Posted on October 1, 2006

O Tempora, O Mores! (October, 2006)

American Renaissance, October 2006

‘Bias’ Ads on the Web

A group called Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has filed a federal suit against the online classified ads of craigslist.com, claiming the ads violate the Fair Housing Act. Offenses include offers for room rentals to people of only certain races. Under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) such ads would be illegal in a newspaper.

Advocates for free speech on the Internet claim that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 specifically exempts the Internet from FHA requirements. Congress left the Internet unregulated in such matters in order to facilitate explosive growth. Critics say this interpretation is wrong. James Perry, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center says the FHA did not “give people license to promote racism,” adding that “If we are going to stem racism, sexism, and all the other ‘isms’ out there, we have to have the same rules for the Internet as we do for print media.”

Craigslist says it has a policy against discriminatory ads and removes them if users complain, but that they cannot police all the posts. The major web companies are watching the case closely, and Google, Yahoo, AOL, eBay, Amazon and others have filed an amicus brief in defense of craigslist.

Critics complain of “turning back the clock” to the days of “segregation and sanctioned prejudice,” something that we had “moved past.” [Rebecca Carr, Suit Tries to Halt Bias In Ads on Web, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 13, 2006.]

Some Hate Crimes Down

California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer proudly announced that hate crimes had declined in the state by 4.5 percent from 2004 to 2005. “The decreases reflect the hard work of law enforcement and our communities to stamp out these intolerable, bias-motivated crimes,” he says, adding that “the encouraging numbers also show that Californians continue to choose understanding and tolerance over prejudice and hate.”

Buried deeper in the story is the unimportant news that although there has been an overall decline, hate crimes against whites rose 26.2 percent. [Attorney General Says Number of Hate Crimes Dropped in 2005, Simi Valley Acorn, July 28, 2006.]

Black Health and Racism

A study in the September issue of the Annals of Epidemiology claims racism may contribute to high blood pressure in black women. After tracking nearly 43,000 black women over a four-year period — among whom 2,316 developed hypertension — survey data showed that many of these women claimed to have suffered from racism. The association between hypertension and reports of racism was especially strong for women who grew up in majority-white neighborhoods and for those who were foreign-born. The study determined who had suffered from racism by asking the women eight questions about such things as whether people feared or distrusted them or whether they got bad service in restaurants. [Curtis L. Taylor, Hypertension’s Race Factor, Newsday, August 29, 2006.]

In the past, researchers have attributed high black rates of prostate cancer to racism as well, but a genetic cause has now been established. Researchers positively identified specific genetic markers that “suggest that having African rather than European DNA at the chromosome-8 location places a man at high risk of prostate cancer.” Blacks are twice as likely as whites to get prostate cancer by age 55, but the risks start to level out after that. [Ben Harder, Risky Legacy: African DNA Linked To Prostate Cancer, Science News, August 26, 2006.]

Blacks and Swimming

Republican Tramm Hudson is running for the seat in the 13th congressional district in Florida vacated by Katherine Harris. In a speech in which he told about a black soldier who was narrowly saved from drowning during a training exercise, he added, “I grew up in Alabama. I understand, uh, I know from experience, that blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know how to swim.” The usual groveling followed the usual howling: “I said something stupid. I apologize for it and would apologize in person to anyone hurt by my comments. To those who are understandably offended, you have my deepest apologies, . . .”

The AP reports, however, that black children in North Carolina drown at twice the rate of white children. In Los Angeles, the Amateur Athletic Foundation is giving grants to swim clubs in Southern California, to try to bridge the “racial swimming gap.” Like so many other whites, Mr. Hudson has apologized for speaking the truth. [Paul Quinlan, Hudson’s Comments Ignite Fire On Net, Herald-Tribune (Sarasota.), August 18, 2006. High Drowning Rates For Blacks, Hispanics Worry NC Officials, AP, June 12, 2006. Karen Grigsby Bates, L.A. Effort Narrows Swimming’s Racial Gap, NPR, July 3, 2006.]

Black Caucus Stays Black

Two Jewish candidates, Tennessee state representative Steve Cohen and New York City Councilman David Yassky, are running for Congress in majority-black districts. Although neither has said so, blacks have speculated that if they were elected, they would try to join the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Earlier this year, former Missouri congressman and founder of the CBC, William Lacy Clay, Sr., wrote to warn that “it is critical that [the CBC’s] membership remain exclusively African American.” After a meeting in August, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan reported, “The members have discussed it, and we supported the tradition that only African-Americans have been full members of the CBC, . . .”

