Can you ever imagine ME being stunned into silence?
In NRO, one Jennifer Graham wrote a guest editorial that made my head hurt. It opens like this:
I did so, expecting to find something peculiar, such as Karl Rove conspiring with Elvis.
What I saw: A young family of five -- father, mother, three young children, well-dressed, well-behaved, enjoying their night out, too. Except for the well-behaved children -- mythical creatures with which we have no personal experience with -- the family was unremarkable.
But they were black. And my husband whispered that in a nation where 70 percent of black children are born into homes without fathers, it was great to see a picture-perfect black family dining together. "I almost want to go give the guy a high five," he said, somewhat sheepishly.
TBogg noted the condescension and Jesse at Pandagon gives the editorial a fisking in detail, but Steve Gillard's response is dead on, in a way that is so clearly understandable I'd bet even Ms. Graham would understand it. Because he has no permalinks (a condition that I REALLY WISH HE WOULD CORRECT, to the point where I will do it for him if he'd like) I'm including his whole response.
Huh?
Atrios pointed out this wee gem from the National Review. It is breathtakingly racist in both tone and content. Amazingly racist. Bedsheet and crossburning racist.
Why?
In their yuppie, patronizing way, they assume that all black people live like sterotypes out of a rap video. They really think that black children grow up without their fathers. Give him a high five, they deserve a vicious beating. They would never assume that a white family might not be a married couple.
These poor deluded racists seem to think that pathologies are the natural course of events for most people. That we all wear doo rags and basketball jerseys while polishing the rims on our cars. If I met a kid from West Virginia, and he had a Master's degree, I wouldn't say "great, you're not a sister-banging hillbilly miner. And you don't have any convictions for making moonshine." I mean, most people would be embarassed to think that. My cousin lives in Virginia, with her husband, an Air Force officer. Would these people have been happy to see them? Wow, you're a family and you go to church as well.
These people don't want African Americans to do well. They just want to alliviate their guilt without understanding why they should feel guilty. Only a few loons can tolerate being called racist in America. Most people. no matter how much they hate, despise and misundestand blacks, do not want to be called racist. Racist is a bad thing, the kind of folks who blow up churches and drag men behind pickups.
Yes, black children are more likely to be born outside of marriage, not outside of a relationship. There are many white children born under the same circumstance. Half of all children born in marriage will live in a single parent household at some point. Assuming that black people don't have families or that 30 percent have fathers is just stupid. One hundred percent have fathers. Most have relationships with them, even if they don't live in the home.
What is so sad is that these people only know blacks from TV and statistics, maybe a neighbor they speak to, if that. If she did, she could not have writen something so patently offensive and ignorant. We all don't act like the deadbeat dads on Maury Povich.
One of the joys of being black is being praised for normal behavior. Chris Rock summed it up: that's what you're supposed to do. Seeing a black family at dinner is what you're supposed to see. Kids are supposed to be well-behavied. My niece and nephew don't run around and scream in public. They're not supposed to act that way.
Jesus. One day, this woman will reread this article and say "my god, I'm a horrible racist." At least I hope so.
-so said Steve at 3:44:40 PM
