Ed Kaitz, American Thinker, February 25, 2009
Some years ago at a major university out west I was hired to teach minority students courses in expository writing. Most of my students were African-American. They were part of a “bridge program” at the university that allowed “provisional” students (those whose entrance scores were sub par) to demonstrate within a year that they could handle the academic regimen at the school.
{snip}
{snip} In fact, of the hundreds of essays and drafts that I read I cannot remember one essay that managed to stray from the central theme: minority = oppressed, white = oppressor.
There was one class period that I will never forget. During a break in my lecture I asked several of the students what they intended to choose as a major. Some of the students said “sociology” while others said “ethnic studies” or “communications.” When I asked if anyone wanted to choose “engineering” as a major a student in the back of the room loudly declared that engineering was a “white” profession. When my jaw nearly hit the floor most of the students burst out in laughter. {snip}
For the next twenty minutes I stood at the chalkboard writing down the names of common professions. Next to the profession I let the students direct me to writing either “white” or “black” based on their perception of “correct” life choices for people of color. There was raucous laughter and the students were at the edge of their seats proclaiming their judgments in near unison. Mathematician? White. Architect? White. Athlete? Black. Musician? Black. Engineer? White. Chemist? White. Physicist? White. Journalist? (this one caused some confusion) Teacher? Black. Economist? White. Business? White.
After we had covered the board with our list, I asked the students to consider the possibility of crossing over to one of the “white” professions. The response was unanimous: such a compromise would render the student an “Oreo.” The students believed that a black engineer, for example, was black on the outside but unfortunately white on the inside.
During the several years I taught in the minority writing program, foreign students would often be allowed to join the writing course in order to improve their English and composition skills. Of these the Nigerian students were by far my favorites. Their respect for scholarship, learning, and academic achievement was unmatched. Their essays ranged in interest from international affairs to advertising—and the quality of their work was excellent.
What fascinated me was how the classroom dynamic changed with the addition of the students from Nigeria. The African-American students looked at the coal black Nigerians like they had landed from Mars. For their part, the Nigerians rarely showed any interest in the culture of the black students on campus.
After leaving the minority writing program and later graduate school with a doctorate in philosophy, I spent years at several other universities teaching courses that were attended by Hindus, Arabs, Persians, Chinese, Japanese and yes, more of the excellent Nigerians. Their majors ranged from economics to foreign languages. In fact, I cannot remember a sociology or ethnic studies major among any of them. The difference? The word “Oreo,” for these non African American minorities, really meant a cookie. Race never threatened the freedom they enjoyed to be individuals.
The philosopher Eric Hoffer once wrote that “the plight of the Negro in America is that he is a Negro first and only secondly an individual.” When Attorney General Eric Holder recently called us a “nation of cowards” he was looking through a prism unknown to his Nigerian brothers. {snip} Simply put, by saturating their worldview with color, men like Holder and Obama end up closing doors rather than opening them.
Eric Hoffer understood however that there was an advantage to the kind of race hysteria fanned by the grievance industry. {snip} As for the race hustling elites however Hoffer had this to say:
“Grievance and extravagant hope are meat and drink to their souls, and there is a hero’s garment to fit any size, and an imperishable alibi to justify individual failure.”
Citizens of all colors are about to witness on a national scale what has been quietly fermenting for decades within the Ivory Tower: a crystallization of ethnic identity so rigid that dialogue becomes virtually impossible. {snip}
Instead of a dialogue on race Mr. Holder, why don’t we discuss some of these topics: personal finance, starting a business, sports, history, philosophy, art, fishing, raising children, God, or one of my favorite topics, music.
{snip}
[Editor’s Note: Other AR stories and comments on Eric Holder’s “National Cowards” speech are listed here.
Original article
(Posted on February 26, 2009)
Comments
Maybe the reason these students only had a narrow range of desirable majors is that these are the only ones they’re qualified for. Since they were “provisional” students, they wouldn’t have been admitted to begin with if the schools didn’t do affirmative action. The “white” professions have standards. “Sociology” and “ethnic studies” means racial griping, and “communications” means talking.
Simply put, by saturating their worldview with color, men like Holder and Obama end up closing doors rather than opening them.
Honestly, if I were black and I had people both black and white, high and low, tell me constantly that every stupid decision I made or failure I suffered was because of white people and some amorphous boogey called “racism,” I’d spend my days madder than a hornet and more downcast than a puddle, too.
