O Tempora, O Mores! (July, 2008)
American Renaissance, July 2008
Ditching the SAT
Despite what college admissions officers say publicly, the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) is basically an IQ test, and blacks and Hispanics do not do as well on it as whites and Asians. Repeated revisions and re-scorings have not changed this fact. Since today’s colleges are more interested in “diversity” than in scholastic aptitude, and the SAT stands in the way, many schools no longer require it. In May, Smith College in Massachusetts and Wake Forest University in North Carolina became the latest to make the SAT optional.
At Wake Forest, admissions director Martha Allman says ditching the SAT is part of the schools’ effort to increase “socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic diversity in the student body.” She also claims research has shown that SAT performance is linked to family income, and that the test does not predict success in college. In fact, SAT scores are excellent predictors of success in college, and they are “linked” to family income because income is generally related to IQ.
Educational consultant Jack McGuire wants even more colleges to make the SAT optional. “I do think it improves a school’s image,” he said. “It shows what’s important to schools, if they’re really interested in increasing diversity.” [Elizabeth Landau, More Colleges Move Toward Optional SATs, CNN, May 30, 2008.]
UNbelievable
Doudou Diene is a Senegalese lawyer who works as a “racism” investigator for the United Nations Human Rights Council, and is now in the United States looking for wickedness. As the UN puts it, he will “gather first-hand information on issues related to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” while he visits Washington, New York, Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Mr. Diene has had practice at this. He has been on official sniffing expeditions to Japan, Switzerland and Brazil, and warned in 2006 that racism is “coming out of the closet” all around the world and infecting government policy.
The UN has no authority over US affairs, but that hasn’t stopped it from scolding us for profiling Arabs, Muslims and South Asians, and for mistreating immigrants and foreigners. It also wants the US to abolish the death penalty, claiming non-whites get it more often than they should.
American officials are trying to placate the UN. They have explained that America is “combating hate crimes such as displays of hangman’s nooses and police brutality against minorities” and that 800 “racially motivated incidents” against Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs or South Asians have been investigated since the 2001 terrorist attacks. [Stephanie Nebehay, UN Racism Investigator to Visit US, Reuters, May 16, 2008.]
Tutu Speaks
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu thinks white Americans were wrong to get “very, very upset” over Barack Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright. He says that Rev. Wright “may have said more crudely what, actually, almost every African-American would have wanted to say. I mean that is how they feel in your country, that race . . . is a very, very real issue. And I think on the whole you keep trying to pretend that it isn’t.”
Mr. Tutu also faults the US for offering blacks the “illusion of equality:” “You say to them, ‘You’re equal, and the sky’s the limit.’ And they keep bumping their heads against this thing that’s stopping them from reaching out to the stars.” He says race will haunt Americans until they talk about it honestly in a “reconciliation forum.”
Mr. Tutu, who lead South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was in the US to receive the Lincoln Leadership Prize from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Association. Television personality Oprah Winfrey presented it to him. [Storer H. Rowley, Desmond Tutu: Equality for US Blacks an Illusion, Chicago Tribune, May 14, 2008.]
Big Brother
Massachusetts is one of the most liberal states in the country and has a black governor, Deval Patrick, but the state still suffers from a “hostile racial climate,” which is a holdover from the busing debacles of the 1970s. That’s according to a new group called the Commonwealth Compact, which wants to make the Bay State’s workforce more “diverse.” Noting with horror that 94 percent of the board members of the state’s largest corporations are white and 87 percent are men, the Commonwealth Compact wants to shame companies into hiring more non-whites and women.
The plan is to launch a major PR campaign to get companies to sign up for an inquisition — 76, including Wal-Mart, have already done so — under which they tell Commonwealth Compact all about their employees, senior management, and who applies for jobs. They will also pledge to hire more non-whites and women. The Commonwealth Compact says it will report the data only by industry, not by company, so as to avoid finger-pointing — at least for now.
