Manufactured Racism

Why does it feel like the 1960’s again?  With race riots, civil rights marches, and strident demagogues filling the air with anti-police, and by extension, anti-white, vitriol, the echoes of a bygone era are resounding in the streets.

But why should this be?  Has there been a resurgence of police brutality or of white insensitivity?  The statistics argue against it.  There have been far fewer instances of white cops shooting innocent blacks and, given the prevalence of political correctness, far fewer racist slurs.

Today’s accusations are, in fact, manufactured.  They are not based upon facts on the ground.  Not even the Ferguson and Staten Island grand jury decisions can explain what has happened.  These were ambiguous at worst; examples of the rule of law at best.

So what is going on?  Part of what is taking place can be attributed to Barack Obama and Eric Holder.  They have fanned the flames of latent hostility.  Each routinely speaks out of both sides of his mouth.  On the one hand, they condemn violence, but on the other they understand the feelings of the alleged victims.

Our president was elected to office because he seemed to be a sensible black man.  Apparently not angry at whites, he promised to bring us together.  Just as Harry Reid averred, he spoke like a white man and therefore was not threatening.  Besides, his mother was white.

As recently as this fall, pundits attributed our president’s negative attitude toward the police, and his acquiescence in racially tinged campaign rhetoric, to political motives.  He was merely trying to gin up his base.  Yet that account no longer rings true.  He is not running for office and hence does not need to curry the favor of black voters.

The hard truth is that Obama harbors a deep animus toward white Americans.  Perceiving himself as a disrespected outsider, he seeks vengeance.  Oh yes, he hides it well.  He has, after all, had many years of practice convincing whites he is a “good guy.”

Hard to believe?  Consider the evidence.

Why would he attend a church that specialized in berating white Americans?  And why would he befriend a radical bomb-thrower like Bill Ayers?  Why too, whenever a question of police brutality comes up, does he assume the cops are to blame?  Why, indeed, does he have a smoldering 7love affair with Al Sharpton?

Holder too is anti-white.  His campaign against police departments is of long standing.  So was his decision not to prosecute black ruffians for intimidating voters.  No wonder he went to comfort the parents of Michael Brown, while heaping scorn upon a police officer who did his duty.

What then about the blacks who rioted?  Why did they turn violent so quickly?  I submit that it was for the same reason that crime rates are so high in black neighborhoods.  Black rage is always on a simmer.  Nevertheless this is more the legacy of slavery, and its aftermath, than of contemporary oppression.

The real question is why have so many whites joined in this anti-establishment crusade?  Shelby Steele argues that whites acquiesced in charges of racism because they felt guilty about the way blacks were treated.  Perhaps this was true decades ago, but does it apply now?

It seems to me that white activists scarcely feel any guilt.  Self-righteous in the extreme, they regard themselves as the vanguard of a brave new world.  These self-loathing folks also hate America.  Whatever their personal reasons, they would like to tear our nation down.

For the radicals, agitation about police violence is an excuse.  They know as well as anyone that far more blacks are killed by other blacks than by the police.  They do not care.  Despite what they say, black lives do not matter to them.

What matters is that they need a grievance if they are to effect the Revolution.  The war on women has lost its salience; ergo they invented a war on blacks.  Shame on them!

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University