Let’s just put it out there — Pat Buchanan is racist or, should I say “white supremacist”?

The former member of Congress, presidential candidate and frequent talk-show contributor puts on an air of congeniality and feigns sage wisdom but, if you actually pay attention to what he says and writes, it’s clear that he feels that if white men are not in charge, we are doomed.

Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, author of “The Isis Papers”, once stated that white supremacy exists “for the ultimate purpose of white genetic survival and to prevent white genetic annihilation on planet Earth - a planet upon which the vast majority of people are classified as nonwhite (black, brown, red and yellow) by white skinned people, and all of the nonwhite people are genetically dominant (in terms of skin coloration) compared to the genetic recessive white skin people.”

In other words…it’s the fear of a black planet.

Sound crazy? Well, think about the above as you read what Pat Buchanan says in his latest book, “Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, And Greed Are Tearing America Apart”(thanks to Media Matters for the catch):

“How is America committing suicide? Every way a nation can.

The American majority is not reproducing itself. Its birthrate has been below replacement level for decades. Forty-five million of its young have been destroyed in the womb since Roe v. Wade, as Asian, African, and Latin American children come to inherit the estate the lost generation of American children never got to see.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, from 2005 to 2006, our minority population rose 2.4 million to exceed 100 million. Hispanics, 1 percent of the U.S. population in 1950, are now 14.4 percent. Since 2000, their numbers have soured 25 percent to 45 million. The U.S. Asian population grew by 24 percent since 2000, as the number of white kids of school age fell 4 percent. Half the children five and younger today are minority children.” (Pages 7-8)

In other words, he fears white genetic annihilation and is sound an alarm to white people that, if they don’t get to making babies, they are doomed. Oh, but it gets worse. Here’s another passage from the book that should make it even clearer about where Buchanan is coming from:

“Almost as many African-American males are in jail or prison as are in colleges or universities. Half of all African-American and Hispanic students drop out of high school. The other half graduates with the math and reading skills of seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders. Yet by 2050 the number of African-Americans and Hispanics will have almost doubled from today’s 85 million, to 160 million. The future seems more ominous than it did in the hopeful days of civil rights. For these burgeoning scores of millions will not long accept second-class accommodations in the affluent society, where they are the emerging majority. The long hot summers of yesterday may be returning.”

In other words, the ignorant hordes of n*ggers and sp*cs are coming and white people will no longer be able to contain them.

It would be humourous except that, nearly every night of the week, he is on MSNBC or PBS, allowed to speak as a voice of credibility on a myriad of issues and, therefore, has an audience to which he can peddle this garbage.

I once heard a sort of joke that goes something like this — what’s the difference between a racist and a white supremacist? A racist doesn’t want to be around minorities at all. A white supremacist doesn’t mind being around minorities, as long as he’s in charge.

I guess I see to whom that joke refers.

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I’ve been meaning to speak on this for a little while now but, I am just now getting around to it.

You might remember me posting about ColorOfChange.org. Color of Change is a group that brings black activism to the web. One of its campaigns has been to raise money for the legal defense of the Jena 6.

However, despite their best efforts, this did not stop them from being the subject of attack by radio talk-show host Michael Baisden. Baisden had Marcus Jones on his show. Jones is the father of one of the Jena 6, Mychal Bell. On this show, Jones claimed that ColorOfChange.org was collecting money against the wishes of the Jena 6 families. Bell and Baisden went on to claim that Color Of Change had been pocketing the money for themselves, even saying that a $10,000 donation made by David Bowie was kept by Color Of Change.

Unfortunately, this was untrue and this dishonesty was spread across the airwaves.

Where do I begin? First, Bowie never made a $10,000 donation for the Jena 6 defense to Color of Change. That donation was made to the NAACP (see the press release from the NAACP).

To date, Color of Change has raised over $230,000 for the legal fees of the the Jena 6 and their attorneys have acknowledged receipt of the funds.

Now, honestly, I would have cut Baisden some slack, had I not been informed of the background. You see, Baisden’s interview with Jones was on November 5th. But, Baisden’s staffers had contacted Color Of Change in October for information regarding these allegations and Color Of Change provided them with information supporting the fact that they were operating above-board:

James Rucker (Director for Color Of Change) has talked with Baisden directly, and at his direction, with Pamela Exum, his business manager, and Yvonne Gilliam, his publicist. From the start, we have explained our procedures to Baisden and his staff; we had them verify payments were received by lawyers; we had them verify our process with the lawyers and families–it was in response to an inquiry they started, driven by Marcus Jones’ accusations almost two months ago.

In fact, Yvonne Gilliam faxed us Marcus’ Jones authorization to release funds. It makes it clear that Baisden’s staff knew that Marcus knew ColorOfChange.org and that he had asked us to direct funds to his attorney.

In mid-October, Yvonne Gilliam, who works for Baisden indicated by phone that every lawyer she’d contacted had received their checks.

But, despite knowing the truth, they went on ahead with the show.

However, it gets even better.
Read More… »

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Okay, I’m about a day late getting this to you but, last night, NBC Nightly News began a week-long series on African-American women. In it, they are examining the progress of black women in terms of education and careers, familial relationships, politics and health.

This sounds like it could actually be a pleasant alternative to the media images of black people that are normally splashed across television screens. Therefore, I encourage you to check it out and give NBC your feedback on this coverage. Perhaps they can be inspired to be more inclusive in their coverage in the future.

At any rate, I think I’ll be checking it out.

Popularity: 34% [?]

As we approach World AIDS Day 2007 (December 1), we need to be mindful of just how serious a concern HIV/AIDS really is. With all that’s going on in the world, we seem to overlook this serious issue, despite that it’s a big problem in this country, as well.

In the past, I had read articles about the AIDS rate in Washington, D.C. but, I hadn’t really paid attention to the numbers — until today. Where the national average for AIDS cases is 14 per 100,000 people, D.C. has a rate of 128 per 100,000 (over 9 times the national average). Furthermore, in 2005, a full 9% of pediatric AIDS cases in the United States were in D.C.

City officials say that people aren’t going in for testing so, infections are not detected until they develop into full-blown AIDS.

Again, World AIDS Day is this Saturday. Get tested and be safe.

Popularity: 19% [?]

This is far from scientific but, it is a disturbing sign of the times.

Recently, at the Steelyard Commons shopping center in Cleveland, Ohio, some 6,000 people applied for 300 positions at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Now, we are not talking executive position or highly-skilled roles. We are talking about low-paying retail jobs.

This pales in comparison two what happened at two Illinois Wal-Mart stores even smaller than the one in Cleveland. There, they had 25,000 and 15,000 applicants, respectively.

Experts say that this is “an indication not only of a less-than-stellar economy but also of a workforce short on marketable skills.”

So, what we may be seeing is an indication of what happens as the gap between rich and poor increases. Sadly, this is not the stuff of political stump speeches so, we’d better not wait for a candidate to address these concerns. For our families’ sakes, we need to speak on it, now.

Popularity: 34% [?]

As I think about the housing crisis, I can only think of the words of one of my favorite talk show host, Joe Madison, saying that black people are “undervalued, underestimated and marginalized.” You see, for many years, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been railing against predatory lending. Of course, their warnings went unheeded. Now, we stand on the edge of financial catastrophe in this country, largely fueled by a lot of bad home loans — with a disproportionate amount of them made to people of color.

However, the question that’s not really been pursued in the mainstream press is “where minorities steered into bad loans when they could have otherwise been offered more conventional loans?” An article I read causes me to think that this was very likely the case.

In September, the Federal Reserve released a study that found 52.8 percent of African-Americans got a high-cost home loan when they refinanced in 2006, compared to 37.7 percent of Latinos and just 25.7 percent of whites in the same year.

A similar study by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by its acronym ACORN, in September found the same pattern even when income was equal.

According to ACORN, upper-income blacks were 3.3 times, and Latinos 3 times, more likely than upper-income whites to have a high-cost loan when purchasing a home in 2006.

“I keep hoping one day I’ll do a study where race doesn’t play a part,” said Liz Wolff, author of the ACORN study.

“But clearly, there is a racial bias,” she added.