The 43-member caucus is already one of the most powerful House Democratic voting blocs, and its influence will grow if Democrats win a majority in November. Caucus members would control as many as five committees, including Ways and Means and Judiciary, and 15 subcommittees. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina who chairs the caucus would be a candidate for majority whip. The Hill, which covers Congress, notes that although the CBC is not the largest group of Democrats in the House, it is “perhaps the most cohesive and the most vocal, bound together by racial identity . . .” — which the caucus is determined to preserve. [Brian DeBose, Blacks Only Welcome In Hill Caucus, Washington Times, September 8, 2006. Josephine Hearn, Powerful Role for CBC if Dems Win, The Hill, August 16, 2006.]

Brown Power

According to the census bureau, there are about 40 million Hispanics — just over 14 percent of the population. By 2040, the bureau expects that number to be at least 60 million. Hispanics make up most of the nation’s illegal population, frequently cited as 12 million, but in all likelihood closer to 20 million. Many Hispanic activists point to the mass demonstrations for amnesty for illegals earlier this year as a sign Hispanic power is growing. There are about 6,000 Hispanics holding government offices nationwide, including three US senators and the mayor of Los Angeles, the second-largest American city.

Many illegals say they will no longer hide in the shadows. Alex Vega, for example, owns a house and a business, and looks forward to the day when his 10 children — all born in the US and therefore citizens — reach voting age. “In 20 years then we gonna run the country,” he says. “Right now we running the cities. So little by little, we are running the show. Little by little — so the sleeping giant, it’s already awakened.”

Henry Cisneros, who was President Clinton’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is a little more circumspect. “Yes it [the influx of Hispanics] will change the country, but I believe, fundamentally, it adds to the richness of the country, and more importantly, this is a population that understands the basic credo, the basic core of the American idea,” he says. [Stirring the Nation’s Melting Pot, AP, July 30, 2006.]

Hispanics cannot yet paint the White House brown. As Rodolfo de la Garza, a political science professor at Columbia University puts it, they “have bad demographics for voting.” Approximately 40 percent of adult Hispanics cannot vote because they are not citizens. Hispanics are young, with an average age of 27, compared to 40 for whites, and younger citizens are less likely to vote. Hispanics also earn less and have less education than whites, and this mutes their impact. Still, through sheer numbers they are likely to influence this fall’s Senate elections in states like New Jersey and Washington, and House elections in California, Texas, Illinois and Connecticut. [Hispanics to Play Pivotal Election Role, AP, July 15, 2006.]

District of Crime

Majority-black Washington, DC, is in the middle of a violent crime wave reminiscent of the early 1990s, when the city had more than one murder a day. At least one local newspaper kept a running tally of victims on the front page. This year, there were 96 murders by mid-July, with 14 of them between July 1 and July 12. The murder of Alan Senitt, who was a volunteer in the embryonic presidential campaign of former governor of Virginia Mark Warner, prompted DC police chief Charles Ramsey to declare a citywide “crime emergency.” Just hours later, black criminals robbed two groups of tourists at gunpoint on the National Mall, not far from the White House. [Ian Urbina, Washington Officials Try to Ease Crime Fear, New York Times, July 13, 2006.]

The vast majority of perpetrators are young blacks, who seem to want to hurt people as much as rob them. Victims who cooperate are almost as likely to be raped, beaten or murdered as those who resist. “Young black males, in groups of five to six, ages 13 to 15, are displaying handguns and beating their victims,” says Chief Ramsey. “We’re dealing with adolescents who have no remorse, no regrets, and are well armed.” He notes that this year has seen a 95 percent increase in juvenile arrests for robbery. According to DC police, 420 of the youngsters arrested for robbery so far this year have prior records — a third have been arrested at least twice, a fifth five times, and two have been arrested 14 times.

There is another new trend in a city where most violent crime has been black-on-black: Many of the victims — particularly tourists — are white. [Courtland Milloy, Violent Robberies Make It Hard to Ignore D.C.’s Vicious Side, Washington Post, July 12, 2006.]

Raining on the Parade

South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, and the government hopes to use the media exposure to tout its accomplishments since taking over in 1994. One group of South Africans, angered at the government’s inability to control crime, is hoping journalists and tourists come away with a different message: that the “new” South Africa is dangerous. Led by insurance broker Neil Watson of Johannesburg, the group has started a weblog called www.crimexposouthafrica.org that graphically details the “gruesome murders taking place all over our killing fields,” and warns tourists what to expect if they attend World Cup matches — murder, robbery, rape, theft and hijackings. The website promises to help with funeral arrangements for murdered tourists.

