1. Free all slaves.

2. Take the people responsible for slavery and kill 483,026 of them. We’ll show mercy on another 194,026 and merely maim them, including a lot of limbs amputated.

3. Virtually destroy the Southern states, economically and in virtually every other way, so that anyone who was a slaveholder or who indirectly benefited from slavery has virtually everything taken from them if they or their family members weren’t already killed.

4. Just to make sure anyone who isn’t in the South, but who benefited from slavery, is also punished, we’ll kill 664,928 people from the other states, mostly white people. We’ll also chop off the limbs or otherwise maim another 275,175, for good measure.

5. We’ll charge a tax to the United States of about $21 trillion dollars as further punishment.

Is that enough? Apparently not, because the above bill was already paid 150 years ago, and yet a lot of people still want more. Aside from arguing about whether it’s fair to punish someone today for a crime committed 150 years ago by someone they weren’t even related to, is there any form of reparations that would be successful, and what is “success” in this case, anyway?

“Ok,” the liberal says, “Let’s say everything up to the Civil War is taken care of, but what about since then? Mistreatment of blacks didn’t end with the Civil War, and it continues today.” I agree, but what’s the best way to solve the problems that exist? And again, what is the goal here? Is it money? Is it equal opportunity? Is it equal results? Is it respect? Is it power? Who decides what the goal is? Jesse Jackson? Al Sharpton? Obama? Bill Clinton?

In my opinion, there’s only one way to end racism, and that’s to put race behind us and embrace the dream of Martin Luther King, in that we judge people by the content of their character rather than by the color of their skin. But affirmative action does judge people by the color of their skin. Any time you fill out some paperwork and it asks you what race you are and you check a box, you’re being judged by the color of your skin. Maybe it benefits you, or maybe it doesn’t, but either way, the dream of MLK won’t be realized until we do away with the race card.

Some people say to end racism we need to talk about race, but I disagree. I think talking about race can breed racism. It calls attention to the differences between us, rather than the similarities. If we want to end racism, then we’ll largely ignore race. You’re black? Who cares? He’s white? Who cares? The fastest way to end this chapter in American history is to close the book and put it in the past, and then extend fully the promise of the US Constitution, that we should all be treated equally under the law, and other than that, you’re on your own.

Most black people in the US are successful by any rational definition of the word. The media and politicians wouldn’t like us to know that, but it’s true. The majority of blacks do not live in poverty, are not criminals, and are not stupid. Many blacks have achieved high levels of success in spite of the color of their skin (Obama, Rice, Powell, Thomas, etc.) where you wouldn’t expect them to if you believed everything you hear from the Jacksons and Sharptons of the world. What blacks, and other minorities, need is dignity, and that won’t come from reparations. That won’t come from apologies, affirmative action, or even from increased funding in public schools. It’s going to come when poor blacks realize the government is never going to fix their problems, that it’s up to them to fix their problems for themselves, and that they have the ability to fix their own problems and succeed on their own terms. Too many people have been chanting “Yes we can” not realizing they were really chanting “Yes you can” as in “Yes, you can help us.” No he can’t. Only you can help yourself. If you want your kids to have a different life than you’ve had, it’s up to you and your kids. The government will not help you, they will hurt you, because they will promise to help you and they will lull you into waiting for the help that never comes. You will waste your life and pass on destructive patterns of thought to the next generation.

The only reparations that will work will come from you, not from anyone or anything else. Reparations should not be about what can be taken from someone else, but what you can get for yourself. If justice wasn’t done on the 10,000+ battlefields of the Civil War and in the suffering of the 1,000,000+ who died and their families, then what would true justice look like? What punishment could be greater? Focusing on who got what and how is unproductive. It only hurts, and never helps. Instead, we should focus on what can be done here and now. But not in terms of fair results, rather in terms of fair opportunity, and for the most part, it’s already there in that a determined, hard-working, intelligent black man or woman can do just as well as any white man or woman with the same qualities. The main problem is that there is a subset of black people who don’t know this. They think they’re victims. They think they can’t make it on their own yet. They’re looking somewhere else for a helping hand that will never come. This mentality has been bred into them by well-intentioned-yet-ignorant people as well as scheming, evil people who created affirmative action programs, welfare, home loan programs targeted towards minorities, and any other social program of the government that has targeted a certain segment of society. More damage has been done by these programs than good, and it is the last barrier to freedom for the people who are victims of it. The greatest challenge blacks face in today’s society is not the racism of those who are openly hostile, but those who claim to be helping. It will not be resolved until blacks, individually and collectively, rise up and claim their dignity, refuse handouts from the government, stop talking of reparations, stop talking of inequities, and simply go out and make things happen for themselves.

