Posted on October 1, 1994

O Tempora, O Mores! (October, 1994)

American Renaissance, October 1994

Possessed by Lunacy

Back in 1980, Alphonse Pecou of Brooklyn (race unspecified) hacked his wife to death with a machete and then set her on fire in front of his four children. Later, he walked into a police station in Crown Heights, clutching a Bible, claiming to be Jesus Christ, and admitted that he had killed his wife. He was tried, but found to be insane rather than guilty. Since 1982, he has been a guest of the people of the state of New York, in Kingsboro Psychiatric Center.

Last May, Mr. Pecou was put into the care of none other than the Most Reverend Prophet Alpha Omega Bundu, leader of the United Church of Salvation, for “culturally sensitive” spiritual counseling. The Most Reverend Prophet, who hails originally from Sierra Leone in West Africa, determined that Mr. Pecou was possessed by demons — seven, to be exact. He offered to drive out the demons for a fee of $12,900, or $2,150 per demon with one tossed out for free.

In June, a black woman named Patricia Lambert who runs the Kingsboro center, authorized the treatment, and Prophet Bundu went to work with the help of several parishioners. They sat around the heavily-medicated Mr. Pecou, reciting psalms, while Mr. Pecou managed to respond with an occasional “Amen.” Prophet Bundu then immersed the patient in holy water and anointed him with olive oil. He now claims that Mr. Pecou is much improved and “wants to be like you and me.”

When the Prophet submitted his bill for $12,900 someone in the state Department of Mental Health found it a trifle irregular. Prophet Bundu got $500 for the “spiritual counseling” but the state refuses to pay for the exorcism, claiming it didn’t work. Miss Lambert has been put on leave, while the state investigates.

As for the now-famous Mr. Pecou, latest reports confirm that he is having a mad affair with one of the kitchen workers at the mental hospital. A spokesman for the hospital conceded that fornication is officially forbidden and that “the facility strongly believes it [the affair] must be stopped.” [All stories by Al Guart in the New York Post: Will the exorcist re-possess? (8/17/94), Exorcised maniac’s madly in love with hosp worker (8/18/94), ‘Exorcist’ Exec put on leave for probe (8/31/93)]

White Man’s Burden

Djibouti is an African “nation” about the size of Vermont, located on the Red Sea coast. It was colonized by France in 1862 as a fueling stop for ships bound for Saigon and Madagascar. When Djibouti was granted independence in 1977, only three of its 320,000 citizens were college graduates, and its only manufactured product was Coca-Cola.

Very little has changed since independence. Were it not for the presence of about 6,000 French civilians and 4,000 soldiers, Djibouti would cease to exist as a country. Its only exports are goats and sheep, which are marched off on the hoof to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. French aid and business account for 60 percent of Djibouti’s gross national product. [David Lamb, In Djibouti, independence has brought little change, LA Times, 6/29/94, p. A8.]

In some other parts of Africa, where the European presence is less pervasive, societies have completely collapsed and people are kept alive on international charity. The United Nations estimates that one in every 30 Africans is a refugee, either in his own or in a neighboring country.

In places like Sudan, Angola, Zaire, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Somalia, there is essentially no government, and there is little distinction between crime and warfare. Young men with guns but with no apparent leaders or loyalty spread terror entirely as they please. This is why many of the approximately 22 million Africans who have fled their homes are afraid to go back even after “peace accords” end the official fighting. [John Darnton, Crisis-torn Africa becomes Continent of refugees, NYT, 5/23/94.]

Another obstacle to normal life is the huge number of mines that warring factions have scattered across each others’ territories. Mine sweeping, even with modern equipment is difficult and expensive. Often, farmers and children discover old mines with their bare feet.

White Man’s Burden II

In the 19th century, when Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands, he was amazed to find dozens of species of reptiles, birds, and plants found nowhere else in the world. Recently, the islands have become an exotic destination for American and European nature lovers, and the last 20 years have seen a nine-fold increase in tourists.

Tourist money is a big attraction to Ecuadorians, who have streamed over from the mainland, swelling the permanent population from 6,200 in 1982 to more than double that number today. White visitors treat the local fauna with something close to idolatry, but many Ecuadorians are jealous of the attention nature gets. A German who lives on the islands says that the prevalent attitude is, “They are giving more importance to the stupid blue-footed booby than to you and me.” Ecuadorians do not even seem to realize that it is blue-footed boobies who bring the tourists, who bring the money.