If there’s anything to this “white skin privilege” cant, it’s the fact that white people don’t try to make their skin color responsible for whether they succeed or fail in life.
I know you have to condense these articles to a reasonable size, but I think the writer’s last two paragraphs were interesting:
In fact, one of America’s greatest and most precious dialogues between black and white took place in a sound studio in New York City back in 1959. That was when the immortal jazz great Miles Davis defied some serious criticism coming from the black community and chose the white Bill Evans to accompany the famed group on piano. Why, the black community wondered, when there were so many great black jazz pianists, did Davis pick Evans? The answer is quite simple: Bill Evans was the best (sorry Art Tatum fans). The result? The best selling and most beautiful jazz album of all time: Kind of Blue. But, he was his own man. If he chose to employ a white musician like Bill Evans or Chick Correa, he did so even when he took heat for it. He wasn’t a “coward”.was the best man for that particular job. And I don’t think we can just “forget about skin color”, as Mr. Kaitz suggests. But neither do I think that color, or race, is the only factor which determines what goes on in the society. It’s just one of the many variables which enter into any discussion and it needs to be discussed openly, frankly and with good humor, which I don’t think is quite what Attorney General Holder had in mind.
An athlete, although training is critical, is largely born. By ‘musician’, I’m guessing these black kids are thinking rapper and not violist. As for teacher, well from the article, the teachers think exactly like they do. It takes no intellectual effort to know what you already know from people who think as you do.
All the ‘white’ professions identified by blacks require mental hard work. These black kids either don’t want to make the effort or they know they can’t make the grade.
I knew a Nigerian student who told me that before coming to the USA to study, he was worried about all the “racism” that he would be exposed to from Whites. He assumed that he would integrate only into the African-American community. Instead, he told me that he quickly realized that Aferican-Americans were dumb, lazy, aggressive and racist. Instead, he found Whites to his liking. He moved out of a Black area of town to a White area, and for the most part only associated with Whites and other students from Africa. He would have nothing to do with African-Americans.
Sociology and ethnic studies are much easier to slide by.
Engineering has right and wrong answers.
Mathematics requires thinking and if you fail there is no black perspective vs white perspective mumbo-jumbo to fall back on.
Ethnic studies, however, is replete with ambiguous terms like “black tradition”, “black perspective”, “dominant culture”, and “white privilege.” It is a springboard for the grievance industry.
In large part, ethnic studies was invented to allow many black radicals, and later other racial groups, to be paid while being activists on campus. Eric Dyson, Henry Louis Gates, and Cornel West come to mind. They are all highly paid professors, but if you listen to them speak it becomes clear they are just black activists. Many of these black professors often end up working for the government in some sort of civil rights capacity such as the EEOC.
I believe Tuskegee Institue is strong in engineering, so it should not necessarily be considered a “white” job.
[The Nigerian] “told me that he quickly realized that Aferican-Americans were dumb, lazy, aggressive and racist. Instead, he found Whites to his liking. He moved out of a Black area of town to a White area, and for the most part only associated with Whites and other students from Africa. He would have nothing to do with African-Americans.”
Then, essentially, you are saying that race has nothing to do with it. Is that not right? So what the problem was, then, was a cultural one, rather than racial. Please explain.
“Simply put, by saturating their worldview with color, men like Holder and Obama end up closing doors rather than opening them.”
In fact, that quote could even serve as the “resolution” to be debated, as in, “Be it resolved that: By saturating their worldview with color, men like Holder and Obama end up closing doors rather than opening them.”
[The Nigerian] “told me that he quickly realized that Aferican-Americans were dumb, lazy, aggressive and racist. Instead, he found Whites to his liking.
Then, essentially, you are saying that race has nothing to do with it. Is that not right? So what the problem was, then, was a cultural one, rather than racial. Please explain.
Posted by Anonymous at 7:14 AM on February 27
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I used to know a Nigerian when I was very young and he was ok; his father was a government minister. But that was one guy. Just take a look at Nigeria as a whole. The number one nation for con men in the world. Violence and corruption endemic. Unstable government. I think only the best Nigerians, the very top level, go to the US to study. The very smartest Blacks can function at a White level, if there is only a few of them at a school or in a neighborhood.