Although there has been a lot of crime ever since the handover to black rule, things are getting worse. Over the past five months, a record 56 police officers have been killed. Even the government concedes that every day there are an average of 51 murders, 150 rapes and 345 armed robberies. Real figures are probably much higher. The two most recent high-profile murders were of prominent Cape Town journalist Megan Herselman, who was shot dead as she left Johannesburg International Airport, and Qatar Airlines manager Clay Pierre-Louis, who was killed for his cell phone, also near the airport. On his website, Mr. Watson says he wants foreign tourists to know “what is happening between the airport and the hotel.”

Despite complaints from the government, World Cup organizers, and travel companies — and death threats — Mr. Watson vows to keep the heat on. “Extreme situations call for extreme actions,” he says. [Basildon Peta, South Africans Seek Tourist Boycott as Crime Rates Soar, Independent (London), July 25, 2006.]

Fat is Healthy

South Africa’s AIDS epidemic — five million of the country’s 45 million people are infected — has prompted a different health crisis: obesity. Nearly one third of the nation’s women are severely overweight. “Regretfully, there is a perception that if a black woman is thin, she might have HIV/AIDS,” says Tessa van der Merwe of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. She also says South Africans cannot exercise outdoors because there is so much violent crime: “It simply isn’t safe to walk around.” Finally, fatness is a traditional sign of prosperity. Miss van der Merwe says that if a South African woman is thin, it suggests “her husband can’t afford to feed her well.” [Siddika Khalique, Obesity Epidemic as South Africans ‘Prove’ They Do Not Have AIDS, Independent (London), Aug. 14, 2006.]

‘White People’s Burden’

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently published a review of a new book called The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege by Robert Jensen, a professor at the University of Texas in Austin. Here are excerpts of the review, written by Richard Gonzales:

  • “Robert Jensen’s new book . . . courageously exposes the minds and hearts of whites benefiting from what he calls a ‘white-supremacist society.’”
  • “Jensen . . . describes himself as ‘white as white gets in the United States of America. I am a white-bred, white-bread white boy.’”
  • “Jensen asks that whites look into their hearts. Like Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, whites should brave a journey of self-discovery to confront their fears of blacks and Latinos and overcome the evils of racist attitudes and institutions . . .”
  • “As a personal example, Jensen says that he worked and studied hard to rise from his North Dakota lower-middle-class background to earn his doctorate in journalism and land a job at a prestigious university. He knows that, along the way, he received a significant boost from the fact that he grew up in an almost all-white city, attended all-white schools, had white bosses and never believed that his failures were because he was white.”
  • “He recognized that merit was only part of the reason for his success; his white status in a society that valued whites over ethnic minorities gave him the edge. It’s this advantage that he asks his fellow whites to examine and work to eliminate . . .”
  • “Jensen admits that he’s an angry man who wishes more middle-class whites would become indignant. They need to howl at an ideology that forces them to exchange their political souls for material affluence. But not all have sold out . . .”
  • “As Jensen concludes, the White People’s Burden is to civilize themselves and their institutions.”
  • “To eliminate the disease of racism and restore a healthy society, whites should steel their hearts and minds for political change and accept their darker brothers and sisters.”

[Richard Gonzales, A Trek Into the Heart of Whiteness, Ft. Worth Star-Telegraph, July 23, 2006.]

UN on Katrina

When the initial response by the federal government to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, did not satisfy them, blacks cried “racism,” and the media encouraged the view that help would have come sooner for whites. By mid-December 2005, however, two of the most widely repeated Katrina myths had been refuted. The first was that blacks were more likely to die than whites. Cybercast News Service reported on December 14 that “whites died at the highest rate of all races in New Orleans.” The second myth was that the poor suffered while the rich got off easy, but the Los Angeles Times reported on December 18 that “deaths citywide were distributed with only a slight bias for economic status.” [Nathan Burchfield, Statistics Suggest Race Not a Factor in Katrina Deaths, CNSNews.com, December 14, 2005.]

Nevertheless, last month, the United Nations Human Rights Committee faulted the US for not taking better care of black and poor survivors. The committee further told the US to be sure that blacks and the poor “are fully taken into consideration in the reconstruction plans.” [Bradley S. Klapper, U.N. Panel Takes U.S. To Task Over Katrina, AP, July 28, 2006.]