This country is not as bad as some make it out to be. You might be poor today, but you can be rich tomorrow. Ok, maybe not tomorrow, but in a few years. It’s up to you and your strength of will, your willingness to work hard, and your desire to work smart. That’s much different than most countries throughout history and most countries today, where brains, hard work, and honesty often aren’t enough without the right connections and the willingness to debase yourself by becoming corrupt.

When it comes to this topic, there’s a lot of sense in the statement “The only true revenge is living well.” Those are reparations we can all live with.

Many decades ago, people wouldn’t pay a black man as much as a white man for the same work. So some racists had the bright idea to create minimum wage laws that would be high enough that nobody would be willing to pay black people that high a rate. Even if the intent is not overtly racist today, the minimum wage still does damage to blacks, latinos, and other racial minorities. It also exacerbates the sad circumstances of the poor. Imagine this scenario:

Joe is a black youth in an crime-ridden, inner-city ‘hood. He just turned 16. He’s poor. He lives with his mother and four younger siblings in a one-room, run-down apartment. He wants to help out with the family situation, but he doesn’t have any skills. He figures the only part-time job he can get is working at McDonalds. But McDonalds is forced to pay a minimum wage of $7.25. For that amount, McDonalds can afford to hire Maria, a 30-year old with five years of experience working in fast food. Why would McDonalds hire Joe if they can hire Maria for the same price? Joe, depressed and desperate, is approached by the local gang, that promises him money and riches if he becomes a low-level drug dealer. In theory, he’ll make a bunch of money. In practice, he’ll make about $7/hr. Joe doesn’t want to do it, but he figures perhaps even if he dies or gets mixed up in stuff that drags him down, at least he can help his mom and younger siblings.

If there were no minimum wage, maybe McDonalds would hire Joe at $3/hr. Joe could make $7/hr as a drug dealer, but then there is that risk of being killed. Joe would prefer to make $3/hr vs. making nothing or being killed, and he figures perhaps he can learn fast and start getting paid more, which is probably how things would work out. Perhaps Joe is a fast learner and within six months he’d be such a good employee that he’d be worth more than the current minimum wage. But because of the minimum wage he never gets the chance.

But what about Maria? If Joe gets the job, then she’s out of a job, right? Maybe, maybe not. If McDonalds can hire people for $3/hr, then that lowers their cost of operating a restaurant quite a bit. Maybe opening a McDonalds in Joe’s neighborhood was too great a risk before, but with the lower cost of unemployment, the rewards outweight the risks, so McDonalds start expanding, and consequently they need more employees, so both Maria and Joe end up with jobs.

Where do the unions come in? Union workers don’t get paid the minimum wage anyway, so why would the unions care? Because unions are all about keeping wages high for their members. If a union construction job pays $20/hr, but somebody else is willing to do the same work for $5/hr, then that’s a big problem for the union. The union could send out thugs to beat up anybody who works for $5/hr, or anybody who pays $5/hr, but it’s easier to get the government involved and have the government tell people it’s illegal for them to pay less than a certain minimum wage. This makes non-union employees less of a competitive threat to union employees. But consumers have to pay more as a result for their homes, cars, and all sorts of other things. In fact, it filters through the economy and makes everything more expensive. And guess who suffers the most as a result? The poor, since more expensive products hurt them more than they hurt the rich or middle-class.

If we want to decrease poverty and give minorities a hand, one of the best things we could do would be to abolish the minimum wage, and allow employers and employees to work out their own arrangements, free of government or union interference.

