O Tempora, O Mores! (February, 1999)

I, Fraud

Rigoberta Menchu is an anti-white, women’s rights, darling-of-the-left Guatemalan who won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for uplift work among her people, the Quiche Indians. Her fame derives largely from a 1983 autobiography, I, Rigoberta Menchu, about how harrowing it was to grow up among the oppressed. The book is required reading in many American university courses in history, anthropology, and political science. After several years of research and interviews, an American anthropologist has now found that many of the events described in her book are false. David Stoll discovered, for example, that although Miss Menchu wrote about a brother who starved to death, and another who was burned to death by soldiers, this was pure fiction. She also described a land dispute with wicked white people, but the real dispute was with her own relatives. She claimed she had received no education but in fact attended two private boarding schools on scholarship.

The New York Times has also confirmed many of the book’s falsehoods, but Prof. Stoll doesn’t want to be judgmental: He says he is “not attacking the laureate herself, but a story that did serve a useful purpose at one time” because it called attention to oppression. Geir Lundestad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, is aware of Prof. Stoll’s findings but says “there is no question of revoking the prize.” Miss Menchu, of course, says Prof. Stoll’s research is a racist campaign against her.

As part of her uplift work, Miss Menchu was a leader of the URNG, a Marxist guerrilla movement that caused havoc in Guatemala for decades. She insisted on a policy of unconditional victory and would not enter into peace talks even after she won the Nobel Peace Prize. (Nobel Winner’s Story Challenged, AP, Dec. 15, 1998. Alfonso Anzueto, Nobel Winner Menchu Defends Book, AP, Dec. 17, 1998. Stephen Schwartz, A Nobel Prize for Lying, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 28, 1998.)

Stay Out of Jail

According to a report on prison rape to be released by Human Rights Watch, white male prisoners throughout America are often gang raped and traded as “sex slaves” by black inmates. Some prison guards appear to encourage this. The report will seek to draw attention to what it calls the “staggering presence” of prison rape.

The report will come too late for Michael Blucker, a 29-year-old white man from Illinois who was repeatedly gang-raped by blacks while serving a sentence for burglary in Illinois’ Menard State Penitentiary. “I was the only white man in a gallery [wing] of more than 100 prisoners,” explains Mr. Blucker. Eventually he was claimed by an entrepreneurial black “owner.” “He would physically threaten me and threaten to have harm done to my wife outside prison. Every day, I would be sold as a sex object while he was given money and cigarettes and marijuana and alcohol in return.”

Mr. Blucker said he was once attacked by a group of blacks while he was taking a shower. They knocked him unconscious with bricks they pulled out of the wall and then raped him. “I couldn’t tell you if it was one, three, 10 or 15 people,” he says, “All I know is that I felt very unwell.” Mr. Blucker needed extensive surgery for his injuries. He complained to prison officials about the attack but was met with indifference. Mr. Blucker, who is now a free man, also contracted the AIDS virus while in prison. (Fergal Keane, White Men Traded As “Sex Slaves” of Black Prisoners, Sunday Telegraph (London), Dec. 6, 1998, p. 31.)

Since this is not the sort of thing American newspapers like to write about, Mr. Blucker had to find a British paper to publish his story.

A Swedish Dilemma

For decades, Sweden has been the world’s great busy-body, always telling other people how to solve social problems. It was a Swede, Gunnar Myrdal, who preached egalitarianism to the Americans in the 1944 book, An American Dilemma, and the Swedish government gave millions of dollars to the African National Congress during the fight against white rule in South Africa. Sweden is now finding out that racial harmony doesn’t come so easily after all.

After having let in a large number of refugees in the last few years, ten percent of its population is non-Nordic — and not integrating. The New York Times reports that “with immigrants making up more than 80 percent of its 14,000 residents, [the Swedish town of] Rinkeby is a virtually segregated community in the country . . . that once preached racial and ethnic tolerance to the rest of the world.” The Times goes on to note that “the assimilation and acceptance of diversity that the country loudly wished to see in other mixed societies has not occurred here.” Indeed, Swedes steer clear of Rinkeby, which they consider dirty and crime-ridden.