Marc Bendick, a Washington-based diversity consultant, thinks it should rat companies out right away. “Discrimination reported that way [by industry] is a villainy without a villain,” he says. “Until you put pressure on companies through shame or possible litigation to change their behavior, you’re not really going to accomplish anything that’s different from what’s long prevailed under EEOC reporting requirements.” Promises aren’t good enough, he adds. “Companies that make those pledges tend to have a slightly higher representation of underrepresented groups, but it is very marginal. This is not a very effective way to move employment practices forward.” [John C. Drake, Push is Set for Workplace Diversity, Boston Globe, May 19, 2008.]
Charities could get the same pressure. The California lower house recently passed a bill that would make charities with assets of $250 million or more report the composition by race and erotic orientation of their own boards and staffs, the boards and staffs of the charities they support, and explain how much money they give to non-white causes. Supporters of the bill claim they are just asking for information, but the goal, obviously, is to force charities to hire non-whites and fund pressure groups. Critics say the California bill is just the first step, and that similar laws covering all foundations nationwide are already being readied. The bill was to go to the California senate in June. [Heather R. Higgins, The ‘Diversity’ Threat to California Charities, Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2008.]
Monolingual Miami
In the 1950s, whites were 80 percent of the population of Miami. By 2006, that number had fallen to 18.5 percent, and will fall to 14 percent by 2015. Miami is now 60 percent Hispanic, and 58.5 percent of the population speaks Spanish. Half the Spanish speakers do not speak fluent English. Only 27.2 percent of the population speaks English only, even though the city is technically still part of the United States.
It is easy to go through life without speaking a word of English. Melissa Green, a Miami native who works as a florist, says life is difficult because she doesn’t speak Spanish. “It makes it hard for some people to find a job because they don’t speak Spanish, and I don’t think that it is right,” she says. Lauren McCleary, another English-speaking native moved to Vermont. “I don’t like being there anymore,” she says. “It is very, very different . . . I can’t speak their language.”
Juan Clark, a sociology professor at Miami Dade College, says, “The Anglo population is leaving. One of the reactions is to emigrate toward the north. They resent the fact that [an American] has to learn Spanish . . .” [Gisela Salomon, In Miami, Spanish is Becoming the Primary Language, AP, May 29, 2008.]
Chickens Roosting in LA
South Los Angeles, once known as South Central, used to be the center of California’s black population. In 1980, it was 71 percent black and 27 percent Hispanic. By 2000, the numbers had reversed: 74 percent Hispanic and 24 percent black. The shift has brought many changes, one of which is a plague of livestock: chickens, goats, geese, ducks, pigs and even ponies. Regulations ban farm animals as health hazards, and roosters because of the noise they make, but the city does not have the manpower to enforce regulations.
“I’ve lived here 50 years,” says retired librarian G. Stone. “All of a sudden there’s an influx of chickens. You’re not supposed to have chickens in the city.” Tony Johnson, another black resident agrees: “Sometimes, I think it’s Mexico.” Jose Luiz doesn’t understand what the fuss is about. “It’s natural to have roosters,” he explains. “I’m Mexican. We are accustomed to hearing them.” [Jessica Garrison, South LA Backyards are Becoming Barnyards, Los Angeles Times, May 25, 2008.]
Italy Moves Right
In April, Italian voters returned conservative billionaire businessman Silvio Berlusconi to power with a center-right government pledged to tackle the problem of illegal immigration. His coalition partners include both the nationalist Northern League (Lega Nord) and the National Alliance. (Gianni Alemanno, the Alliance’s candidate for mayor of Rome, won office promising to expel 20,000 illegals.) The Berlusconi government was quick to keep its word. In May, it passed laws making it easier to expel illegals and making illegal entry punishable by up to four years in prison. Illegals intercepted on the way to Italy can now be held in detention for up to 18 months. The government also promises to crack down on Gypsies, who commit a disproportionate share of crime. The usual people are complaining that Italy is experiencing a “racism wave,” that Prime Minister Berlusconi is creating a “climate of discrimination,” and that the government is “legitimizing racist language.” [Italy Condemned for ‘Racism Wave,’ BBC, May 28, 2008.]