Great, so education is the solution, but how? I’ve already written a post about what I think is the fastest solution, which is for black teenage girls to withold sex from any black man who hasn’t graduated from high school, but I’ve got some other ideas too that might seem more realistic to you.

1. Give up the victim status. You’ll never succeed as a community, and rarely as individuals, as long as you see yourself as a powerless victim. As long as you hold out hope for reparations, you’re a victim, and you have no power. As long as you get welfare, food stamps, or accept affirmative action you’re a victim. See yourself as a survivor. See yourself as powerful enough to overcome the extra challenges you have. And then go to work and don’t let anyone stop you. Don’t expect favors. Don’t expect preferential treatment. Figure out the system and then work that system to your long-term advantage. If having a college degree means you’ve got twice as good a chance of getting out of poverty permanently, then work three jobs and live on 3-4 hours of sleep for four years until you get it. Whatever you do, don’t wait for the government to do anything for you. If anything is going to happen, you’re going to have to do it yourself without the government’s help. The good news is that you’re completely capable of doing it yourself, you just need to start believing in yourself.

2. Boycott the pop culture. 70-80% of rap and hip-hop music is purchased by teenage white boys, so I’m not pretending if black people stop buying it that the rap artists are going to change their ways. But who knows, it might get the attention of some of them and show them what they’re doing to their own people and they may come around. But the boycott isn’t to hurt them, it’s to help you and your children. Don’t allow your kids to watch hip-hop and rap music. Better yet, get rid of your TV entirely. It’s not doing you any good. Videos of thugs with their harems definitely isn’t doing you any good. You’re not going to get out of the ‘hood by becoming a rap artist or getting into the NBA. You’re going to get out of there and into the good life by getting a good education, and anybody who tells you otherwise or who makes fun of you or discourages you or holds you back is your enemy until you convince them to support you.

3. Don’t depend on schools for your education. A high-school degree is a good thing. A college degree is better. But a true education is best, and you can get that for free off the Internet at your local library, if you don’t have it at home. If the schools aren’t delivering, then educate yourself. The resources are there for kids, as well as parents.

4. Get politically smart. The black community has shot itself in the foot by voting as a large bloc with the Democrats. The Democrats take you for granted, and the Republicans don’t have a prayer of winning the black vote, so they both ignore you. Political parties focus on “swing” voters who may change their mind of who to vote for depending on issues. These are the voters for whom politicians are bringing home the bacon, or pork, to be more accurate. So what do you do? First of all, don’t vote for parties. Vote for issues, make education your #1 issue, and make sure the politicians know that you’re no longer a party voter, but an issues voter. And tell them you’re not happy with the status quo. Tell them you want a good education for you and your children, you want it now, and you’re tired of the same old story.

What is the same old story when it comes to education? That there isn’t enough money being spent. This is ridiculous. Money is not the problem and never has been. The problem is a lack of competition in the system. The current system is run by the education unions, and they want money and power. How do they get it? By protecting teachers from competition. They do this by insisting on tenure and certifications. Tenure makes it harder for schools to get rid of bad teachers. Certifications make it harder for people who would be good teachers to become teachers. For example, I’ve got a master degree in information systems management. I’ve run a business for ten years. I like working with teenagers. I think I could be a pretty darn good high school teacher. If a school wanted to get the best teachers, they would have a simple interview process. They would interview me, look at my qualifications, and say “Man, this guy would be great, let’s hire him.” But I can’t do that. I’d have to get certified. Does that certification make me a better teacher? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the process is such a pain that I would never go through it. Maybe other people who would be great teachers are also kept from becoming teachers for the same reason.

The way you get rid of unions and increase the quality of the schools your kids are attending is to vote for anyone and anything that increase competition. Vouchers are one. School choice is another. Teacher choice within schools is yet another. The easier it is for you to pick which school and which teacher your kids get, the more teachers will be forced to compete with each other, because if they don’t compete they won’t have anyone to teach and they’ll get fired. The more schools are forced to compete with each other the more they’ll recruit good teachers, otherwise they’ll go out of business. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to preserve their own power or income at the expense of your child.

Once you understand this fourth point, then you’ve got power over politicians, and that means you’ve got the power to change the course of your education and the education of your children.

