Honoring America’s Finest
Who were the three Americans who were awarded the most honorary degrees this year? All were black. Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund walked off with seven unearned doctorates. She is a self-styled “progressive” who is a friend of Hillary Clinton and never met a social program she didn’t like. Next was Henry Louis Gates, chairman of the Harvard African-American Studies Department, who picked up six doctorates. Bill Cosby, former funny-man, collected five. The leading white person, with four honorary doctorates, was President Clinton’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala. [Doctors of Philosophy (Left), NY Post, 6/23/95.]
White Man Fights Back?
A group of New Orleans citizens, led by Sallie Ann Glassman, recently held a voodoo ceremony that was meant to drive muggers and crack dealers from their neighborhood. Citizens drummed, chanted, prayed, and asked the meanest voodoo deity of them all, Ogoun La Flambeau, to scare away the bad guys. Miss Glassman, who has been burgled and assaulted, does not want the fearsome Ogoun to hurt anyone; just keep them out of the neighborhood. Participants in the ceremony, most of whom took it quite seriously, explained that the New Orleans Police Department was not keeping crime under control and that they had turned in desperation to the gods of voodoo. Most participants, including Miss Glassman, were white: “nose and tongue piercers, middle-aged intellectuals and men with foot-long pony tails,” as the New York Times described them. [Rick Bragg, New Orleans Conjures Old Spirits Against Modern Woes, NYT, 8/18/95.]
Nothing Racial, Of Course
An organization called Transparency International rates the world’s countries according to how corrupt they are. The six most corrupt nations are Indonesia, China, Pakistan, Venezuela, Brazil, Philippines, and India. The least corrupt nation is New Zealand, followed by Denmark, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland. The United States is 15th. Transparency International does not even bother to rate African countries. [Barbara Crossette, A Global Gauge of Greased Palms, NYT, 8/20/95, p. 3.]
Baffled Again
This year, for the first time, Georgia high school seniors had to pass a state-wide standardized test in order to get their diplomas. Of the 3,400 students who failed, 2,300 were black; 10 percent of blacks failed while only two percent of whites did. Educators profess themselves baffled by the disparity, especially since it does not always reflect their favorite explanation: poverty. Blacks failed at the highest rates when they were from relatively wealthy areas and attended predominantly white schools.
Even a passing grade on the test is hardly a ringing endorsement of a student’s ability. Tameka Greene of Atlanta’s Crim High School completed her courses with a 3.59 grade-point average but still failed the test. [Betsy White, Diploma Denied, Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Aug. 17, 1995, p. E4.]
The black congresswoman from Detroit, Barbara-Rose Collins, now leads the long list of contenders for Washington’s worst legislator. This year, she has missed more sessions than all but two other congressmen. One, another black named Mel Reynolds, has been on trial for statutory rape (recently convicted), and the other had a liver transplant. Miss Collins, who is accused of splashing out thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal expenses, has managed to get one bill passed in five years — to rename the Detroit federal courthouse building.
Miss Collins’ district is the fourth poorest in the nation, but she always flies first class. “Barbara-Rose is not in Congress to legislate,” explains one former staffer; “she’s in Congress to be a diva.” Another former staffer remembers:
She’d go to the [House] beauty shop three times a week. And she’d have staff go and fetch her slippers while she was sitting in the chair getting her hair done. And as soon as they showed up, she’d kick off her shoes and stick out her wriggling toes. That’s really the lasting image I have: Her Highness with the big hair-dryer crown, waiting for the royal slippers.
Miss Collins runs a turbulent office; she has lost or fired 30 aides since last year. She says they were incompetent and that she deserves credit for giving doubtful blacks a chance — racist whites would never have hired them. One black she fired sees it this way:
If the woman were white, what she said would have caused an uproar. But because she’s black and she walks around in Afrocentric clothing, she can resort to race-baiting to cover up her complete and total managerial incompetence. [Lori Montgomery & Marc Selinger, Detroit congresswoman sinks to bottom of Capitol Hill heap, Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/24/95, p. G1.]
Meanwhile, the former treasurer of the NAACP New Haven branch, William Jones, has been indicted for allegedly stealing $24,000 from the organization. He is said to have made 22 unauthorized withdrawals by forging the signature of the Greater New Haven branch’s president. [David McClendon, NAACP’s ex-treasurer to enter plea on theft charges this week, New Haven Register, 8/2/95, p. A5.]
The Courage of Their Convictions
How do the liberal media — even the “progressive” media — do when it comes to hiring nonwhite writers and editors? The Nation, which is one of the most crazily left-wing publications still operating, has hired two nonwhites in 13 years. The New York Review of Books has no nonwhites on its nine-man editorial staff. Harper’s has none out of fourteen, and the Utne Reader has none out of twelve. One of the six-man editorial staff at The Progressive is nonwhite, Mother Jones has one out of seven, In These Times has one out of nine, and at The New Republic it is two out of twenty-two. Rolling Stone has no nonwhites on its editorial staff, and of the more than 700 issues it has published since 1967, it has had exactly one cover story written by a black. [James Ledbetter, The Unbearable Whiteness of Publishing, Village Voice, July 25, 1995, p. 25ff.]
Fouled Out
Whatever happened to midnight basketball? July has been a bad month for it. In New York City, a tournament was held to commemorate two men who were shot to death trying to kill a police officer (a curious lot to commemorate, we should think). With the score in the big game tied, the excitement got to be too much for some trigger-happy fans, who opened fire, killing two people and perforating half a dozen others.
In Atlanta the very next night, two teams from housing projects were locked in a fierce struggle. One team was down in points and short on time, and a player disputed a referee’s call by pulling out a gun and blazing away. The referee, who apparently knew what manner of sportsman he was dealing with, pulled his own gun and fired back. Both men were poor shots and only lightly injured each other. [Midnight Mayhem on the Basketball Courts, NY Post, 7/31/95, p. 18.]
The Syracuse, New York school district has barred the Midnight Madness league from using its gymnasiums after a tournament ended in a gun battle. The league was formed to keep “youths” out of trouble. [New York, USA Today, July 28, 1995, p. 8A.]
No More Japanese?
Japanese-Americans, the nonwhite group most likely to marry outside their race, now marry whites more often than they marry each other. In 1989 there were actually more births to white-Japanese couples (5,495) than to Japanese-Japanese couples (3,961). Contenders for Queen of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Northern California must have at least one fully Japanese parent, but some pageant organizers are beginning to worry that in another generation there will no longer be enough contestants. For the nation as a whole, only 3.2 percent of births are to parents of different races. [Margaret Usdansky and Patricia Edmonds, Japanese-white marriages now the norm, USA Today, Dec. 11, 1992, p. 7A.]
Ted Field, heir to the Marshall Field department store fortune and worth an estimated $600 million, is the founder and chairman of Interscope Records. Interscope promotes some of the foulest mouths in rap music today: Tupac Shakur and Snoop Doggy Dogg. Mr. Field shares his profits with the Democrats. In 1992 he gave the party $98,250 in no-limits, soft money, making him one of the party’s biggest benefactors. Within the $1,000-a-year limit to any candidate in a single year, he has given the maximum amount to: Bill Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Ted Kennedy, Dick Gephardt, Barbara Boxer, Frank Lautenberg, Barbara Mikulski, and assorted other liberals. [Deborah Orin, ‘Gangsta rap’ may mug Dems, NY Post, July 6, 95.]
Detroit Sinks Further
About 2:30 in the morning of Aug. 19, 33-year-old Deletha Word was driving in Detroit’s Belle Isle Park, an island connected to the city by a bridge. It was Friday night, and there were many people about. Miss Word hit a man’s car but did not stop. The man and two companions gave chase and rear-ended her car on the bridge, forcing her to stop. A crowd of about 40 people watched and some cheered as Martell Welch, a 300-pound, 19-year old former football player dragged Miss Word out of her car and tore off her clothes. He slammed her onto the hood of her car, and then knocked her to the ground, while his companions broke all the windows in her car with tire irons and kicked in the body panels.
Mr. Welch then lifted Miss Word off the ground, walked into the middle of the crowd, and asked if anyone wanted “to buy some of this bitch because she has to pay for my car.” There were a few offers of ten dollars or so. Mr. Welch then threw Miss Word to the ground, beat her some more, and dragged her to the side of the road, saying “I ought to throw you over the bridge.” Mr. Welch is then reported to have picked up a car jack, and said “I’m going to kill you.” As he was about to hit her with the jack, Miss Word jumped off the bridge into the Detroit River. She soon went under and her body was found several hours later. Some witnesses say they wanted to help but were afraid of Mr. Welch and his two companions. [AP, Attacker offered to sell victim, Chi Trib, Aug. 27, 1995. David Grant, 40 watched attackers chase woman to her death, Detroit News, Aug. 21, 1995, p. 1A. AP, Teen is held in Detroit bridge death, Chi. Trib. Aug. 23, 1995, p. 3.]
