O Tempora, O Mores! (May, 2007)
American Renaissance, May 2007
Safe for Whites
Most of the 406 people murdered in Philadelphia last year died from gunshot wounds. Overall, the city had 2,004 shootings in 2006, up 31 percent from 1,528 in 2001, which means that on average five people are shot in Philadelphia every day. Most shootings take place on weekends (349 on Saturday, 336 on Sunday) between 9 pm and 2 am, with the most (192) from midnight to one am. Philadelphia criminals are not early risers — they shot only 23 people between 9 am and 10 am. Most shooting victims (75 percent) are black men, and most are between 18 and 25 years old. The majority of shootings are in poor black neighborhoods. There is very little violence in rich, white areas.
Criminologist Lawrence W. Sherman of the University of Pennsylvania spouts the usual mush: Shootings reflect a “systematic placement of black males at the bottom of the social structure,” leaving them feeling “rejected” and prone to violence. “We have to recognize the role of concentrated black poverty,” he says.
He may have a point, however, when he says that “the untold story, the story the hotels want you to write, is that Philadelphia is a very safe place for white people.” Indeed, of the 2,004 shooting victims in 2006, only 341 were “white.” Since the Philadelphia police call Hispanics white, the actual number of white shooting victims is probably very small. [Robert Moran, Phila. Shootings Up 31% Since ‘01, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 18, 2007.]
Rape in Liberia
According to a survey by the medical aid agency Merlin, three out of four Liberian women have been raped. Some of the victims are as young as three years old. Claire Parker, who is reproductive health coordinator for the agency, says nearly half the victims she sees are under age 12, and that some are as young as three. As she explains, “If a person is seeking a position of power here, there is a traditional belief which says that if you spill the blood of a child, or take the virginity of a child, that will give you increased power.”
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected woman head of state, has promised to crack down on sexual violence but Miss Parker doesn’t think much will change. “The vast majority of rape cases don’t even make it to a conviction, let alone to the imprisonment of the perpetrator,” she says. “People are reluctant to report rape cases because of the shame that goes along with it.” [Kate Thomas, Three Out of Four Liberian Women Have Been Raped, Survey Finds, Independent (London), March 8, 2007.]
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin seems to have a habit of saying what he really thinks. The mayor angered many whites when he predicted last year that despite the population decline that followed Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans would still be a “chocolate city.” In March, Mr. Nagin told an audience of black newspaper publishers and editors that the slow recovery of his city is part of a conspiracy against New Orleans and other black-run cities to dilute their racial makeup and change their political leadership. “Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere,” he said. “They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community.” He added that his “chocolate city” remark made him a target for people who want to make sure he goes no further. [Hamil R. Harris, Nagin Suspects a Plot to Keep Blacks Away, Washington Post, March 17, 2007.]
According to US Census Bureau estimates, native-born Americans are fleeing US cities. Between 2000 and 2006, more than 600,000 natives moved from New York, 200,000 from Los Angeles, 188,000 from San Francisco, and 101,000 from Boston. The native-born are even leaving smaller cities like Ames, Iowa and Battle Creek, Michigan. These cities are not losing population, however, because immigrants are replacing the native-born. Despite losing more than half a million natives, New York City actually grew 2.7 percent between 2000 and 2006, and Los Angeles grew 4.7 percent.
The Census Bureau says there are 36 million immigrants living in the United States — the most ever — and suspects that at least a third are here illegally. [Without Immigrants, Metro Areas Would Shrink, AP, April 5, 2007.]
Still Milking It
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center recently sold a collection of the great man’s papers — more than 10,000 documents — to the city of Atlanta for $32 million. The papers will be kept at King’s black alma mater, Morehouse College. Given this windfall, one would think the King Center wouldn’t mind if others collected a few crumbs from the “King legacy,” but no, the center wants it all.
A woman who claims to be a childhood friend of King’s plans to auction off a small collection of his papers she has had for nearly 40 years. The unidentified woman says she got the papers, which include first drafts of speeches and letters, as part of a debt settlement with a radio station with which King was once affiliated. Bidding starts on April 15, and the 25 documents could fetch $100,000 to $300,000.
The King family is fighting the sale. “Unless the woman has documentation that the papers were given to her, they are owned by the King Estate,” says Isaac Newton Farris, president and chief executive officer of the King Center. [Another Set of King Documents Set for Auction, AP, April 3, 2007.]
Too Old, Too White
New York state’s Division of Human Rights enforces the state’s anti-discrimination laws. A black woman, Kumiki Gibson, who had been acting head of the division since January, was officially appointed to the job in March. Miss Gibson is a former senior vice president of the National Urban League and was once an advisor to Al Gore.
The day after the New York senate confirmed her appointment, two white former employees filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), accusing Miss Gibson of age and race discrimination. Michele Heitzner, 60, former deputy commissioner, and Martha Furlong, 63, who worked in the personnel department, say Miss Gibson fired them because they were old and white. They say that when Miss Gibson took over as acting commissioner, she had a conference call with all her employees, in which she said she wanted “young folks, young people” working for her, and that as a “woman of color” she wanted to bring “diversity” to the agency. Miss Heitzner says Miss Gibson told her “that she did not see a place for me in ‘her vision.’” Miss Furlong says Miss Gibson told her “that I did not ‘fit’ in with her plans for the division.”
The lawyer for the two women says they will also sue in federal and state courts. Miss Gibson denies any wrongdoing. [Fredric U. Dicker, Rights Wronged Us: Suit, New York Post, March 8, 2007, p. 5.]