One of Rinkeby’s few remaining Swedes is the deputy director of the district, Dag Jutfelt. “It was so easy in the 60s and 70s to look at television and say, ‘That’s wrong,’” he says. “It turns out we didn’t know so much about the rest of the world when we were telling them how to live.” In fact, there has been so little assimilation that Swedes talk of “third-generation immigrants.” (Warren Hodge, A Swedish Dilemma: The Immigrant Ghetto, New York Times, Oct. 6, 1998.)

The Asian Experience

Ying Ma, a 23-year-old Chinese-American wrote recently about growing up among blacks in Oakland:

My name soon became ‘Ching Chong,’ ‘Chinagirl’ and ‘Chow Mein.’ Other children laughed at my language, my culture, my ethnicity, and my race.”“On rides home from school I avoided the back of the bus so as not to be beaten up. But even when I sat in front, fire crackers, paper balls, small rocks, and profanity were thrown at me and other ‘stupid Chinamen.’

On the sidewalks, black teenagers and adults would creep up behind 80-year-old Asians and frighten them with sing-song nonsense: ‘Yee-ya, Ching-chong, ah-ee, un-yahhh!’

In poor neighborhoods across this country Asians endure daily racial hatred just as I did. Because of their language deficiencies, their small size, their fear of violent confrontations, they endure in silence . . .

So each day they grow more bitter against a group that much of America refuses to acknowledge to be capable of racism: African Americans.

If vocal Asian activists are able to work themselves into a frenzy attacking everyday political tussles and editorial cartoons for their alleged racist motivations, they are obviously capable of confrontation. Why then do we never hear these national activists condemning black racism against Asians in our inner cities?

(Ying Ma, Black Racism, The American Enterprise, Nov./Dec. 1998, p. 54.)

The Price of Black Rule

In 1997, 109 doctors left South Africa, the highest level recorded in a decade. So many have left over the last few years that the country now “imports” doctors from — of all places — Cuba. As part of a program started in 1996, 404 Cubans now work in South Africa’s rural clinics and hospitals. Some of the South African doctors who have stayed question the competence of the Cuban doctors but South African Health Ministry spokesman Vincent Hlongwane dismisses such criticism as “racism” and resentment at losing income to Cubans. (Kathy Chenault, South Africa Brain Drain Leaves Shortage of Doctors, San Francisco Examiner, November 22, 1998, p. A-20.)

A Quota By Any Other Name

In response to a court order banning racial preferences, Texas legislators passed a law last year requiring state universities to admit the top ten percent of seniors from each high school class in the state. This essentially preserves racial preferences for blacks and Hispanics, since many Texas high schools are largely segregated.

This fall, Lydia Davila, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, is one of the winners in the new system. She finished at the top of her class in a high school that is 95 percent Hispanic. Her SAT scores were lower than the average at the University of Texas at Austin so she gets special help from a tutor and attends remedial classes that are kept small to help non-whites.

One of the losers is Elizabeth John-son. Miss Johnson, who is white, was an honors student at one of the best high schools in the state, but was not in the top ten percent. She was initially denied admission and had to complete a grueling summer program in order to enter the university. “I feel because of where I live, because of where I was born, I am being punished,” says Miss Johnson. She has friends who were denied admission to the University of Texas and had to attend community college.

University officials are happy with the program, but they were disappointed that more non-whites did not take advantage of it. They will publicize it more vigorously next year. (Patrice Jones, Top-10 Law a Boon to Minorities in Texas, Chicago Tribune, October 18, 1998, p. 1.)

Gray Davis, the newly-installed Democratic governor of California has just announced a similar plan for his state university system. California universities have recently abandoned long-standing racial preferences and have seen the number of non-white college students drop. Mr. Davis now wants to admit anyone who graduated in the top four percent of his high school class, no matter how poorly he does on standardized tests. The new governor is so pleased with this idea that he announced it on the very day he was inaugurated. The regents of the UC system appear likely to approve the new plan. (Michelle De Armond, Calif. Gov. Floats Admission Plan, AP, Jan. 5, 1999.)

