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On the Question of Michelle's Pride, I ask: Where Did all the Flags Go?
The Obama campaign has Michelle doing damage control even now, and is doubtless considering how to respond to Bill O'Reilly's generous offer to hold off on the lynching until he's sure she was guilty of this heinous lack of overflowing pride. We'll see what the campaign says.
But I know what I'd say if were the one being pilloried for admitting to a lack pride in my country, every second of every day of my adult life.
I'd say, I love my country. I love it fiercely, and with a devotion that has never wavered for a second since I became cognizant of it. I love its people for their pragmatism, their sarcastic, irony-tinged optimism, and their innate, if sometimes grudging, generosity. I love them for their cheerfully crass commercialism, and, above all, for what Robert Heinlein called that streak of anarchism that is the birthright of every American.
I love the land itself, from the beaches to the mountains to those unbearably dull, stultifyingly flat bean fields in the middle. And I love our Constitution. I fell in love with it in high school as my American History teacher explained how John Marshall checkmated Thomas Jefferson in Marbury v. Madison. It was the moment that I first realized what it means to live under the rule of law, and recognized that freedom is impossible without it.
As I became older, as always happens, I realized that things were a bit more complicated than that. I realized that that the rule of law alone does not give us freedom, but that freedom is, as a practical matter, impossible without it. But I never stopped loving the Constitution, and I never stop loving the Founders who gave it to us. Those eighty odd guys, some of them slave owners, working their way in the darkness toward something entirely new in human history: a government designed specifically to preserve and expand liberty, one eye always on posterity—on us, in other words—touchingly concerned with our wellbeing and our opinion of them. Yeah, I love those guys and I love the country they created. I love the way we always keep trying, by fits and starts, sometimes regressing, to live up to their ideals and to give those ideals new life. They created something else new under the sun, those guys. They created the concept of a country where we had citizens, rather than subjects, a place where being a citizen was a state of mind, and for wave after wave of immigrants, a concious decision, an act of will.
If this be corn, make the most of it.
But love isn't pride. One would think that's obvious. It is certainly obvious to anyone who has ever had a parent or a child or a close friend who has strayed far from the path of righteousness. Love is born of our understanding of the object of our affection, and loving eyes see hope for salvation, or at least salvage, where the world despairs. Pride, however, is earned. Pride comes from watching those you love live up to their own potential, from seeing them meet or exceed their own expectations and from watching them stand up for their principles, whatever the consequences. Pride comes from watching those we love do the right thing.
There is much to be proud of in our history. From Valley Forge to Normandy, from Tempelhof Airfield and the docks of Europe that unloaded the proceeds of the Marshall Plan. From Lincoln's Second Inaugural to the command of Brown v. Board of Education, we have much to be proud of as Americans. I feel pride when I see the Brooklyn and Golden Gate bridges. I feel enormous pride in Voyager, and the Galileo and Cassini probes, and of the Mars rovers. Although, some think all good liberals are required to abhor manned space flight, I feel the same pride watching Neil Armstrong stepping off the LEM that I did when I saw him do it live as an over-excited little kid and I want us to go back.
One of the proudest moments of my life was watching Democrats and Republicans on the House Judiciary committee set aside partisanship to stop a presidency that had become a threat to democracy itself. I was just a kid, but Barbara Jordan's statement before the vote on the articles of impeachment gave me chills. It still does.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarajordanjudiciarystatement.htm
God, that woman has been one of my heroes for thirty four years now.
I feel enormous pride at the fireman who rushed into the World Trade Center on 9/11, at every anonymous act of heroism committed by the people trapped in the building and in the passengers of United Flight 93. I am proud of every marine, soldier, reservist and guardsman, and of their families, bearing up under the burdens of two wars.
But am I supposed to feel pride at the horrors of the Middle Passage? I am proud of the people who risked imprisonment and death working as conductors on the Underground Railroad, but when, as happens from time to time when you practice law in the South, I happen across a case nonchalantly discussing a contract to sell human beings, I feel no pride. I take no pride in the illegal expulsion of the Cherokees from the eastern United States, in defiance of the Supreme Court and all human decency, though I do feel some pride in those who lined the road as theypassed and gave the Trail of Tears its name with their weeping. Where is the reason for pride in the near extermination of the bison as a means of starving the Lakota into submission? Unlike Michelle Malkin, I feel no pride in the internment of Japanese Americans, nor do I feel proud of the witchhunts of the First World War and the Cold War.
In my own time as a voting adult, I took no pride at our retreat from ending poverty, from our loss of will to protect the environment and the subordination of civil rights to narrow partisan advantage in the 1980s I took no pride in our willingness to coddle and enable the most fiendish blood-soaked dictatorships if they proclaimed themselves anti-Soviet.
In the 90s, I watched in angry, embarrassed shame as our political system ran amok. Where Barbara Jordan had expressed sorrowful indignation in impeaching a president for actively subverting the Constitution, I watched heedless hacks gleefully impeach another president for lying about a blowjob. (And actually, I didn't exactly crack out the red ink for my pride diary the day that lie under oath was admitted either.)
And today, I take no pride in in elections won through fear-mongering, no bid contracts to contributors and a great city still in ruins years after the storm.
And above all, today, here and now, I take no pride Abu Gharib or in an unjust war launched on a tide of fear. I feel no pride in Guantanamo, in the use of torture or in the convening of kangaroo courts so unjust that the chief judge and even the chief prosecutor have rebelled against them. And while I do not flinch from the ugly fact that war is sometimes necessary, unlike far too many on the right, I take no pride in body counts.
And I really don't think I'm the only one.
After 9/11, people who had, perhaps, grown to love their sense of irony too much and had come to take even their own patriotism a little bit for granted, took stock and flags started popping up everywhere. Every car seemed to have a flag magnet, every lapel a pin, every house a flag in the window. Those flags stayed up on on the cars for month, after month. And then we listened to the voices whispering the counsel of fear and invaded a country that was largely defenseless against our might. In our hearts, we knew this wasn't us, it wasn't what we were supposed to be about. We weren't the kind of country that did things like this, but we were scared and we were powerful and we had people in power who saw not a problem, but a political opportunity. We crushed their army in days and quickly, it became clear that we had been deceived and that the pretext for the war had been just that, pretext. We assuaged our consciences for a while with tales of the depravity of the former regime, but, gradually, the flags disappeared. They vanished slowly at first, and then more and more and more until by 2004, the only ones left were being displayed by those same people who are now piously calling for Michelle's lynching. You hardly see them anymore. Where did they all go?
Those flags weren't taken back into the house because people stopped loving their country. They were taken in because, at some level, we started feeling a little ashamed of it and of ourselves. No one dares admit it, but even as they were reelecting George W. Bush, they were peeling their flag decals off the minivan because they had come to feel disappointed in our failure, once again, to live up to our ideals. There were feeling no pride in our ever-more poisonous politics, nor in the small-minded leaders who saw fear as a resource to be exploited like an oil field in a national park. We allowed men to take power who, rather than appealing to the better angels of our nature and leading us to to rise above our fears, fanned them for their own political and pecuniary advantage.
Finally, however, our country seems ready to set aside its fears, ignore the siren song of anger, and of once again try to live up to its ideals. However tarnished our principles, and however far we've strayed from our own path of righteousness, we finally seem ready, once again to try to recover our faith in our country and its meaning. Of that, I am very proud indeed, and it feels good to feel that way again.
Comments (38)
A very eloquent post. Barbara Jordan was a hero of mine as well. If the US was as free of racism and sexism as the right claims it is she would have been president. Every time she spoke it made me proud to live in a country with representatives as nobel as she.
February 20, 2008 10:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! Thanks!
February 20, 2008 11:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bravo.
February 21, 2008 12:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent post.
February 21, 2008 12:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
A lot of words to ignore the point.
I can say I've been really proud of my kids numerous times, not just what they did today.
I've been really proud of my country numerous times, even though my country has disappointed me numerous times as well.
And my spouse isn't running for office. And if my spouse pulled a boner like that on the campaign trail I'd know to pop out 30 things we were really proud of as a press release within minutes of the screw up.
Not Ready on Day -334.
February 21, 2008 1:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
" ... and, above all, for what Robert Heinlein called that streak of anarchism that is the birthright of every American ..."
In "Have spacesuit, will travel" Heinlein writes about aliens giving new science, physics and mathematics to humans. One of the characters remarks: "This stuff is so radically different, Albert Einstein will be known to his graveyard buddies as Whirligig Albert".
Americans have drifted so RADICALLY FAR from anarchism, that Robert Anson Heinlein will be known to his graveyard buddies as Superspinning Bob ... able to power up a small hospital.
February 21, 2008 2:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
oh and i didn't read your entire post, but it seems that the majority of things you are proud of happened way before Mrs. Obama's adulthood, so ...?
February 21, 2008 2:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think you ought to think about the impression you make when you write that you didn't read the whole piece. Possibly that was intended to express a value judgement. Or more likely just an insult. If you hope to influence us by your your criticism you fatally undermine our respect when you present yourself as someone who is simply rude.
Here's a suggestion. Go back and indeed read the whole piece. See if that affects your view. I'd
be interested to hear your conclusions. And I will
read them all the way through.
February 21, 2008 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Since Mrs. Obama's adulthood, we brought black poverty down from 33% to 21% and effectively settled blacks into normal middle class, helped end apartheid in South Africa, helped bring down the Berlin Wall, invented the PC, pioneered the internet, got the first female Speaker of the House, the first black astronaut, mapped the human genome, vastly improved rights for gays, improved life for the disabled with the 1990 Disablities Act, etc.
"In [former President Ronald] Reagan and [George H.W.] Bush's 12 years in office, of the 545 federal judicial appointments, 65 were women, 22 Hispanic, two Asian American and 17 African American. In Clinton's eight years, of 366 federal judicial appointments, 104 were women, 23 Hispanic, five Asian American, one American Indian, and 61 African American." Blacks held 16 percent of administrative positions under Clinton and 13% of senior executive positions. Blacks arrived in government in the 1990's.
Interesting, 38 years between black Oscars, and blacks then won both in 2001, and 2 more since then.
Anyway, just watched Michelle's explanation, and it all still seems about her and Barack.
February 21, 2008 4:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Let me understand: you are measuring the value of pride by numbers of coloured people involved? The rise of the PC? The mapping of the genome?
Perhaps, rather than listening to what was said, you are seeking to be offended? NCSteve is illustrating that Pride is a developed sensibility. It comes from an accumulation of events and experiences. Yes, Michelle has filters/lenses on her that made it so she did not feel pride in her country up until now. Did you live her life to know what brought her to this point? Do you know enough to pass judgment on what makes her prideful?
You have good points with the Berlin Wall and the ADA - but that still does not account for how one arrives at a sense of pride. To paraphrase NCSteve - I can love my country...
It has been a RNC talking point to paint those who express distaste (lack of pride) for the direction of this country (which brings me back to Iran Contra Scam) as traitors. We the People need to get back in the game - and it looks like this election season is sparking that desire. Makes me prideful to see people engaged.
Our country has the ability to make more than a string of pearls and good accomplishments, it could be flooding the world with good deeds, rather than bombing it. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe WJC was more than happy to do if it served his purposes. He carried the Bomb Iraq banner quite well. Can I add to the list Rwanda?
Pride is a personal thing, no litmus test that I can think of.
February 23, 2008 1:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
She didn't say that there had been moments when she was not proud.
She said that she had never before been proud.
February 21, 2008 7:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
His core point is that pride is a relative, personal thing. Is there some defined level at which all persons should add pride to their sensibilities?
We the People are starting to participate - and that includes the fabled "youth vote".
February 23, 2008 1:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
The only people who care about this comment are those who are already against Obama and grasping for a reason they can articulate. It doesn't matter.
February 21, 2008 8:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Too bad Michelle Obama didn't have the style and grace to include some of the things she is proud of America about in her original comments, made, by the way, not as off the cuff remarks, but as part of stump speeches. She said what she said. The rest is just special pleading. You know what I'm not proud of? Research that shows that only 23% of young Americans who have had at least some college can find Iraq, Iran and Israel on the map, even if the countries are labeled. The appointment of incompetents to agencies like the FDA, USDA, FEMA and VA by a dumb, inexperienced President that people sort of liked. There has been a real dumbing down in America over the last 50 years, even among Progressives.
February 21, 2008 8:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Uh, she did include some of those "things" in her original comments.
Special pleading required? No. Open-minded reading? Yes.
By the way, congrats on avoiding the dreadful dumbing down that's taken place. Must make you feel pretty special.
February 21, 2008 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I get the impression he feel s Very Proud to have avoided said dumbing.
February 23, 2008 12:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'd say a lot of us have been cowering to Matt Drudge and his ilk lately.
February 21, 2008 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but the same folks complaining about us "dumb" Obama supporters could probably find some reason to complain about his suggestion that we not let our kids watch so much TV ...
No TV? C'mon, don't I lose my progressive credentials if I'm not totally up-to-date on Tweety's latest ramblings?
February 21, 2008 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Patriotism. "Last refuge of scoundrels." Or.
"My country right or wrong". Choose. Either ,or neither. I choose neither.
All countries do good things and bad. Well,almost all, there are certainly some that do nothing but bad.
And all should equally be respected when they do good and held in contempt when they do bad. We do plenty of both so there are plenty of opportunities for both.
Should we respect refusing to allow the St. Louis to dock in Miami , sentencing its Jewish passengers to perish, as they did ? Fr.Coughlin and Social Jusitice ? Joe McCarthy? The treatment of Blacks for the full century after the Civil War:denial of voting rights , and access to lunch counters, but infinitely worse ,barbarous lynchings, not only not prosecuted but celebrated as society's proper way of achieving justice ? Should we respect the imprisonment of WWII Japanese Americans ? My Lai? Abu Ghraib? Waterboarding ?
Conversely , of course we can and should respect the GI Bill, the Marshall Plan ,the general craft of Eisenhower, Bradley and others , the individual bravery of our soldiers who fought in wars unequally justified though they were.Even those characteristics of our economic system permitting social mobility so that your class is not necessarily your destiny.
It is a wilful suspension of common sense to deny respect for those accomplishments.Equally it is unthinking and even immoral to respect
the criminal lack of planning for CobraII, "rendition", GITMO, waterboarding.
If we equally"love" this country when it does foolish or wrong things we resemble the Germans I saw in a snap shot in Dachau: Hausfruend standing in line at the Bakerei , commuters carrying their attache cases to the Bahnhof for the 8 05 to Munchen while emaciated prisoners were marched down the main street en route to another day of being worked to death ,at a profit ,as slave labor for the local farmers.
No one owes love or respect to any country per se. Only when , and to the extent , that it deserves it.
Our deepest alliance should be to our own values not to this or any other country.
Michelle was simply noting the king wears no pants.
February 21, 2008 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh... My... God...
From the Heinlein reference, to the invoking of Barbara Jordan, to the image of an "over-excited kid" watching Neil Armstrong make history... I felt as if I had written this entry, as if my life had been the illustration of the difference between love and pride, and of why pride comes and goes. Except... I know I could not have said it nearly as well as you did.
Bless you, fellow traveler along the river of time. Bless you.
February 21, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is gotcha politics at its finest. What? All of a sudden "words matter" again? Give me a break. Different day, different lame-ass attempt to criticize the Obamas.
February 21, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, NC Steve. Well said. ♪♪♪
February 21, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great piece NC Steve and I will be spreading its glorious words to my family and friends down here who do not always understand that you can love your country completely and at the same time not always be proud of their actions.
February 21, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe that what Michelle Obama was saying, pretty clearly, was that she had never before seen the citizens of this country - the people themselves - stand up and take action themselves to this degree, action that resulted in real change that the people, not the vested interests and powers, wanted. And that is true.
Most of you are younger, but I can tell you that there was a very different feeling, a different type of fundamental pride, that we had in the very late 50's and 60's. It was *the people* who responded to JFK's candidacy and helped him win the nomination over very established, experienced players (Johnson, Symington, Stevenson, Humphrey, etc.); *the people* who brought about the Civil Rights protests and changes; the people who put the focus on poverty and opposed the war.
A lot of that feeling, that power and particular sort of pride, died - was killed! - in the horror that was 1968 and the stifling of Nixon's 'enemies' lists.' But it DID exist and WAS different from the subsequent moments of true pride (honest leaders and the press standing up on Watergate, achievements in international relations, response to 9/11)in which the people, the ordinary citizens, have been spectators, not actors. -- The activity related to global warming and the environmant is the only area I can think of in which there has been a sense that the people, the grass roots action, has gradually shaped public perception and the course of events. For the most part, it's all been "top down"; the people get to just watch and hope.
But this year, in both parties, it's once again *the people*, not those in formal power positions, who are being the leaders and deciding what is going to happen next with our country. It's "the people" who decided that John McCain and (most likely) Barack Obama are going to be the nominees, and they made this happen despite the expectations and wishes of most of the Democaratic and Republican establishment. And it feels like the people are going to stay interested and remain involved ... and be ready to take action .. even after there is a change in administration.
How long has it been since there was that kind of feeling in the air? That kind of pride that comes from seeing/feeling true power in the actions of millions of ordinary citizens? It's easier for me to express, because I've seen and felt it before, but I do believe that this is what Michelle was talking about when she said she was proud "because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I've seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it's made me proud."
Michelle Obama was 4 years old in 1968; when she entered adulthood around 20, I think Iran-Contra was on the plate, to be followed by the bitter divisiveness of the Clinton years, the Monica/impeachment hideousness, and then Bush 43, who, tellingly, came to power in a way that said, most clearly, the will of the people didn't matter in the end. What have 'the people' done or said in all this time except to watch things unfold on television and either applaud or feel anguished? ----- When, during all that time, has there been anything like the current feeling that 'the people' have a unified and powerful voice, that we are going to be taking an active role in making decisions and shaping the direction of our own country? That is what a democracy is all about, after all.
February 21, 2008 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hammer: Meet Nail, Meet Nail's Head.
I am not old enough for 1968 as I was born in 1977.
I can think of nothing that compares to how I feel during this election season. Something happens when you decide to participate, volunteer, take ownership, and the current election cycle has elicited that from me. My first chance to vote for president (I was in basic training for the '96 election) was 2000. I think you can get the picture from there.
This election has become a commercialization of volunteering - we have a candidate who says that everyone can/should/must do it. Obama's proposal on tuition in exchange for civic participation embodies this elicitation. Participate dammit - Yes We Can.
And that speaks volumes to those of us who have seen good things, things to be proud of, but have not been pushed to participate, pushed to take ownership in this juggernaut we call our country and government.
February 23, 2008 1:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great piece.
February 21, 2008 3:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
She said in her adult life she'd never been "proud" and "really proud" of America (there were 2 or more speeches using this line).
Not with the fall of South African apartheid with the US' help.
Not with the fall of black poverty from 33% to 21% (with Bill Clinton's guidance).
Not with the fall of the Berlin Wall (oops, Ronald Reagan/George Bush Sr., oh well, applause).
Not with the invention of the PC and the rise of the internet (Thanks Gates & Jobs, Kleinrock & Cerf, Al Gore and Linus and DARPA and Tim Bernards-Lee).
Not with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.
Not with 16% of Bill's administration being black (including 13% of senior executives)
Not with the mapping of the Human Genome (she does work for a hospital, after all).
Not with the first black astronaut/engineer riding on the shuttle and then the first black commander (twice).
And let's just wait a day or two to respond when the Republicans attack in the fall. Yes, she has a tin ear for politics, and a rather self-centered view of this campaign and her pride in America. She just noticed people get excited about campaigns, but think Barack's is the first one in history. Perhaps its time for her to talk to Jesse.
February 21, 2008 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
excellent post! why no byline?
February 21, 2008 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, aside from Jesse I should mention Deaniacs as well - the basis for the modern netroots campaign. And to be fair, Ross Perot and Gary Hart got their own amount of enthusiasm.
February 21, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
The real problem with her remark is its astonishing narcissism.
Nice of her to say it isn't "just" because people are supporting Obama that she is proud. All the movement and work of people outside his campaign seem not to exist for her. Scary.
She is a real liability.
February 21, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
If it's not that big a deal, then perhaps Obama supporters can be honest about what she said. You folks have picked apart Hillary Clinton for the tiniest things, but predictably give a pass to anything coming from the Obama camp. I see NCSteve repeating the spin here: "Apparently, his wife, has at some point in her adult life, not been proud of her country." It's not "at some point in her adult life" it's never. She said she was proud of her country for the first time. She didn't say there have been times when she hasn't been proud, she said this is the first time she's been proud of her country. It's hardly hair splitting to point out the significant difference in the two statements.
I'm not concerned about the patriotic aspects of it, but I think it speaks to her incredible arrogance and thin skin. She is a loose cannon, with her "keeping her house in order" comments, along with a bunch of others. I have found her dislikable from the first interview I saw with her. For people who keep calling Hillary arrogant, Michelle Obama has her beat in spades.
I also think the people who killed themselves working for Gore and Dean, among others, would be interested to know this is the first time people have "rolled up their sleeves." I guess if it didn't involve Michelle, it didn't happen.
So perhaps we could see a little more honesty along with the fawning.
February 21, 2008 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would bet I agree with you in the sense that Michelle has some arrogance to her; although I have not seen many interviews with her other than the Newsweek article.
but you could have kept your post much shorter
That was all you really had to say. Maybe add a little complaint about the death of the Gore and Dean candidacies to round it out. The rest of your implied civility only served to shroud the fact that your previously chosen candidates have not made it to the finish line.
February 23, 2008 1:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
To the writer of the initial post:
thank you. Thank you for taking the time to write and post.
February 21, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Check the Response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40S4JAfb00w
February 21, 2008 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am an Obama supporter and say "Bravo" to the writer's hypothetical response to being pilloried. I actually have no defense for Michelle Obama.
I so often find that some of the Americans proudest of this country have either never left it, compare it to the poorest performing countries only, or have no idea and no interest in having an idea, about how it has failed its own citizens and others.
These same people however have a point when they criticize some Americans who dwell almost entirely on the negatives in our global reputation and on our domestic "sins" and make no pains to learn about how we do outshine other nations in our generosity to the world, our self-criticism, and our attempts to improve upon our domestic failures.
As many have said, Michelle Obama would have served better her husband's campaign of hope over cynicism, by highlighting what makes this nation's people great, which is their consistent respect for, and commitment, to its ideals. From here, she could have spoken specifically to how different administrations have succeeded or failed to actualize these ideals, and how she is proud that Americans are coming out in large numbers to take government to task for its failures in this respect.
Michelle Obama is a smart woman. She and the campaign as a whole, should have recognized that the cynicism of her stump speech does not gel perfectly with the hope of her husband's message. Barack has made people proud to be Americans. Michelle has consistently told us why we shouldn't be proud anymore. Even if her criticisms are fair, they are not sufficiently balanced.
Time to refine her stump speech.
February 21, 2008 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
The short of it.
The republicans salivate over this kind of shit.
February 23, 2008 2:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
A great peiece in any context. But isn't this just Michelle's "not home baking cookies" moment?
February 22, 2008 8:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Michelle Obama meant that she's now really proud because so many people are enthused, participating and not cynical anymore. Plus in her case, she's seeing support from across partylines
Aside from what she actually SAID, being born black in USA, means you 're basically f'ed up the old wazzoo. I think we can all agree that on average your chances are waaaaaaaaaaaaay poorer than being born white, latino, asian.
That might've her unintended implication. But I don't see so much wrong with that. Blacks are still to a larger degree than any other group, aside from Native Americans, not part of the society at large.
To this day, blacks run a far greater chance to be convicted innocent solely on the basis of a white persons word, than vice versa. I don't think I've ever heard of a white person being convicted innocently, mainly or solely on the testimony of black person.
Amnesty International has stated that blacks are 11 times more likely to be falsely convicted than whites.
Aside from all this, why is bill orally still alive?
March 2, 2008 1:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
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