The Other King Assassination
Everyone knows that Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot by James Earl Ray in 1968. Much less well known is that Dr. King’s mother was also murdered. Alberta King, age 70, was playing the organ during a church service in 1974 when a black man named Marcus Chenault stood up in the front pew, pulled out two pistols and started shooting. Mr. Chenault later said he was trying to kill Martin Luther King, Sr. because God had told him that black ministers were a danger to black people. In August, Mr. Chenault died in prison. [Wolfgang Saxon, M.W. Chenault, 44, gunman who killed Mother of Dr. King, NYT, 8/22/95, p. B6.]
Ronald Kowalski of Carpentersville, Ill. has been convicted of a felony for expressing his views. He is a white man who disapproved when blacks moved into the house next door. On the fence separating the properties he hung a sign that read: “Niggers go back to Africa.” He shouted racial slurs at the black family’s children and hung pictures of apes and monkeys in a window that faced their house. When the blacks were in their yard, he would turn up the volume on a song called “Welcome to the Jungle,” by the band, Guns N’ Roses, and he repeatedly called the police to complain about his neighbors.
Because a Kane County judge has ruled that he is guilty of a felony hate crime, Mr. Kowalski faces up to three years in prison or a fine of up to $10,000 when he is sentenced in October. There are, of course, laws against disturbing the peace, and if he broke them he should be given the usual punishment of a citation or a small fine. Because Mr. Kowalski was found to have a racial motive he is guilty of a felony and, along with whatever punishment he is given, will lose the right to vote. [James Kimberly, Hate-crime conviction hailed, raises questions, Daily Herald, Aug. 10, 1995.]
All is Forgiven
Bill Teal is a six-foot five-inch 22-year old black man from St. Petersburg, Florida, who plays basketball. He was recruited out of high school to play for the University of Arkansas but never got there. While he was a high school senior, Mr. Teal and a companion abducted a girl and raped her. While he was on bail awaiting trial, he was arrested for beating up and robbing a 16-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two year’s house arrest.
When the rape case came up, the victim decided not to cooperate, and Mr. Teal pleaded guilty to kidnapping with a deadly weapon in return for a six-year sentence. He is now to be released after serving nearly three years, and has been offered a full scholarship to play basketball at St. Petersburg Community College. The scholarship is worth about $4,900 a year and is funded by federal tax-money and tuition paid by non-scholarship students.
Basketball coach Bill Payne, who interviewed Mr. Teal in prison, says the young man will be good for the school:
I’m impressed with him, the way he presents himself, carries himself. He could be a very positive role model for young kids in Pinellas County. It could be one of the best things this college has done in a long time if it goes through. [Peter Wallsten, Fresh out of prison, he’s back on the courts, St. Petersburg Times, Aug. 16, 1995, p. 1A.]
They Are Finally Speaking Out
On August 31, Northern Virginia judges and police officers told a state senate subcommittee that young immigrants are committing a huge number of crimes and overwhelming the juvenile justice system. One judge said that a third of his cases involved criminals who could not even speak English and therefore needed interpreters. He complained that the halls of his courthouse are “chaotic.”
Another judge reported that in just one Fairfax County high school, there are children from 60 countries, who speak 27 different languages. He said that immigrant children — Vietnamese, Afghans, Cambodians, Salvadorans — are rapidly being recruited by gangs. Another court official complained that the INS does nothing about the juvenile criminals who are illegal immigrants. [Ty Clevenger, Youths ‘out of control’ in N. Virginia, Wash Times, Sept. 1, 1995, p. 1.]
None of this is exactly hot news, but it is encouraging that judges and police officers are telling legislators exactly what the problem is.
White Man Cannot Win
Ford Motor Company, like the rest of the Big Three, has an affirmative action program to try to help non-whites open auto dealerships. In 1987, Ford recruited Samuel Foster, and as a result, Mr. Foster bought a dealership in Selma, Alabama. In 1991, the dealership went bankrupt and Mr. Foster sued Ford. What were the charges? He claimed that Ford had committed intentional, malicious fraud by not telling him that blacks are more likely to fail at running dealerships than whites. The trial court sided with Mr. Foster, and the Alabama Supreme Court upheld an award of nearly $8 million, including $6 million in punitive damages. [Theodore Boutrous, Alabama’s new affirmative action tort, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 16, 1995, p. A11.]