Saving the Tribe
The Kalinagos of Dominica are the last remaining pre-Colombian Indian tribe in the eastern Caribbean. Of the 4,000 who live on the tribe’s 3,800-acre reservation, only 1,000 are full-blooded Kalinagos. The rest are mixed, usually with a Kalinago father and a non-Kalinago mother. Kalinago women who marry outsiders usually leave the reservation. As a measure to save the tribe, Chief Charles Williams wants the Dominican government to pass a law requiring Kalinagos to marry other Kalinagos. He also wants non-Kalinagos barred from living on the reservation. Dominican legislators have so far refused. Such a law would “legislate who a person can marry, and this cannot be so,” says Sen. Claduous Stanford. [Intermarriage Bans to Save Tribe Met with Opposition, Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, May 12, 2008, p. 23A.]
Watson Grovels On
Last fall, DNA co-discoverer James Watson got into trouble when he told a British newspaper that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really.” People who know nothing about race and IQ denounced Dr. Watson. Speeches and a book tour were cancelled and the science laboratory James Watson made famous forced him out. He did himself no credit (and no good) by issuing an apology in which he said there is no scientific support for racial differences in IQ.
Dr. Watson continues to go astray. In early June, he gave an interview to The Root, an online black culture magazine owned by the Washington Post. Root editor (and Harvard University professor) Henry Louis Gates, Jr. asked Dr. Watson if he was still gloomy about Africa’s future. His reply: “Not if we educate them. I think we’ve got to focus on education.” He also says he doesn’t believe there is a link between race and IQ: “You can’t tell me that Ethiopians are stupid. Jesus. So they test very low on IQ, but I know enough of them — they’re bright.” [Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Color, Controversy and DNA, TheRoot.com, June 2, 2008.]
Allah Behind Bars
Muslims make up just 12 percent of the French population, but between 60 and 70 percent of all prison inmates. In Britain, they make up three percent of the population and 11 percent of prison inmates. Muslims are 5.5 percent of the population in Holland, but 20 percent of adult prisoners and 26 percent of all juveniles in lock up. Belgium is just two percent Muslim, but Muslims are 16 percent of the prison population.
Why are so many Muslims in prison? Sebastian Roche, research director for the French National Center for Scientific Research, blames it on “discrimination.” He says French society isolates Muslims in ghettos, robbing them of hope for “social advancement.” Jeanne Sautière, director of integration and religious groups for the French prison system, has a slightly better explanation: “Many immigrants arrive in France in difficult financial situations, which make delinquency more frequent,” she says, adding the obligatory disclaimer: “The most important thing is to say there is no correlation between Islam and delinquency.” [Molly Moore, In France, Prisons Filled with Muslims, Washington Post, April 29, 2008.]
Grant Warren is a 54-year-old white farmer in Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Thieves have broken into his house four times in the last four months alone, so he always keeps a loaded weapon handy.
At 10 pm on the evening of April 30, Mr. Warren and his wife Muffy were packing for a trip when their dog started barking. Mr. Warren went out to investigate, but saw nothing. Two hours later, he and his wife were watching television in their bedroom, when two blacks fired shots through the window and burst inside. “I rolled over to get my weapon and fell on the floor,” he recalls. “Both men jumped on me. One held me down while the other stabbed me.”
Mr. Warren managed to get his hand free and shot one of the men, who ran away. He then shot the other two or three times. The fatally-wounded man bit Mr. Warren on the arm. “My wife hit him on the head with the bedside lamp. I then hit him on the head with my gun.” When the man finally lost consciousness the Warrens called police. Officers found a hole in the electric fence guarding the property. [Sharika Regchand, Fight-back Farmer Kills Midnight Attacker, Natal Mercury (Durban), May 2, 2008.]