Some survivors undoubtedly fared better than others. One black refugee, Theon Johnson, was put up at a New York City Holiday Inn by FEMA. He was still there on June 5, nearly a year after the hurricane, and the hotel was seeking a court order to have him evicted. Mr. Johnson claimed he was too busy watching television to find his way home, and wanted FEMA to give him more spending money. Another refugee, Keisha Moran, who had appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, found temporary shelter for herself and her three children in a church parsonage in Palatine, Illinois — at least the church thought it was temporary. On July 24, the Daily Herald of Chicago reported that the church had finally asked her to leave. Miss Moran, who was not employed, refused.

Just a month before the UN Committee’s report, the Government Accounting Office reported on how victims had spent FEMA money. Some survivors who got debit cards paid for champagne, “Girls Gone Wild” videos, diamond jewelry, a tropical vacation, erotic toys, season football tickets, tattoes, a divorce lawyer and even a sex change operation. [Larry Margasak, FEMA Hurricane Cards Bought Jewely, Erotica, AP, June 14, 2006.]

Worn Out Welcome

Houston, Texas, took in more Katrina refugees — 150,000 are still there — than any other city, and many citizens wish it hadn’t. Sixty percent of the newcomers are unemployed and living on handouts, and since last August, Houston’s murder rate has soared nearly 20 percent. Katrina evacuees are either the perps or victims in one out of every five murders.

School principal Audrey Nelson lives in an upscale neighborhood where thousands of evacuees moved into an apartment complex that was to be knocked down to make way for luxury condos. Earlier this summer, three former residents of New Orleans gunned down one of her neighbors at a carwash. “We opened our arms to these people after what they had experienced,” says Miss Nelson. “At my school, we collected clothes and toys and sleeping bags; anything we could to help them. But now we’ve seen what’s happened to our pleasant community and realized that many never plan to leave, the mood has changed.”

“There was a tremendous groundswell of goodwill and support for these people, but that is fast drying up,” says Rev. Walter Ellis of the Church of the Ascension. “This was a nice place to live with a community atmosphere before, but now car-jackings and homicides are a way of life around here. People are scared to walk alone at night. Some are getting guns, some are getting dogs, some are getting new security fences, many just want to leave. It’s a great shame.”

Crime has been good for some businesses. “We’ve seen a 50 per cent increase in people taking our concealed weapons courses since the Katrina evacuees arrived,” says firearms dealer Jim Pruett. “They are scared and they want to be able to defend themselves.” One of Mr. Pruett’s biggest sellers is a $370 pistol-grip, pump shotgun he calls the “looter shooter.” [Philip Sherwell, Texan Hosts Arm Against Crime Wave, Telegraph (London), Aug. 27, 2006.]

Unclogging the Pipeline

Average Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores of students is a major factor in the rankings of the nation’s law schools — the top schools have the highest averages — but critics say the test unfairly weeds out non-whites. During the 2002-2003 testing year, for example, the average score for whites was 153.9, Hispanics, 148.3 and blacks, 143.2 (scores on the LSAT range from 120 to 180). Law schools consider an applicant’s undergraduate GPA and faculty recommendations, but the LSAT score is the top predictor of ability. A low score “is a very serious warning sign that you won’t do well,” says Stanford Law School professor Robert Weisberg.

That worries people like Christopher Arriola, head of the Santa Clara County (Calif.) Bar Association, who wants more non-white lawyers. “The biggest clog in the [diversity] pipeline is the LSAT and getting through law school,” he says. “It discriminates against people of color who are not as adept at the cultural issues presented in the test.” (When asked for a LSAT question that discriminates against non-whites, Mr. Arriola’s could only come up with a long-out-of-date example from the SAT that has been circulating for years: a question that once used the word “regatta.”)

Barbara Schultz, a law professor at Berkeley, has made up a new test she hopes will complement the LSAT. “You really ought to care what makes an effective lawyer,” she says, rather than test irrelevant academic skills. Her test is supposed to measure 26 traits she thinks good lawyers should have: problem solving, communicating, practical judgment, etc., and she thinks it will increase the size of the non-white applicant pool. [Julie O’Shea, LSAT Not Passing Diversity Test? The Recorder (San Francisco), July 6, 2006.]

