Them

In 2003, I wrote an undergraduate thesis about white racialists (KKK, Skinheads, Aryan Nation, etc.) and their public image in America. My paper argued, amongst other things, that popular culture portrayals of the 1990s and 2000s have affected the American understanding of what is and isn't a racist. This separating, categorizing, and typing of white racialists could have the effect of misleading the general America public about the dangers around them. If movies continue to portray dangerous racists as members of specific organized groups or set types, Americans might be unable to recognize that their neighbor or fellow-church goer is a dangerous, if atypical-from-the-movies, racist.

Or, sadly, that their elected leaders are: case-in-point, former Education Secretary William Bennett.

On his radio show, Bennett said that the crime rate of America would go down if all black babies were aborted. I'm not making that up. The unabashed Bennett feels he shouldn't apologize because, "I don't think people have the right to be angry, if they look at the whole thing. But if they get a selective part of my comment, I can see why they would be angry. If somebody thought I was advocating that, they ought to be angry. I would be angry."

Now, here's the problem and the thing that stinks like Weimar-era Germany vintage 1929: how come Bennett doesn't feel like he has to apologize for the fact that he believes blacks and crime are inextricably linked? And why aren't the newspapers more angry about that subtext? In fact, why aren't they talking about it at all? Genocide is awful, as are claims to commit them for the betterment of society, hypothetical or no. But with every thought of genocide comes its sister prejudice, the germ of justifiable hate. The majority of rapists are heterosexual white men. So, should we abort all white boys? Or should we wait until puberty to see if they are straight to annihilate them? Sure one could argue that killing heterosexual white men would drastically diminish sexual assault... Just like one can claim that blacks are the cause of our crime rate because statistics say so... But our culture, our society, all play into these statistics.

In fact, the crime rate in America is at record lows from the 1970s... I wonder if advancements in Civil Rights and war against poverty have anything to do with this? So, say the subtext of Bennett's statement is correct--that blacks are inextricably linked to the American crime rate. Well, one could just as well argue that if we continue to provide more equality in the United States, really attempt to give the poor a fighting chance (because since the dawn of this country race and class have been linked), and abolish racists like Bennett from the powerhouses of our government, the crime rate would be lowered. How does that sound as an alternative to genocide? I like it much better, personally.

The scariest thing to me is that this man has been appointed to serve our country by Reagan and Bush Sr., father of President Minime, Bush Jr. And the man is using the same rhetoric that the nutjob, far rightists use in the magazines, listserves, and websites I researched for my thesis. Abortion is awful when it affects white population control (again, scary flashbacks to post-World War I Europe), but when it's used to control the population of lesser races, it's okay. Seriously, Bennett's statement could be taken from any Aryan Nations speech or KKK website. And the man was in charge of the education system of the United States!

Plus, he's friends with the Bushes (because isn't that how our leaders are chosen under their administrations..ahem, Mike Brown?) And you don't think Bush agrees with him? Seriously, ask yourself this, would you be friends with someone who thought this way? Actually, let's rephrase, could you be friends with someone who believed this way? Apparently our two of our last Republican presidents can, one of whom is the father of our current leader.