UPDATE: Eddie Griffin provides a great response to Pat Buchanan. Check it out!
A villager recently wondered what the conversation about race looks like when only white people are talking about it. Pat Buchanan decided to let us peek behind the curtain in his column entitled, 'A Brief for Whitey'. Buchanan's response to Barack Obama's historic speech on race: "We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?"
Discussing Sen. Barack Obama's speech addressing race and controversial comments by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Pat Buchanan wrote in his syndicated column: "Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American." Buchanan then asserted that "no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans,"
Buchanan asserts, "America has been the best country on earth for Black folks. It was here that 600,000 Black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity Blacks have ever known." Buchanan continued, "Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American." Buchanan then asserted that "no people anywhere has done more to lift up Blacks than white Americans."
Buchanan lets us know how right-wing white folks feel about race relations. There doesn't appear any room for an open discussion. Rather, Buchanan informs us that "...no people anywhere has done more to lift up Blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the '60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African American community into the mainstream. Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks - with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas -- to advance black applicants over white applicants. Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks".
You think that I'm lying about Pat Buchanan's representation of the white response to Barack Obama's speech? Click here to see the full Buchanan column.
I guess this is where African Americans are supposed to bow our heads, get down on both knees and say 'Thank you Mr. Charlie ... Thank you sir for all the good things you done did for our p
eoples'. Is it just me, or do you get the feeling that Patrick Buchanan and his supporters would just assume see Black folks back in chains?As for presidential politics, I wonder if this is what John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton think about race relations as well? Maybe that is why Team Clinton continues on in the race. Hillary and Bill must not feel the gratitude from Barack Obama for just being allowed to live in America in the first place.
Pat Buchanan appears to be pulling out every racist stereotype about African Americans that were ever uttered as part of the thesis in his column. But, perhaps I'm over-reacting. What is your take on Pat Buchanan's race relations column?