Too Many Zeroes

Inflation in Zimbabwe is currently running at 1,200 percent, the highest in the world. In order “to help commerce and everyday life” the country’s central bank recently decided to remove three zeroes from the currency. The US dollar, which previously traded for 250,000 Zimbabwean dollars, now goes for 250. Instead of paying a million dollars for a loaf of bread, Zimbabweans just pay 1,000 — if they have it. As Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono explained, “Our people are experiencing incredible hardships and inconveniences associated with too many zeroes.” [Bill Bonner, Running Out of Money, LewRockwell.com, Aug. 5, 2006.]

‘Racist’ Tots

According to Lord Ouseley, the former head of Britain’s Commission for Racial Equality, toddlers can be “racists.” He thinks children of different races should be encouraged to play together “from day one” in order to prevent bigotry and help them “unlearn any racist attitudes and behavior they may have already learned.” Jane Lane, a so-called “early years equality adviser” agrees: “There is a view that children do not learn their attitudes until they are about five. But people in the early years know that children at a very early age — at the age of three — are categorizing people. I am not talking about white children; I am talking about all children.” A BBC television show last year found that some children as young as four had supposedly absorbed what it called “racist stereotypes,” identifying blacks as “potential troublemakers and criminals.” The program also found that children of all backgrounds appear to prefer whites, associating them with success and trustworthiness.

The fear that young children are already on the path to wickedness has prompted calls for anti-racist day-care. At Sheffield Children’s Center, the staff exposes children to 15 languages to prevent them from thinking English-speakers are the norm. The center also celebrates many different holidays so children will learn there is “no one way to be.” And of course, it fights “racism and oppression.” [Justine East, Can Racism Be Nipped in the Bud?, Independent (London), Aug. 3, 2006.]

Ominous Signs

In August, the Census Bureau published the latest US population figures. Only one state, West Virginia, did not see an increase in the proportion of non-whites. Nationwide, the number of births to white women declined by 10 percent between 1990 and 2000, and by another two percent between 2000 and 2003 (black declines for the same periods were nine percent and five percent). Births to Hispanic women increased by 37 percent between 1990 and 2000, and by 12 percent from 2000 to 2003. During the three years from 2000 to 2003, at least five states reported increases of 40 percent or more in the number of births to Hispanic women (Kentucky — 80 percent, South Carolina — 62 percent, Alabama — 53 percent, Tennessee — 53 percent and Arkansas — 40 percent).

Dallas County, Texas, gained 175,000 Hispanics between 2000 and 2005, and lost 130,000 whites. In Harris County, Texas, the Hispanic population grew from 1.1 million to 1.4 million, while whites decreased from 1.5 million to 1.4 million. In Bexar County, Texas, which includes San Antonio, whites actually increased their numbers by 2,500 — but Hispanics increased theirs by 105,000.

There are now more non-white than white babies being born in Florida, which means it is in line to become the next white-minority state, along with California, Hawaii, New Mexico and Texas. Maryland, Mississippi, New York, Georgia, Arizona, and Louisiana are poised to follow.

Forty-five percent of Hispanic children are born out of wedlock, and Hispanic teenagers are the least likely of all racial and ethnic groups to use contraceptives when they first have sex.

[‘Explosion of Diversity’ Sweeps U.S., Census Shows, AP, August 15, 2006. Hispanic Birth Rate Soars in Southeast, AP, Aug. 9, 2006. Dallas County’s Demographics Changing To More Latinos, AP, August 9, 2006. Chris Echegaray and Doug Stanley, White Children Now In Minority, Tampa Tribune, August 15, 2006.]

Mexica v. Paul Harvey

The Mexica Movement, a militant wing of the reconquistadors, has called for a boycott of Walt Disney Company because it “has made a habit of hiring talk show hosts who spread the Minutemen white supremacist racist agenda.”

Chief among its enemies is the legendary Paul Harvey, a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a revered elder statesman of radio. The Mexica Movement’s web site denounced Mr. Harvey, along with the popular Doug McIntyre as “the top racist Nazis in this campaign against our people . . . [and guilty of] promoting an atmosphere of fear in our communities.” The group further blasted Paul Harvey as “the KKK of the radio airwaves.”

Mexica wants “the immediate firing of all of Disney’s ABC racist radio terrorists who are spreading racist hate against the Mexican and Central American community by inciting threats of violence against us.” [WorldNetDaily.com, Hispanic Group Boycotts Disney ‘White Supremacists,’ July 15, 2006.]