Locals have taken to slaughtering and eating the famous and highly endangered Galapagos tortoises. Thirty-nine carcasses had been found by May of this year. In the past, people used to kill perhaps one or two a year. Ecuadorians also showed little interest in helping control a recent fire that destroyed thousands of acres of vanishing habitat for endangered species.

This spring, a tortoise was found with a mangled rear paw, but the local authorities would not let naturalists use the local clinic for surgery. They were afraid there would be a riot if word got out that the clinic had been used to help a mere beast. The tortoise was airlifted to Miami, where American doctors fixed it up. [Tim Johnson, Darwin’s lab has evolved into a tourist hot spot, Miami Herald, 5/15/94, p. 1A.]

We are just guessing, but chances are high that all the people involved in the tortoise rescue were white — and refuse to recognize that in Miami they are the endangered species.

Not Donald Duck

Next spring, we can expect a new movie called “Jefferson in Paris.” It accepts as proven fact, an old and unsubstantiated rumor that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with a black slave named Sally Hemings. The movie is full of torrid love scenes and concludes with a parade of mulatto children. This is a Walt Disney movie, made with help from Merchant Ivory Productions. [Jefferson Slave flick irks scholars, 8/27/94, p. 6.]

Healthy Instincts

It has now been 30 years since pollsters started asking Americans if they trusted Washington to do what is right all or most of the time. Government got the best review the first year, 1964, with 75 percent of respondents saying “yes.” That number declined steadily to about 25 percent in 1980 but rebounded to about 40 percent from 1982 to 1988 (during Ronald Reagan’s two terms in office). In 1994 the figure hit an all-time low of about 18 percent. [Do We Trust Government?, Readers Digest, May 1994, p. 141.] Actually, it’s astonishing to think that only 30 years ago 75 percent of Americans thought the federal government could be counted on to do what was right all or most of the time.

Speech Police

Anything the government touches becomes an anti-discrimination nightmare. Fair housing laws were supposed to prevent whites from keeping blacks out of their neighborhoods, but have been hijacked by every conceivable interest group. Realtors now police their ad copy for fear that an offending word might launch a new law suit. So far, most speech codes are voluntary and defensive, but formal censorship may not be far behind.

“Master bedrooms” are now off limits since they might remind blacks of slavery. “Spectacular views” might offend the blind. “Quiet neighborhoods” might suggest a prejudice against children. Anything that is “executive” hints of excessive whiteness. One fair-housing official browbeat a company into withdrawing an ad for a Chester, Pennsylvania house described as a “rare find.” Chester is mostly black, and it was reprehensible to suggest that a nice house in a black town might be unusual. [Dale Russakoff, Housing-Ad suits leave agents at a loss for words, Chicago Sun-Times, 6/7/94, p. 22.]

Free Speech Update

The First Amendment appears to have been written to protect only pornographers and flag-burners; certainly not ordinary white folks. Richard Kraft, a vice president for the New York Yankees, is out of work for not having buttoned his lip. The Yankees are having a hard time filling their stadium, especially for night games, because it is in a largely black part of the Bronx. In an interview, Mr. Kraft said he didn’t know what was wrong with the “colored” children in the area, who can often be seen hanging “like monkeys” from basketball rims. Even after Mr. Kraft resigned, blacks in the Bronx were carrying around signs saying “We’re not monkeys — We’re people,” thus, presumably, ending the confusion.

Another loose-lipped New Yorker was deputy mayor John Dyson, who was trying to explain to a journalist why it was a waste of money to pay two securities companies to do a job that one could do by itself. “[You] ought to know the difference between a bid and a watermelon,” he said, somewhat obscurely. This raised a ruckus because the extra securities firm is owned by a black woman, and had been recommended for “diversity.”

Despite the usual intemperate outbursts, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani refused to fire Mr. Dyson. “The first reaction to this was to demand an apology,” he said. “There was an apology. Now the reaction is to demand resignation. I imagine tomorrow they’ll be talking about execution.” For a white man, the mayor is showing unusual spunk (see below).

