

Why depend on politicians at all? Why not take your future into your own hands, and start depending on yourself? If politicians make promises that they then fail to fulfil, why keep voting for them? Why not vote the bastards out, and elect others who will keep their promises? And why trust any political party? A party exists to serve its own interests, and the interests of its big-money supporters - not those of the electorate. If you haven't learned that by now, you're blind, deaf and dumb, politically speaking . . . just the way politicians like you to be.


The most glaring sign of our lack of independence is the prison industrial complex, which has served to decimate the black family in America. Black men are disproportionately incarcerated and used as slave labor to make expensive corporate products. In fact, the 13th Amendment, which allegedly abolishes slavery, actually includes a clause stating that slavery is still legal if the government can label you as a felon.

More bull! 'Black men are disproportionately incarcerated' because they commit a disproportionate percentage of all crimes! They're not locked up because of their skin color, but because they were convicted of a criminal offense. As for being 'used as slave labor to make expensive corporate products' - you're talking complete and utter crap yet again. I know. I served as a prison chaplain, part-time and full-time, for over a decade. Prison industries do not produce 'expensive corporate products' - they produce basic office furniture, prison uniforms (and sometimes guards' uniforms as well), mailbags for the US Post Office, and so on. None of the products are 'expensive', and none of them are high-end items.

As for the 13th Amendment including 'a clause stating that slavery is still legal if the government can label you as a felon', let's have a look, shall we?

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Sounds almost as if you have a point, doesn't it? . . . until, that is, you read the 14th Amendment as well. Here's the pertinent section.

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

That kinda changes things, doesn't it? 'Slavery or involuntary servitude' may exist as a 'punishment for crime', but only after 'due process of law' - and even if those punishments are imposed, the person upon whom they're imposed still has 'the equal protection of the laws'. He or she can also refuse to work. That may bring administrative punishment upon them, but it won't result in their being flogged, or sold, or even executed for disobedience, as might have happened to a slave in days gone by. That's a rather different position to slavery, isn't it? Furthermore, if a criminal is incarcerated - or, according to your choice of words, is 'enslaved' - it's because he or she committed a crime carrying that consequence with it. They knew that full well, even before they chose to become a criminal! In other words, their 'slavery' is a self-imposed choice, isn't it?


I won't bother going into more of Dr. Watkins' nonsense. It's full of that sort of garbage. All I can say is, thank Heavens for articulate, logical, rational Black scholars like Dr. Thomas Sowell. I think I'll go and read one of his books tonight, to get the rest of this crap out of my mind! (I'd recommend to Dr. Watkins that he do the same, but somehow I doubt that he'd regard Dr. Sowell as anything other than an 'Uncle Tom' . . . an extremely stupid position to take, but one that's regrettably all too common.)

Peter