Claudia Schiffer, Aryan Stooge
Oliveiro Toscani is the advertising chief for the Italian clothing company, Benetton. In a recent interview with the Italian periodical Il Messaggero, he had this to say about the 24-year-old German who is currently the world’s most successful fashion model:
Claudia Schiffer has succeeded where Hitler failed. She represents in a dramatic and gruesome way the Aryan myth, which the Third Reich sought unsuccessfully to impose on the world. In the dictatorship of images, the Aryan race has now become what it wanted to be fifty years ago. [Reported in German daily, Bild, March 2, 1995.]
Lawdy, Lawdy
Six Atlanta-area Nigerians have been awarded $3 million in a libel suit. They say they were falsely accused of being witches by members of the Sanctified Mt. Zion Church of Nigeria in the United States. The church’s prophetess, Emily Hansen Emah, and four other leaders, Akpan Esenyie, Enyanga Umanah, Affiong Ibanga, and Solomon Udo, have been ordered by the Fulton County Superior Court to pay up and to retract their slanderous accusations.
During a 1993 New Year’s Eve church service, prophetess Emah accused the plaintiffs of sailing through the air to wreak havoc, causing outbreaks of thievery and infertility. The charges were then published by African News Weekly of Charlotte, North Carolina. The plaintiffs claim that as a result they were shunned by the Nigerian community and were refused service at Nigerian shops and grocery stores.
The church leaders claim that they were engaged in worship, not slander, when they accused the six of witchcraft. They argue that this was therefore a Constitutionally protected activity and that the judgment should be set aside. [Nan Lee, Accused ‘witches’ win $3 million slander suit, Fulton County Daily Reporter, Aug. 1, 1995, p. 1. Nan Lee, Churchgoers say witch hunt was form of worship, Fulton County Daily Reporter, Aug. 23, 1995, p. 1.]
Baloney
The state of Maryland is poised to rescue the Parks Sausage Co., which happens to be the biggest black-run firm in the state. Eighty percent of the company’s 220 employees are black (an equal opportunity employer, no doubt), so the state is reluctant to let Parks go under. The company’s problems began in 1990, when it decided to build a 133,000-square-foot plant in the black part of Baltimore. The chairman of the company now concedes that Parks, which lost more than $1 million in 1994 on sales of $20 million, could save $2 million to $3 million a year if it were located outside the ghetto. [Udayan Gupta, Parks Sausage, biggest black-run firm in Maryland, may get a state bailout, WSJ, July 14, 1995, p. B2.]
Traditional fairy tales have only white characters. The cable network, HBO has corrected this defect by recasting 13 of the most popular ones into multi-racial cartoons. In “Jack and the Beanstalk,” Jack is black and the giant can rap. Rumpelstiltskin is a dread-locked Jamaican. Hansel and Gretel are Hispanic. Etc.
Now, when the giant works up an appetite for Jack, he says, “Fee Fi Of Fum, I smell the blood of an African — a young one.”
“You probably smell the bones of the Englishman you ate last night,” his wife replies.
“Oh yeah, he was good,” says the giant, “but a little bland.” [Jennifer Mangan, Ethnic magic transforms classic fairy tales, Chicago Tribune TV Week, March 26-April 1, 1995, p. 5.]
We Knew It All Along
Blacks are 10 percent of the civilian workforce but are more than 18 percent of both state and federal workforces. Blacks are therefore almost twice as likely to work for government than they are to work for private employers. Since 43 percent of all black managers and professionals work for government (as compared to 14 percent for whites), if public employers hired as selectively as private ones, the black managerial class would shrink by perhaps 20 percent.
For anyone whose eyes are not firmly shut, the reason for this concentration in government is obvious: The public sector does not face competition and can hire a lot of deadwood without going broke. [Jonathan Tilove, Minorities have thrived in public sector jobs, Grand Rapids Press, July 30, 1995, p. A8.] Besides helping to explain why government works so poorly, the over-representation of blacks means something else — “diversity” preferences should no longer apply to black public-sector job seekers. No whites are likely to point this out, but some day it will dawn on Hispanic or even Asian activists, who will then start yelling about it.