Africans on the Way

After several years of genocidal warfare, the Hutu and Tutsi who live in the African countries of Rwanda and Burundi have a fearsome hatred for each other. So fearsome, in fact, that mixed Hutu-Tutsi couples no longer want to live among either group. The United Nations has given such people refugee status, and 228 of them are getting new homes this year — in the United States. They have been checked to be sure they do not have AIDS, and a special refugee organization has given them an orientation course on what to expect in America: everything from “racism” to the fact that a driver’s license is required to operate a car. The refugees will be going to various different cities so perhaps you can look forward to new neighbors.

Last December, a different set of Africans arrived in Houston, Texas, as the first group of octuplets to be born live in the United States. The parents are from Nigeria, and gave the children names like Chukwuebuka Nkemjika and Chinecherum Nwabugwu. One, which weighed only 10.3 ounces at birth, has died. The others are in intensive care and are expected to require about $250,000 each in medical care before they leave the hospital. The father, Iyke Udobi, faces a Feb. 8 trial on an assault charge for hitting his mother-in-law with a chair and for threatening his pregnant wife. (Tom Kenworthy, Octuplets ’ Father Faces Assault Charge in Family Incident, Washington Post, Dec. 24, 1998, p. A2. Jeff Franks, Octuplets’ Mother Leaves Hospital, Washington Post, Dec. 31, 1998, p. A3.)

Hail, Caesar

In November, black Congressman Julius Caesar Watts was voted in as Chairman of the Republican Conference. This makes him the fourth highest-ranking Republican in the House, and he will run weekly closed-door meetings in which GOP lawmakers decide which laws to pass. Mr. Watts, first elected in 1994, represents a rural Oklahoma district and has weathered a series of tax evasion scandals. He also happens to be the only black Republican congressman, and at least a few people think this has something to do with his lofty position. One well-known columnist wrote, “J.C. Watts could hardly have picked a better time to be black . . . To say that Watts, after only four years in Congress, was better qualified than Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the seasoned incumbent he beat [for the job of conference chairman], would be laughable . . .” Who was brave enough to say the obvious? Liberal black columnist Clarence Page. (Clarence Page, J.C. Watts Benefits From Racial Preferences, Tulsa World, November 27, 1998, p.33.)

David Duke Awakes

David Duke has announced that he will run for Congress in the special election for the seat of Robert Livingstone, the short-lived replacement for Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mr. Duke has campaigned frequently for public office. After serving one term in the Louisiana House of Representatives he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1990 and for governor of Louisiana in 1991. In 1996 he ran in an open primary for the U.S. Senate. The district Mr. Duke will be contesting is just north of New Orleans and is 85 percent white. He is likely to find strong support.

The 48-year-old former Ku Klux Klan leader and founder of the National Association for the Advancement of White People has also recently published an autobiography and political testament called My Awakening. The 716-page volume traces the development of Mr. Duke’s thinking on race and Jews, and contains many photographs of the author as well as other illustrative material. It concludes with a quotation from George Orwell: “In a world of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

Sooner Than Suspected

Demographers predict that in only two years whites will become just another minority in the state of California. Earlier predictions had given the state seven years. Now, the numbers for the year 2001 are expected to be: whites 49 percent, Hispanics 31 percent, Asians 12 percent and blacks seven percent. In 2021, Hispanics are predicted to outstrip whites and become the largest racial group in the state.

Greg Rodriguez at the Institute for Public Policy at Pepperdine University kindly explains what it will be like in “post-Anglo” California: “Assimilation happens, and it happens to everyone . . . The only difference is that now, as we bump into each other more and more, whites will change and assimilate too.” (Ramon G. McLeod, California Will Be Bursting at the Seams by 2040, Demographers Say, San Francisco Chronicle, December 18, 1998, p. A25.)