The problem is 2nd generation Nigerians will have to become like blacks in this country so they won’t be ostracized.
Why did the Nigerian want to leave black Africa in the first place if he was so worried about “racist” whites in the U.S.?
[The Nigerian] “told me that he quickly realized that Aferican-Americans were dumb, lazy, aggressive and racist. Instead, he found Whites to his liking. He moved out of a Black area of town to a White area, and for the most part only associated with Whites and other students from Africa. He would have nothing to do with African-Americans.”
Then, essentially, you are saying that race has nothing to do with it. Is that not right? So what the problem was, then, was a cultural one, rather than racial. Please explain.
Posted by Anonymous at 7:14 AM on February 27
I would answer this by stating that knowing average racial IQs there will be some Africans on the right hand of the Bell Curve who can cut the mustard. A random Nigerian may not have the ability (although there is definitely a cultural component, I would expect that since they did not experience all the dysfunctional liberal/radical bunk that most American Africans have swallowed hook, line, and sinker they would be a more pleasant person) and by no means would we want to import all of Nigeria.
Re Nigerians:I.Q. and the Wealth of Nations average intelligence is well below that of the U.S. and most European and Asian countries.any country who travel abroad to attend college are brighter and/or wealthier than their fellow countrymen. And American universities are still reputed to be better than third-world institutions, so a degree from a U.S. college is a status symbol.
Anonymous: I knew a Nigerian too. He was a realy nice guy,even though he got into a fight with someone (I dont know his race) and killed him. I dont know if he was acquitted or convicted.Black continental Africans do not have any of the hatred and racism that black Americans have.
bebopper wrote:
Yes, there are unquestionably many brilliant people among its 150 million or so inhabitants. But there aren’t enough of them to raise Nigeria to a level of prosperity resembling what we enjoy in the U.S. and Western Europe.
Even if there were enough of them, I still don’t think it would make much difference for the average Nigerian, nor be very beneficial for said intelligentsia.
This is perhaps a subject for a Ph.D. dissertation/multiple part multiple month article in the printed AR, and I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but I have come to the conclusion that the higher the average IQ is of the underlying society, the better the intelligentsia can do in terms of innovation. In other words, if you transpose to Nigeria the 500,000 smartest Americans that are the ones pushing forward the frontier of knowledge (and imagine they were never in America), the intelligentsia still has the same average IQ among themselves, but their underlying society is dumber, so the intelligentsia won’t be as productive. And it works the other way, and that can be shown in reality, not in hypothetical situations: Nigerians with exceptionally high IQs, which puts them into the genius range even by the white standard, fare better personally and in what they accomplish if they are in a white society than their native Nigeria.
What the teacher didn’t appreciate about his beloved Nigerians was that they had been very carefully cherry-picked for him. He was dealing with the children of the elites of Nigeria. The average ordinary African is no better (and less better off) then the average black here in America.
“…and by no means would we want to import all of Nigeria.”
“Black continental Africans do not have any of the hatred and racism that black Americans have.”
Apologies, Peejay, but I’m going to have to disagree with you there. I knew quite a few black Africans in college. Some were really nice guys. Others, however, blamed whites for everything wrong with that continent and were furious that the US and UK governments didn’t swoop in to fix it all. I don’t know that you can make a blanket statment that everyone is any group is racalist any more than you can say anyone in any group is racialist.
A good comment by Question Diversity, but enough of Nigeria, already!
“Why, I would ask, should we want to import ANY of Nigeria?
I get the impression, from reading some of these comments, that there are some posters right here who would be quite pleased to import unlimited swarms of Nigerians just so long as they are carefully screened and their IQ’s are high.
Some people just never get it.
When we can say the following in public without fear, we will REALLY be having a conversation about race:
For reasons stemming from natural history, and not politics or economics, blacks are rarely smart enough to rise to the highest levels in a modern economy. Absent quotas, they would be, naturally enough, virtually absent (but for a handful of mainly mixed race individuals) from the upper echelons of society, and virtually non-existent in competitive felds like medicine and physics.
Since these words – self-evidently true ones – are banned, we must find ANOTHER EXPLANATION for the absence of blacks in the profs.
Racism!!
In order to grasp the logic involved, imagine a society where the law forbids zebras from becoming physicists. No zebra physicists!!! is the watchword.
Then the law changes, zebras are allowed to become physicists.
But none do.
Why not??