5. Don’t let anyone or anything get in your way. If your leaders are talking about reparations, systemic racism, corrupt policemen, and whitey holding you back, then fire that leader and get a new one. That kind of leader is holding you back in order to make money off of you. Think about it–if you succeed, you don’t need them anymore. If you don’t need them, they’ll be out of a job. It’s not in their interest to see you succeed. So leave them behind and make your own way. You can do it, and it might not be as hard as you’ve been led to believe.

The greatest fear for a member of the KKK is an educated black man or woman. I don’t agree with Barack Obama’s policies, but I have to admit it gives me a certain amount of pleasure to think of the KKK and other white racists squirming to see a black man in the White House. Even if Obama wrecks everything else, it’s almost worth it. But he’s just one successful black man. As long as 20-30% of the black population of this country lives in poverty, then the KKK is winning. Education, gained by sheer will and self-determination, is the only way to win this war.

What are some of the claims the KKK has made historically and would still claim to make today?

1. Blacks are intellectually inferior

2. Blacks lack sexual self-control

3. Blacks are a threat to civil society

What objectives did the KKK have with regards to blacks?

1. Segregation

2. Domination

3. Extermination

Let’s look at each of the three KKK claims:

Blacks are intellectually inferior. While I do not believe there is any grounds for a case to be made that blacks are inherently intellectually inferior, blacks lag whites in terms of high school and college graduation rates. Progress has been made, to be sure, but there’s a long way to go. Most troubling is the current “thug” culture that stokes admiration for blacks who speak incorrect English and rely on “street smarts” to make a living rather than true intellectual talent. The black men and women who are portrayed in rap and hip-hop videos and music look like drug dealers, criminals who couldn’t pass a basic math test to save their lives. Even if this doesn’t represent the majority of black Americans, it dominates as a stereotype that falls right in with the KKK’s claims about black intellectual capacity.

Blacks lack sexual self-control. This was part of the KKK’s claim that blacks were animals, sub-human, and dogs, to be treated like such. Again, it is a false claim, but one which is substantiated in almost every hip-hop music video one can see on BET. Every portrayal of the black thug chief with his harem of scantily clad women lends credence to the KKK’s claim.

Blacks are a threat to civil society. If all you knew was what you saw on TV in fictional shows and rap videos then you would have to admit the KKK’s claim that blacks aren’t capable of living in civil society is accurate. Blacks are not only commonly portrayed as being criminals, but black rap stars take pride in adopting the appearance of criminals to the point of bragging about being criminals and their criminal acts. Once again, these rap and hip-hop stars are doing the KKK’s work for them.

Now, what were the objectives of the KKK and how is black pop culture falling into their trap?

Segregation. Despite Brown vs. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act we still have black schools and black neighborhoods. While many blacks have made it to the suburbs, they are often looked down upon by the blacks in the ‘hood who accuse those who have prospered of betraying “true blackness” and becoming a pawn of the white man. Who’s the pawn? Who is living where the KKK would want them to live, in poverty, in decrepid homes? If blacks want to stick it to the KKK they should be fighting tooth and nail to get out of the ghetto and into the suburbs and getting their kids into predominantly white schools and they should be supporting each other in this effort rather than holding each other back. If de-segregation is ever going to take place it’s not going to be bussing that does it. It’s going to be black integrating themselves into so-called “white” society. That doesn’t mean abandoning your roots or culture unless you consider poverty and crime your roots and culture. It means graduating high-school, going to college, getting a good job, and living in a good neighborhood. If the KKK has succeeded in convincing black people that they don’t even want this for their families and friends then they’ve succeeded in keeping the black man down in the ultimate way.

Domination. Segregation is the last-ditch effort by the KKK. They would prefer to dominate or enslave the black man. If they can’t do it legally the way they could before the Civil War then what’s the next best thing? Welfare. Government assistance. Food stamps. Promises of reparations. Affirmative action. Guess what folks, it’s all a trick. Maybe these programs really did start with noble intent. Maybe somebody just wanted to help. But the KKK couldn’t have crafted a better way to keep the black man down than to make him dependent on the government for his food, shelter, and raiment. Whoever pays you controls you, and when the government pays you then you become the ultimate slave. At least if you work for McDonalds you can quit your job and go work for Burger King. But if the government is the one paying you and you don’t like the situation, who do you go to? All these programs you’ve been told are created by the government to help blacks in reality hold blacks down and make them slaves all over again.

