The media is going ape-crap over what Cliven Bundy said about Negroes and government programs.
Bundy made the mistake of being an old fool by using the word "Negro" and associating welfare programs with Blacks.
From the LVRJ: Cliven Bundy promised big news at a press conference near his ranch Thursday, but there wasn’t much new in what he had to say.
The embattled cattleman repeated and then elaborated on racially charged statements he made to the New York Times, effectively doubling down on words that have cost him much of the support he had won from conservative pundits and politicians in his battle with the Bureau of Land Management.
Standing at a podium on a flatbed trailer overlooking the Virgin River, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the 67-year-old rehashed his sentiments that “the Negro community” living in Las Vegas Valley public housing looks like slaves to him.
During a rambling explanation prompted by questions from reporters, he insisted that he isn’t a racist and does not support slavery in any form. All he meant, he said, is that he’s “been a-wondering” if black people were better off under the yoke of slavery than they are in today’s welfare state, where the women have abortions and the young men go off to prison because they have nothing better to do.
“I don’t think they were happy with their government-subsidized homes. They sort of looked to me like they were slaves,” Bundy said.
State and federal politicians from Nevada blasted the comments, which have quickly changed the conversation surrounding the BLM’s failed attempt to round up about 900 “trespass cattle” Bundy left to roam across hundreds of thousands of acres of public land. http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bundy-blm/cliven-bundy-repeats-racist-comments-press-conference
So, let's look at slavery vs what is going with those on government programs.
Slavery blacks depended on the slave owners to provide them with life necessities.
Those on welfare depend on government to provide them with their necessities.
Some blacks were lynched and subject to brutality.
Those living in the urban ghetto areas are shot at, shot, knifed, threatened, murdered, extorted and subject to brutality. Talk to those in Chicago/Obamaville.
Those living in slavery had little chance of escaping.
Those living in ghetto urban and rural areas have little chance of escaping.
Those living in slavery had few local politicians speaking for them.
Those living in urban and rural ghetto areas have little or no politicians speaking on their behalf.
Thoe living in slavery depended on their community to teach them school lessons.
Those living in most areas depend on government schools to teach them.
Whle most slavery blacks could not vote, in today's world, we have many, many poor people locked up in prison, on parole or probation and they cannot vote.
There are numberous more examples, but please tell me, if you are on government programs, how is that any different than when there were slaves in the United States?
Instead of being a slave to a plantation owner, poor blacks and poor people in general are slaves to the government.
Is there really a difference?
It is possible to discuss poverty in ways that are not racist. Bundy did not do this. Why he brought it up in the first place is a mystery, but it wasn't just the use of the word "negro" that was the problem. "They never learned to pick cotton" would be just as bad. And there's a whole list of things in there that come close.
ReplyDeleteAre there problems in minority groups with poverty, and high rates of incarceration, etc.? Yes. Bundy's angle on it was still loaded with racism.