In Waterford Township, Michigan, Peter Poprafsky has been ordered to pay a $3,200 fine for having added the line, “No Blacks Need Apply” to the for-sale sign he set out in front of his house. Mr. Poprafsky had recently been robbed in his home by two black men, and the sign was on his own property, but the Michigan Civil Rights Department wants him punished in the name of “tolerance.” [Elizabeth Atkins, The Detroit News, Racial slur on ‘for sale’ sign may cost man $3,200, apology, 6/8/94.]

Meanwhile, in San Leandro, California, a police detective has been reprimanded and given an unspecified punishment merely for referring to two homosexuals caught cavorting in a public restroom as “fags.” Tom Di Maria, executive director of the Gay/Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, voiced just the kind of thoughtful commentary one expects in these cases: “For a police detective to be using that kind of slur or to be promoting that kind of hatred and violence is completely unacceptable.” [Henry Lee, Detective faces discipline for gay slur, SF Chronicle, 8/24/94, p. A16.]

Miracle at City Hall

It can be done! Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York City has eliminated just about every affirmative action program he can. The city no longer sets aside 20 percent of its contracting for minorities and women, and has stopped advertising government jobs in black and Spanish-language newspapers. The mayor has dismantled the Bureau of Citywide Equal Employment Opportunity, and has abolished the offices of African American/Caribbean Affairs, Latino Affairs, and Asian Affairs. He has also stopped using “diversity” as a criterion for selection of city judges. Finally, minority participation will not be a factor in choosing private companies to take over work that had been done by the city. [Jonathan Hicks, Giuliani is halting of scaling back affirmative-action efforts, NYT, 8/23/94, p. B1.]

Abandoned at Birth

Every year, about 22,000 mothers abandon their infants in hospitals after they give birth. They show up in labor, give false names and family contacts, and leave as soon as they can. Seventy-four percent of the abandoned infants are black, 12 percent are white, and eight percent are Hispanic. It costs about $600 a day to keep an infant in the hospital, and about a quarter stay for at least three weeks. [John Ritter, ‘Babies will keep coming,’ USA Today, 12/2/93, p. 1.]

Progress in Civil Rights

Rosa Parks is famous in the civil rights movement for her involvement in the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56. She now lives in Detroit, where she was mugged by a black man. Another black man gained public acclaim by capturing the mugger. During a laudatory television interview, a watching FBI agent recognized the man as a bank robbery suspect and had him arrested as he left the studio. [Hero in Parks Case is Held, NYT, 9/2/94.]

Selma is Still Selma

1994 is the 30th anniversary of all sorts of important doings in the civil rights movement, and liberal newspapers are making sure to remind us of them. As part of its retrospective series on the movement the New York Times of August 2 printed a long article on Selma, Alabama. The paper is baffled to discover that even after 30 years of legal equality and despite the fact that the “civil rights” leaders of the 1960s are now the entrenched political class, not much has changed.

The black belt (named for its rich, dark soil rather than its inhabitants), of which Selma is a part, is one of the poorest places in the United States. Sixty-six percent of the population is black, and the black-white income gap is still very large. In Wilcox County 60 percent of blacks but only 10 percent of whites are poor. In Lowndes County the figures are 50 percent and 5.8 percent.

There has been one big change: Selma’s public schools that used to be all-white are now virtually all black. Whites, even working-class whites, scrimp and save for private school. Moon calf whites who pack their children off to public school soon become sadder and wiser. The Times quotes one liberal:

I remember my friends telling me, in great distress, that their children were now more racist than their parents had ever been, not out of ignorance but out of bitter experience . . .

[Peter Applebome, In Selma, Everything and Nothing Changed, NYT, 8/2/94, p. A1.]

Supreme Idiocy

It finally had to happen. The New Jersey Supreme Court has not only ordered the state to equalize spending in all public schools by the 1997-98 school year; it has ordered equal outcomes as well. Equivalent performance in all schools is now “squarely and completely” the responsibility of the state, which it is to achieve through “special programs and services targeted to the needs of disadvantaged students.” [Jersey court’s unmeetable mandate, NY Post, 7/15/94, p. 20.]