Britain has well established racial gaps in school performance. Passing rates for the national curriculum test for English, given at age 11, are: Chinese – 86 percent, Indians – 85 percent, whites – 80 percent. For many Indians and Chinese, English is not their native language.
Between the ages of 14 and 16, British children are tested for what is called the General Certificate of Secondary Education, or GCSE. Again, there are well established racial differences in the percentages of students who get top grades in five or more subjects: Chinese – 65.8 percent, Indians – 59.1 percent, and whites – 44.3 percent. Blacks do poorly, with only 22.7 percent, but they are not the worst group. That honor goes to Gypsies, or Roma as they now like to be called. Only four percent get top grades in five or more subjects.
At the next level of secondary achievement, Chinese boys are four times more likely than white boys to earn three or more A (advanced) level ratings in science, and Indian boys are three times more likely. [Richard Garner, Chinese Pupils Eclipse All Other Ethnic Groups in English Tests, Independent (London), Feb. 21, 2007.]
The Central Intelligence Agency has done a lot of hiring since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Forty percent of all current personnel have joined since then, with the agency setting a hiring record in 2006. It expects to set another record next year. The agency particularly wants people who speak Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and other so-called “mission critical” languages (only 12 percent of agency hires are proficient in foreign languages).
Director Michael Hayden is using the hiring boom to get a more exotic racial mix, on the assumption that in many countries non-whites will make more convincing spies. In 2006, 23 percent of new employees were black, Hispanic, Asian or Indian. The CIA also wants Americans of Arabic, Iranian, and South Asian descent.
Today, half of all CIA managers are women or non-whites. Thirty percent of CIA station chiefs are either women or non-whites, as are 35 percent of Director Hayden’s senior advisors. That’s not enough, says associate deputy director Michael Morell: “We need to do better.” [Stephen Barr, Fast-Changing CIA Puts New Emphasis on Recruiting, Washington Post, Feb. 19, 2007.]
The CIA is also airing radio spots, touting America as the most diverse nation on earth, and claiming it is our greatest strength. The ads are voiced by a black man.
Better than Detroit
In a March radio interview about Iraq, Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI) told host Jack Elbing that 80 to 85 percent of the country “is reasonably under control, at least as well as Detroit or Chicago or any of our other big cities. That’s an encouraging sign.” When Mr. Elbing said he hadn’t heard Iraq compared to Detroit before, Rep. Walberg added, “Well, in fact, in many places it’s as safe and cared for as Detroit or Harvey, Illinois, or some other places that have trouble with armed violence . . .”
Spokesmen for Detroit and Harvey, both 80 percent black, denounced the congressman’s remarks. “It’s absurd to compare Detroit and Iraq in any way,” complained James Canning, a spokesman for Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. “Unfortunately, for years people have beat up on the city of Detroit. Detroit is the word for negative. We are working very hard to transform that image of our city.”
Harvey mayor Eric Kellogg was less diplomatic, saying Rep. Walberg’s comments take “racial profiling and stereotyping to extreme levels . . . [W]e still have members of Congress who suffer from the highest levels of ignorance and stupidity.” [Michigan Congressman Who Says Parts of Baghdad ‘As Safe’ as Detroit Draws Criticism, AP, March 22, 2007.]
France will be holding the first round of presidential elections on April 22, and polls show a tight race between Socialist Ségolène Royal and conservative frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy.
During a campaign swing through the Caribbean island of Martinique, Miss Royal gushed, “Miscegenation is an opportunity for France.” She added that as president she would encourage immigration and would be “president of a France that is mixed-race and proud of it.”
Not to be outdone, at a campaign rally January 14 in Paris, Mr. Sarkozy departed from his prepared text to praise “a France that understands that creation comes from mixing, from openness, from coming together, and from — I’m not afraid of the word — miscegenation.” [Ségo et Nico Apôtres de la France Métisse, Rivarol (Paris), Feb. 2, 2007, p. 2.]
Too Many Handouts
Hanne Nabintu Herland is a mixed-race Norwegian religious historian who grew up in Africa. She’s also the author of a new book that claims Norwegians and their over-generous welfare system are the reason so many immigrants are unemployed.
“To criticize the [jobless] foreigners is like criticizing the symptoms and not the problem,” she adds, accusing social workers of “waiting at the airport and doling out social services available for asylum seekers and immigrants” instead of sending them to classes where they could learn to be “Norwegian.” “Lots of people have interpreted this as an invitation not to work. Many have viewed Norway as a country where the state pays your monthly salary and where housing is provided.”
Norwegians, she concludes, “automatically feel sorry for people with dark skin. We put them on welfare, instead of putting them to work.” This is because Norwegians think Third-Worlders cannot work; Norway has developed “a rock-hard segregated society, where people are evaluated in terms of ethnicity, not competence.” [Historian Blames Immigrant Woes on ‘Segregated Society,’ Aftenposten (Norway), Jan. 15, 2007.]
The senate of the state of North Carolina has unanimously voted an apology for the state’s role in slavery. Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, who is white, said the apology will help legislators “to try to be better children of God and better representatives of all the people of this state.”
Black senators called the vote a good first step: “This is a noble gesture, but . . . don’t let it end here,” said Democratic Sen. Larry Shaw. “There’s plenty of work to be done.” The North Carolina house has yet to vote on the bill, so the apology is still unofficial. [N.C. Senate Apologizes For Slavery and Jim Crow Laws, AP, April 6, 2007.]
In March, the Maryland legislature unbosomed a similar apology, expressing “profound regret” that the state’s citizens once “trafficked in human flesh.” [Maryland Issues Apology for Its Role in Slavery AP, March 27, 2007.] Virginia started this recent trend, and the Missouri legislature is considering a similar proposal.
