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Birth Defect of Slavery
The US continues to suffer because of the "birth defect" of slavery.
Condi may be an ineffectual Sec of State, but her response to Obama's speech and the need for a national discussion on race addresses the issue head on.
Racial disparities persist independent of education and income levels. We are not yet "post-race."
Will this important voice from the opposite side of the aisle force MSM to go beyond the infotainment that pases for serious discussion? Will we actually have a national discussion on race?
Unlikely, but one can hope.
The article appears in the Wash Times (hold your noses)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080328/FOREIGN/746301768/1001
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Comments (6)
Rice's comments, for which I salute her heartily, perhaps will give Obama a bit of cover from the right wing smear machine.
March 28, 2008 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Condi for VP?
This seems like a potential avenue for the Republicans to neutralize Obama's advantage in this area.
March 28, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Condi refers to a national birth defect, not a birth defect of slavery.
And I'm glad she's talking about this.
March 28, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Condi refers to a national birth defect, not a birth defect of slavery.
????????? (From the Wa Times article)
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding.
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Was there some other event that prevented Blacks from having equal opportunities?
Or are you taking on an English Prof role?
March 28, 2008 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I would imagine she speaks very much from the heart, she knew the little girls in the Birmingham bombing did she not? Glad she is speaking up.
March 28, 2008 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know about you guys, but to me, referring to slavery as a "birth defect" is a bit troubling to me. It's at least an incomplete analogy.
Yeah, perhaps slavery wasn't entirely the fault of the first Americans because it was an accepted practice by the first whites to discover America. But for nearly a century after independence, while other world powers recognized the evils of slavery, it kept on chugging along here in the States.
So yeah, maybe we were born with it. But by writing it off as simply a "birth defect," I think we are absolving ourselves from taking responsibility for our actions, and, accordingly, further avoiding an honest discussion about race.
March 28, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
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