Whites Can Do no Right

The University of Rhode Island student newspaper, which is called The Good 5 Cent Cigar, recently published a cartoon about the abolition of affirmative action at Texas universities. A white professor is greeting a black who is entering his class. “If you’re the janitor, please wait until after class to empty the trash,” says the Professor. “If you’re one of our minority students, welcome!” The cartoon was meant to be an attack on the abolition of racial preferences, but that made no difference. Black students pronounced themselves insulted and marched to the paper’s editorial offices, where they whooped and threw newspapers on the ground. The Student Senate duly cut off funding for the paper and there has been a mass meeting to discuss “racism” and the First Amendment. The Student Senate repented of its actions and restored funding after volunteers raised money from private sources to keep the paper going. Students say they have never seen the campus in such a state of excitement, but senior Karyn Smith — race unspecified — says it’s useful excitement. “The good thing is they’re exposing racism on this campus,” she says. (Janet Kerlin, Cartoon Triggers Racial Tensions, AP, Dec. 10, 1998.)

Joining the Shakedown

Nicaragua has joined the crowd of plaintiffs that want to get money out of American tobacco companies. The country is suing on exactly the same grounds as several states that recently received huge damages awards: It claims that the companies concealed the dangers of cigarette smoking and wants compensation for smoking-related medical expenses paid by the government. In May of last year Guatemala filed a similar suit against the companies. (Another Latin American Country Files Suit in the U.S., Business Wire, Dec. 10, 1998.)

Out the Elephant’s Arse

Britain’s top art award, the Turner Prize, has been given to a black named Chris Ofili who uses elephant dung in his “paintings.” The winning work is called “The Adoration of Captain Shit and the Legend of the Black Stars Part 2.” It depicts a fat black pop star bursting out of a tinsel outfit and is dotted with blobs of elephant dung. Mr. Ofili used to get his dung in Zimbabwe but now collects it at the London Zoo. “It is pretty straight-forward,” he explained. “It comes out of the elephant’s arse, it dries up and is ready to go.” The Turner prize is worth about $33,000 and the awards ceremony is broadcast live from the Tate Gallery in London. Mr. Ofili’s reaction on learning he had won? “Oh man. Thank God. Where’s my cheque?” (Paul Majendie, Elephant Dung Artists Wins Top British Art Prize, Reuters, Dec. 1, 1998.)

Stop the Police

Chandler, Arizona, a fast-growing and ambitious suburb of Phoenix, had a problem: The downtown was looking increasingly shabby and Mexican. For five days, beginning on July 27, 1997, city police combed the town looking for illegal immigrants. They found and deported 432 — all but three of them from Mexico — in what was considered to be a very successful operation.

Since then the yelping has not stopped. Naturally, the police asked scruffy-looking Mexicans for proof of citizenship, and some scruffy-looking Mexicans turned out to be U.S. citizens. “They just can’t stop people based on looks,” says a Phoenix lawyer, Stephen Monto-ya, who has filed one of several law suits against the city. He says the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment was violated because white people in the area were not stopped. Would Mr. Montoya complain if people were stopped because of the way they looked if there had been crimes associated with a Klan rally?

The local papers have piled on with the usual liberal nonsense, and every conceivable government agency has investigated. The police have been bullied into hiring a “Latino liaison”, and Hispanic activists have launched a recall effort against the mayor and two city councilmen who supported the raid. Two and a half years later, the pot is still boiling and, needless to say, illegals have the run of the town. (Hector Tobar, An Ugly Stain on a City’s Bright and Shining Plan, Los Angeles Times, December 28, 1998.)

This is yet another example of racial hysteria making it impossible for the police to do their work. Anyone looking for illegal aliens in Arizona would be a fool not to look for Hispanics, just as anyone looking for crack cocaine dealers in Detroit would be a fool not to look for blacks. Police are more suspicious of men than of women and of young people than of old people; that kind of common-sense is acceptable but racial distinctions, even when they are just as valid, apparently are not.