Won’t changing the law cause a flood of zebras physicists to emerge??
No, it won’t.
Whyever not??
Shouldn’t we go in search of hidden, covert forms of discrimation which prevent zebras from becoming physicists? If we devote billions to rooting out the last vestiges of disicrimantion and prejudice, then zebras physicists should follow as night from day. Isn’t the logic impeccable?
No, it is not.
Because zebras are not smart enough to become physicists.
It makes no difference at all what the law says, there will be no zebras physicists.
Discrimination against blacks to keep them out of the professions would be utterly superfluous, since they are rarely able to perform intellectually at the required levels.
Discrimination & prejudice & racism did & do exist, & they were & are reprehensible. They were not, however, the reason for blacks being essentially absent (but for a few talented and mostly mixed race individuals like Obama) from the higher professions.
Blacks have, as a group, little aptitude for or interest in the sciences, medicine, law, or in general for complex tasks requiring higher cognitive abilities.
When they do, no expense is spared to encourage & educate & sponsor them – reasonably intelligent blacks in the US enjoy a virtually iron clad guarantee of lifelong employment!!!!
This is probably a defensible policy - let’s maximize black talent, since it is rare, and provide blacks with role models that will inspire them to aim high (even if the role models are all cafe au lait).
Whites are not to blame for black failure, and until that fact is established, blacks will continue their steady decline, addled by resentment & a sense of entitlement which prevent them from taking responsibility for their lives & finding occupations suited to their abilities.
We should spare NO EXPENSE to foster black talent (but no quotas!!!!), and in exchange we should be absolved of all responsibility for black failure.
How’s that for a conversation on race??
“Black continental Africans do not have any of the hatred and racism that black Americans have.”
Not necessarily true. In South Africa they don’t allow the whites to own guns, so that means the blacks can go in and rape them and kill them and rob them. I was told that recently
“Why, I would ask, should we want to import ANY of Nigeria?
I get the impression, from reading some of these comments, that there are some posters right here who would be quite pleased to import unlimited swarms of Nigerians just so long as they are carefully screened and their IQ’s are high.
Some people just never get it.
Posted by Anonymous at 2:51 PM on February 28 .
Uhh if your implying (either of you) that that is what I’m advocating you would be wrong. I was answering an earlier posting. Some posters here must want to be such righteous whiter than thou know it alls.
Anonymous 2:51 PM 2/28:
Saying that my theory has something to do with me wanting to allow all Nigerians in the U.S. even if they had high IQs is apples and oranges. My position is that even if our average IQ was lower than Nigeria’s, I wouldn’t want Nigeria here as a matter of migration. Our people are our people.
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-amas-apology/82468/
I guess the AMA’s apology to African American medical Doctors was based on make believe DISCRIMINATION?
Ethnic studies, however, is replete with ambiguous terms like “black tradition”, “black perspective”, “dominant culture”, and “white privilege.” It is a springboard for the grievance industry.
A sad fact is, that the grievance industry pays very well in money, benefits and political clout!
I believe Tuskegee Institue is strong in engineering, so it should not necessarily be considered a “white” job.
I’ve also read much about the ‘Tuskegee Airmen’ and watched the interviews of those pilots and groundcrew on the History channel etc. and those men are a totally different caliber of men (a much higher caliber) than the black rapper sort we find ourselves dealing with now.
Then, essentially, you are saying that race has nothing to do with it. Is that not right? So what the problem was, then, was a cultural one, rather than racial. Please explain.
I’ve met and worked with Nigerians and they are no better than our usual lowlifes in the U.S. just the usual exceptions that we all know exist. They were inclined to be lazy, liars, shiftless shirkers in my year with them.
Whites tend to take the accomplishments of our race for granted, while blacks tend to feel self-loathing due to the lack of accomplishments of their race and they would rather blame whites for this lack of accomplishments than place the blame where it belongs…
“The discussion proposed by AG Holder must include not only the white-vs.-black aspects of race, but also the question of American policy on immigration and immigrants, both legal and illegal.”
Black people use technology, and whites do the “white” heavy mental lifting. In many African countries, when sewer systems break down, when an electrical generator freezes up … and when whites aren’t around to fix them, they sit unused until cannibalized of their copper wire [for example]—and whites are blamed for colonialism … while indigenous residents rant and wave cellphones and iPods in anger.