By holding you down, politicians can take advantage of you by telling you they’re going to help you. They tell you they’re fighting for your rights. They tell you they’re fighting to get you more money, better housing, better schools, and the like. They tell you it’s the white people, or the conservatives, or the Republicans, who are taking advantage of you and holding you back and not giving you what you need to succeed. But it’s all a trick to get votes and money. By holding you down and keeping your children from getting an education these politicians have an easy way to get votes to keep them in power, and your “black leaders” have a way to keep making money.

Think about this–how much control do you think blacks really have in the Democrat party? You might think blacks have a lot of control because they vote overwhelmingly Democrat, but the truth is exactly the opposite. Democrats know they don’t have to do anything to get your vote, so they pay you lip service but their real fight is with the people who are on the edge, because those are the votes that determine who wins and who loses. If black people want to see things happen for them, they shouldn’t vote in a bloc for one party or the other. The smartest thing to do would be to switch back from one party to another and make the parties fight for your vote. Or better yet–actually vote for the people who make a difference, rather than those who merely say they will. They’ve been saying it for decades and what has changed for you since the 60s?

Extermination. Of course members of the KKK would like nothing better than to exterminate blacks entirely. But lynching doesn’t go over too well any more, and it’s not an efficient means of killing millions of people. But what if the KKK could convince black people to kill themselves? I don’t know whether crack cocaine was invented to kill off blacks, as some conspiracy theorists say, but if that’s why you think it was invented, then show the white man who’s boss and stop doing crack and help your neighbors to stop doing it too. Keep them from selling it any way you can. Prevent violence in your neighborhood any way you can. I don’t know how you do that, but I bet you can figure it out.

But drugs and violence are the tip of the iceberg. These days most blacks are killed off before they’re even born. Guess who gets most of the abortions today? Let’s just suppose it’s all a big KKK conspiracy. What could be better, from the KKK’s perspective, than convincing black mothers to get comfortable with the idea of killing their own babies? It’s so diabolically clever I’m sure the KKK didn’t come up with it, because I don’t think they’re that smart or ever have been. But there were some other smart people involved. Do you know who Margaret Sanger was? She was a liberal, except that in the 1920′s they called themselves “progressives”. Gee, liberal sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? Progressive sounds good, doesn’t it? Don’t we want progress, after all? She was also an advocate of eugenics, that is, controlling the population so as to preserve the best qualities of “the race” and weed out the bad qualities. Margaret didn’t see blacks as having good qualities. In fact, she was a devout racist. She was also the founder of Planned Parenthood, which today kills millions of unborn black babies. Planned Parenthood clinics are predominantly located in or near minority populations. You could call it a woman’s right to choose, but you might also call it the KKK’s dream come true.

Next, I’ll tell you how blacks can defeat the KKK, once and for all.

The solution doesn’t start with government programs, reparations, or ending racism. In fact, the solution doesn’t involve any of those. Racism that isn’t dangerous should largely be ignored, while the dangerous sort should simply be avoided as much as possible. But the real solution starts with black teenage girls. Little do they know it, but they hold the key to ending this whole mess. Here’s how simple it is, ladies.

Step 1 – Don’t allow a guy to have sex with you unless:

a. He has married you (intent to marry does not count).

b. He has graduated from high-school, and preferably college.

c. He has no children from previous relationships, or if he does, he is involved in the lives of those children and takes care of them.

d. He has “stable” employment that brings in enough money to support you and a few children. If you live in a poor neighborhood this would be at least $10/hr. If you want to leave that neighborhood it’s going to be $15-20/hr. It is not difficult to earn this kind of wage, but it won’t be handed to your man either. He may have to work up to it. He may have to move to a different city. But the jobs can be found, even in a bad economy. All he has to do is be willing to get the job done, whatever it is.

Step 2 – Stay married.

Step 3 – Teach your children these steps. Teach your girls to withhold sex from guys until they’re willing to be committed to raising a family, and teach your boys how to be a real man who takes care of a family.

The truth is that guys will do whatever they have to do in order to get sex, and it’s women who determine what the rules are. If women, as a group, would all of a sudden band together and say “You have to earn a PhD and have a six figure income before I’ll have sex with you” then we’d see the number of PhDs and six-figure salaries in this country skyrocket over the next 10 years. But if women require nothing more than for a guy to look good and act tough then that’s what guys will do, and no more.

Unfortunately our society lies to young women when it comes to telling them how to be happy. Our society tells women to act like men, and not just like any man, but like the worst of men. Somehow it has been drilled into the heads of young women that if they want to be happy then they should focus on living a fast life with no consequences thanks to free condoms and abortions. But it doesn’t work. Studies show that traditional families with a dad, mom, and kids lead to both financial prosperity as well as increased happiness.

Yes, there are others who can make a difference. Mentors, parents, and anyone else who cares can make a difference. My solution is just what I believe would be the fastest way from point A to point B and if the black leaders would focus more on helping teen girls to have self-respect and withhold sex, it would do more to better the situation than if we gave every black person a million dollars in reparations or even if we completely eradicated racism.

Using Bill Cosby’s speech to the NAACP on the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, Williams uses facts from news and research along with common sense to look at the problems facing black s in poor communities and while not excusing the government or racists, he points out that these are only part of the problem, and not the largest parts.

If you’re concerned about violence in our society, poverty, the welfare state, the breakdown of the traditional family, and any other number of issues afflicting this nation and poor black communities in particular, you’ve got to read this book. If you’re interested in a career in politics or government, you’ve got to read this book. Personally, I think everyone should read this book whether you’re black, white, rich, poor, religious, atheist, conservative, liberal, Republican,  Democrat, Independent, or anything else. It’s a healthy dose of common-sense real solutions for real problems, and I can’t praise it enough.

I don’t know if the cartoon was racist or not, but I would find it hard to believe the artist and paper didn’t have an inkling of how it would be interpreted, although they may have underestimated the negative response. That said, I have to admit that I could also see it being completely innocent.

I grew up in the Los Angeles area in a middle-class, predominantly white and Asian suburb. There were a few black kids at my school, but they didn’t self-segregate and as far as I know they never experienced any racism. Nobody cared. It was a non-issue. You could say that Martin Luther King’s dream had come true in my city. Of course I had heard the N-word growing up, but I had never heard the term “tar baby,” I didn’t know what “cotton-pickin’” referred to, and I had no idea that black people were sometimes insultingly referred to as monkeys, chimps, or gorillas. I don’t think I knew about the slur until I was over 30.

It’s easily possible that I could have become aware of a situation in which a black person did something and I could have referred to their behavior as being like that of a monkey. I would have had no idea I was perpetuating a racial slur, because I was largely ignorant of the glossary of racial slurs and stereotypes. To someone who has grown up hearing such slurs, this might seem unbelievable, but it’s true in my case, and it may be true in more cases than you think.

What if the cartoonist for the New York Post and the editors who ok’d its printing had no idea about the monkey/black man slur? Every part of that cartoon can be connected to something other than Obama. The cartoon obviously wouldn’t have run if it weren’t for the unfortunate attack the day before of the chimpanzee that left a person in critical condition and required that the chimp be shot by police. Anyone who pays attention to politics knows Obama didn’t write the stimulus package–it was outsourced to Pelosi and Reid. Could it be that the cartoon was saying nothing more than that the stimulus package was no better than if it has been written by a monkey, and that’s the end of it? Could it be that those who are leading the protest are motivated more by money than by an altruistic intent to combat racism? After all, Al Sharpton has instigated race-centered-protests-on-demand in exchange for cash before.

Even if the intent is sincere, is outrage of this sort the best way to combat racism? It seems to be quite different from the peaceful marches MLK organized and participated in, and a cartoon seems like the type of thing one would just brush off and ignore. If the intent truly was racist then the protestors have done exactly what racists would want them to do. An in-your-face racist wants attention, and so the ultimate weapon is to ignore them.

