Saturday, March 22, 2008

Pat Buchanon says slavery is the best thing to happen to black people


From Daily Kos Barack Obama's speech this past week illuminated aspects of the racial divide in this country in a nuanced and respectful manner. This speech offered an opening for dialogue. Pat Buchanan has offered his response.

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 amazes with a tone deaf defense of white resentment by claiming slavery is the best thing that ever happened to black people in a posting on his website yesterday. Buchanan's contribution to this dialogue is as appalling as Obama's contribution is appealling.

Buchanan continues by dismissing a host of government programs designed to assist the working poor and our least advantaged citizens as giveaways to the African American community.

N]o 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.

Conservative commentators like Buchanan and right wing media outlets like Fox News continue to foster white resentment for political gain. They perpetuate the myth of the social safety net only benefiting people of color or illegal immigrants. Their aim is to engender bitterness among "honest, hard working, tax paying" whites.

No comments: