Black Gettysburg

The Spirit of Detroit. Oddly like King Kong, no?

African Americans, despite the common claim that they are discriminated against, have in fact enjoyed great prestige for at least the past half century. What was it that Leonard Cohen wrote in Beautiful Losers (1966)? “In the Twentieth century, everyone wants to be black.” It would be blasphemy in polite company to say anything against Muhammed Ali, or Nelson Mandela, or Martin Luther King.

I think we may notice this now, because I think black prestige may have reached its high water mark this summer, and be starting on a downward slope. Due to a combination of events, the social capital blacks have been happily spending may now have finally been run through.

First, the Obama presidency. Remember that African-Americans are, in the end, a small minority of the US population—8.8%. Yet they have gotten one of their number elected president. That is a significant sign of popular approval. The Italians haven't done it yet. The Jews haven't. The Poles haven't. The Germans haven't. The Mormons haven't. Even the Catholics, a quarter of the population or more, have managed only one so far.

One can forgive the average non-black if, having voted for Obama twice, he or she feels the tally sheet is wiped clean. No more may he be inclined to feel some personal guilt for slavery—an absurd notion in the first place. African-Americans are now demonstrably on the inside, and may now be expected to act that way. No more claims of special grievance, no more claims of special moral high ground.

Second, against that backdrop, we have the Zimmerman—Martin trial, which has nevertheless demonstrated a continuing and extreme split between how blacks and non-blacks look at American politics and the American experience. In the aftermath of the jury verdict, an ABC News poll found that almost 90% of African Americans called the shooting unjustified; but only to 33% of whites (Wikipedia). And this difference in perception has been underlined by Obama's personal involvement in the controversy. Non-black Americans can be forgiven if they begin to wonder, in the end, whether African Americans are really on the same team. Despite a half century of real white sacrifices in the name of “integration,” blacks remain a community apart, and indeed a community with a continuing hostile view of their American compatriots. I think there is a real possibility that a lot of non-blacks are going to conclude that blacks are just being unreasonable. If not this, there is at least a possibility that many will give up any hope of satisfying them, and begin to worry about blacks being in effect a permanent Fifth Column in American society. I feel I begin to see this in some of the current commentary.

Worse, the black community has been seen publicly lynching George Zimmerman, a Hispanic (at least, if Zimmerman is not Hispanic, Obama is not black). And the president has joined in. This tends to undermine the notion that in the matter of racism, blacks are only victims; the more so since it follows years of high-profile, openly expressed black hostility to Jews and Koreans. Sooner or later, this is going to matter. In the end, blacks and Hispanics are competing for the same jobs. Will they continue forever to vote together? I can see blacks becoming, as a group, themselves politically incorrect, voted off the island by the other special interest groups in the leftist coalition. Just as they were in the early twentieth century.

Third, there is Detroit. Detroit is and was for forty years held up as a proud model of black self-government. Since Coleman Young became mayor in 1974, blacks have been in charge politically in Detroit.

This is just not a good advertisement for African American culture. Blacks in Detroit are probably worse off than anywhere else in the US. And in Detroit, there are no white men left to blame.

I just hope the end of "reverse racism" (sic) does not lead us straight back into anti-black racism.

Barack Obama: "I Am Trayvon Martin."

President Obama made a surprise appearance at a White House press briefing to say some more about the Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case. His intent seemed to be to explain and justify his own earlier comments about Trayvon Martin looking like his own son, which have appeared to some like an unwarranted interference in a case at law.

He argued that the rest of us must understand that blacks are “looking at it through a lens and a history.” “There are few African-American men in this country who haven't had the experience [of being watched] when they're shopping at a department store, and that includes me.”

The problem with all such appeals to the special experience of any group—including feminist claims that men “just don't get it”--is that it necessarily works both ways. If non-blacks cannot possibly understand how things appear to blacks, it follows that blacks cannot possibly understand how things appear to non-blacks. If men cannot possibly understand what it is like to be a woman, then women cannot possibly understand what it is like to be a man.

As it happens, I too have had the experience of being watched while I was shopping. Many times. I was at least once confronted and asked by a store clerk to open my bag to prove I had not shoplifted.

I doubt my experience is that different from others. I doubt I look much more like a criminal than average.

Obviously, Obama is totally unaware of this. If I were black, then, like Obama, I might blame it on racism. Not being black, I just shrug it off.

The moral: it is therefore impossible to appeal to any such “special experience” to justify what otherwise seems irrational or unjustifiable. The same rules must apply to blacks, Irish, Catholics, men and women. Nobody can claim special treatment because of supposed “special experience,” because nobody can really know whether their, or anyone else's, experience is special.

George Zimmerman for Prime Minister

According to a piece I just read, if I want to push my blog to a million readers, I must comment promptly on the top issue of the day. I just checked. Right now, that means the Zimmerman trial.


I also have to say something controversial. Hence the headline.

Okay, in my opinion, justice was definitely served. It would have been a travesty if Zimmerman had been convicted of either murder or manslaughter. All the evidence corroborated his story.

Even if it had not, even if Zimmerman had followed Martin with a chip on his shoulder, and even if he had started the fight, it looks as though his actions, though foolish, would not have amounted to manslaughter. Perhaps at worst felony assault.

Igor Gouzenko can head the Welcome Wagon.

And even with his acquittal, and with the real likelihood that Zimmerman is guilty of nothing more than being an unusually good citizen trying to protect his neighbourhood, he has already suffered much more than he would deserve to for felony assault. First, one should not minimize the stress of being charged with murder and facing a possible life sentence, not to mention possible bankruptcy from legal fees even if acquitted. Second, he has been demonized as a racist and a murderer in the media. His name, face, home address, and even social security number have been reported in the newspapers and on TV. He is not wealthy; he cannot afford the protection he now needs from hotheads who have been stirred up by all the bad publicity and seek the sort of vigilante justice of which he was falsely accused.

Given all this, I think if political asylum means anything in real terms, George Zimmerman has a case for being given political asylum in some other country. Canada would probably be the most amenable country for an expatriate American.

Then, upstanding citizen that he appears to be, he might well go into politics.