If it is truly the case that the cartoonist and editors didn’t have any racist intent, then it’s ironic that they are now being lambasted for being insensitive. As James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “Racial ‘sensitivity’ requires not eradicating racial stereotypes but keeping them alive–and not only keeping them alive but remaining acutely conscious of them at all times. Delonas [the cartoonist] and his editors are under attack for seeing ‘chimp’ and failing to think ‘black guy.’” Is that really what so-called leaders of the Black community want? Do they want everyone to know every insult that can possibly be made towards black people, or would they prefer that everyone forget those insults so that they’re not used and not passed down to future generations?

How truly ironic it is that all this happens just as Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder says that we are “essentially a nation of cowards” when it comes to talking about race. Is it any wonder, when people have to watch every word they say for fear of accidentally saying something that might be interpreted as a racial slur and then being sued or losing their job over it?

Blacks are born with dark skin. They’re not Black because they decided it’s cool to be Black, or because they feel drawn to being Black. They’re Black because their skin is dark. They were discriminated against not because of the content of their minds or the quality of their character, but because of the color of their skin. Born with that skin, they are not capable of changing it (with the exception of Michael Jackson). In fighting for equal rights, they were fighting to receive the rights already expressly guaranteed to all citizens in the Constitution.

People are not born gay anymore than people are born fat. People get fat because they choose to eat more calories than they burn, and people are gay because they choose that lifestyle. Some people, like me, are disposed to eat Ben & Jerry’s all day while others eat reasonable portions of healthful foods. In my case, it takes an overwhelming amount of self-control to eat right and exercise, while I have friends for whom it takes virtually no effort to stay in shape. Some people appear to be drawn to others of the same sex while others don’t feel any such temptation. Perhaps these feelings can be motivated by genetics. But nobody forces me to eat ice cream, and nobody is forced to be gay.

If those who wish to redefine what the word “marriage” means want to attract Blacks and Latinos, they shouldn’t compare their movement to the Civil Rights movement. They may be shooting themselves in the foot by making a comparison that is logically challenging, and which can come across as offensive.

Or maybe he just thinks that Clarence Thomas is dumb. Obama said “I would not have nominated Clarence Thomas…I don’t think that he…I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the constitution. I would not have nominated Justice Scalia though I don’t think there is any doubt about his intellectual brilliance. Because he and I just disagree.”

He also said that John Roberts “…is clearly smart and very thoughtful.”

So Scalia is intellectually brilliant, Roberts is clearly smart and very thoughtful, but Thomas is…stupid?

Let’s not even go into the irony of Obama taking issue with someone’s resume. Does Obama’s even fill one page?

But what if the article is about illegal immigration, the person being quoted is against illegal immigration, and the person being quoted has a middle name that sounds Caucasian, and a last name that sounds Latino? Would you as a journalist then use their middle name to reduce what you feel might be unfair bias against the person being quoted due to their Latino last name? But in doing so aren’t you introducing your own bias into the article, namely that you think some people reading the article might have biases against Latino names? And aren’t you trying to manipulate how people feel about the person being quoted, rather than simply using standard writing procedures and letting the chips fall where they may?

In the article Work begins on $57 million border fence in San Diego this is what appears to have happened, although again, I’m not journalist, and I’m not passing final judgment or assuming this is an example of journalistic bias so much as I’m asking the question whether it is or not.

The 12th paragraph in the article reads “‘It’s crazy,’ said Victor Clark Alfaro, director of the Binational Center for Human Rights in Tijuana. ‘I don’t see the justification to spend $60 million on an area that’s no longer an important crossing.’”

And then in paragraph 13 it picks up “Clark predicted the new fence will reduce crossings to ‘almost zero’ but inflict serious environmental damage.” (italics and bold added)

So why did the writer use “Clark” rather than “Alfaro”? Journalistic bias and manipulation, perfectly normal and acceptable writing style, a simple mistake, or an evil conspiracy by the Mexican government to kill all Americans, eat them, and rule the world? Ok, probably not the last one.