So, the foreclosures climb and more and more Americans are losing their homes. But, we have to ask, how many minority families are going to lose their homes because they were steered into loans by people who felt that it was okay to, basically, rip off people of color.

Popularity: 27% [?]

As I get older, I become my cynical. This is probably why, when I see politicians actually doing something that would benefit black folks, I look at the calendar.

While I like seeing something done to specifically address concerns that adversely affect black folks, I realize that this is not a payback for past support but, more often than not, a minimal effort to garner black good will in hopes it will translate to votes.

This is what I see with an effort by a leading Democrat to increase black male employment in Washington, DC. New York Senator Charles Schumer will introduce legislation to get more black men in the workforce by offering job training and earned income tax credits as an incentive.

However, like I said, is see these as token gestures. If politicians are really interested in full employment for American people, they would be pushing for things like bringing manufacturing back to America, paying a living wage for Americans, not undercutting the American worker by hiring illegal labor (to avoid paying the prevailing wage) and incentivizing small businesses to hire more employees.

Now, don’t get me wrong — job training is vital. However, this is one step in a process, not a solution. If congresspeople like Schumer aren’t tackling these larger issues, as well, we’ll have people trained for jobs that are not really available.

Popularity: 17% [?]

“We ask black people: it’s time. It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don’t care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day.”

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Jan. 17, 2006

It’s been nearly 2 years since Ray Nagin made that declaration but, sadly, it seems that between Hurricane Katrina, broken levees, FEMA and President Bush’s broken promises, a black New Orleans is looking like a thing of the past.

Months back, we saw efforts to purge displaced black voters from New Orleans’s rolls. So, we knew what was at hand.

Now, another sign indicating the displacement of black people has appeared. For the first time in two decades, a majority-white city council has been elected.

I believe that this is just a foreshadowing of things to come. New Orleans, with its flaws, was still a vibrant and important piece of black Americana. Sadly, today, this appears to be washing away.

Popularity: 30% [?]

It should be of little surprise that, in times of heightened national fear or crisis, that hate crimes go up in this country. When people are unable or afraid to challenge those in power, they, instead, find a scapegoat for their problems.

So, as the financial problems in this country mount, you won’t see bankers or politicians in the crosshairs. Instead, you’ll see a lot of average folks, mostly minorities, who’ll face the backlash.

The FBI is reporting that the number of reported hate crimes increased by 8% in 2006. This just leaves one to wonder what 2007 will bring as we see the number of nooses popping up in workplaces on the rise. Our history shows that when the harsh words and symbols start becoming more frequent, action often follows.

Sadly, fear often motivates people to terrible ends. I am afraid we are in for more madness.

Popularity: 30% [?]

They said it was to teach him a lesson.

On Halloween, two Staten Island, NY cops said they saw Rayshawn Moreno throwing eggs at a car. So, rather than than taking him home to his parents for discipline or taking him to a police precinct to have him picked up by parents, Officers Thomas Elliassen and Richard Danese had a different punishment in mind. They took 14-year-old Rayshawn to a swampy area in a nearby city, made him strip down to his underwear and socks and left him.

Fortunately, Rayshawn made it home safely after walking to a nearby store and having a security guard call his parents.

Now, Rayshawn’s parents want more substantial charges for the cops involved. Telisa and James Hezel say the charges of unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child, both punishable by up to a year in jail, are not enough. They are calling on the district attorney to also charge the cops with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, assault and endangering the welfare of a child. They also want the D.A. to determine if there are grounds to try to cops on hate crimes charges, as well.

The latter caused me to raise an eyebrow but, I had to ask myself if the cops felt comfortable doing this to a 14-year-old boy only because he was black.

The truth is that anything could have happened to Rayshawn and his parents would not have known until it was too late. Furthermore, cops are expected to enforce the law and the law clearly does not allow for dropping a child off in another town, forcing him to strip and leaving him in a potentially dangerous situation. So, I hope that they get the book thrown at them but, given that cops get slaps on the wrist for killing unarmed black citizens, I don’t hold out a lot of hope for justice on this one.

Popularity: 47% [?]