The Wicked White Man

Late in July, 6,000 non-white journalists met for a conference in Atlanta. They duly approved a report claiming that “The mainstream news media’s coverage of people of color is riddled with old stereotypes, offensive terminology, biased reporting and a myopic interpretation of American society.”

Examples?

CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg was attacked for a program in which he chuckled and asked “What am I missing here?” when an Asian complained that his people are portrayed as “model minorities.” This offensive stereotype apparently masks all sorts of vicious problems faced by Asians.

The New York Daily New was criticized for its headline on a story about Donald Trump’s opposition to Indian casino gambling: “Donald Says Ugh to Indian Gambling.” An Indian said the headline was not merely racist but also stereotypical and stupid.

A long profile in Vanity Fair about the chairman of Nike Inc. sinned by saying that “his immersion in Japan and other places Asian has more particularly influenced him in his ability to be inscrutable and manipulative.” [William Galberson, Press, NYT, 8/1/94.]

Indians complained that newspapers were racist to print names of professional sports teams, like Braves and Indians. [William Galberson, As minority journalists meet, an example of white power, NYT, 7/29/84, p. A12.]

These are not simply the most ridiculous accusations; they are every complaint that was included in New York Times stories on the conference.

Blacks Outearn Whites

Hard as it may be to believe, there are 130 cities and counties in the United States in which the median black household income is higher than the white median. These are mostly places that are very poor, near military bases, or where blacks are either an overwhelming majority or a tiny minority.

Only nine of these places are more or less racially diverse communities of more than 50,000 people, and the New York borough of Queens is one of them. There, the white median income is $34,075 and the black median is $34,314. As it happens, it is blacks born outside the United States who bring up the black average. Their median household income is $38,650 compared to $32,000 for native-born blacks.

The explanation for the black/white difference has to do with type of income and the number of people in each household who work. Whites are considerably older than blacks, and 75 percent live on retirement income, Social Security, or investments. Ninety percent of blacks are salaried. Among households with a married couple, twice as many black households as white have three or more wage earners. [Sam Roberts, In Middle class Queens, Blacks pas whites in household income, NYT, 6/6/94, p. A1.]

Too Many Black Mailmen

Tirso del Junco, who is vice chairman of the Postal Service board of governors, says the post office hires too many blacks and not enough Hispanics. In Los Angeles, the post office is 63 percent black whereas the city’s work force is only 9.6 percent black. Hispanics are 34 percent of the city work force but are only 15 percent of the postal employees. In Chicago, 80 percent of the post office workers are black, though they are only 18 percent of the city work force. Etc.

Mr. del Junco has been trying to get more Hispanics into the service but says that black managers are prejudiced against anyone who is not black. He even concedes that “the amount of discrimination against white men in some cities is incredible.” [Bill McAllister, Postal official: Too many blacks hired, Wash Post, 8/3/94, p. A1.]

Hispanic Art

This summer there was a display of art in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park called “El Grito,” which consisted of pictures of dead policemen killed in a “civil war.” One policeman is on his knees with a bullet through his chest; another lies dead with his head blown off. Molotov cocktails hang on the wall, and a loudspeaker blares such sentiments as “When we have driven the pigs out, we will be free.” The exhibit was paid for with taxpayer money by the New York State Council on the Arts. [Cop-killing isn’t art, New York Post, 6/9/94.]

I’m a Racist

by Fred C. Kopp

If I have your permission
To distinguish day from night
And society demands of me
That I learn wrong from right
And yet I must not notice
If you’re black or if you’re white
Then I’m a RACIST.

If I mention while describing you
The color of your skin
In the same way I’d take notice of
Your wit, your charm, your grin
And if with that description
I commit some awful sin
Then I’m a RACIST.

If I’m allowed to trust my eyes
To find my own front gate
And I may trust my taste buds
To enjoy what’s on my plate
Yet acknowledging your color
Means that I am full of hate
Then I’m a RACIST.

And if I am expected
To believe that it’s just fine
For you to huddle with your peers
Though I dare not with mine
While society condones this act
And finds it quite benign
Then I’m a RACIST.

So if you have to hyphenate
Your group to make a stand
You want to live within my world
But keep your world at hand
Though you enjoy excluding me
I can’t do that to you
Then take a long look in the mirror
‘Cause you’re a RACIST, too.