Bennett & racism—U.S. style
By
Monica Moorehead
Published Oct 6, 2005 10:06 PM
The heinous, racist statement made by former
secretary of education William Bennett on crime and Black babies was in and out
of the mainstream media fast enough to make your head spin.
The former
Reagan cabinet member, also known as the “drug czar” in the 1980s,
made the following statement Sept. 28 on his syndicated call-in radio show,
Morning in America: “If you wanted to reduce crime, you could—if
that were your sole purpose—you could abort every black baby in this
country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossibly
ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go
down.” (CNN)
Bennett’s statement caused a broad response of
criticism from civil rights leaders, Democrats and even some moderate
Republicans who view it as a setback in their efforts to woo more Black voters
to their party. Bennett, who until now has refused to retract or apologize for
what he said, stated that everyone took his statement “out of
context.” Period, end of story.
Judging by what’s in the
media, Ben nett’s show has not been canceled by any of the stations that
carry it. The Federal Communications Commission, charged by Congress with
regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television,
wire, satellite and cable, has not issued any public statement condemning
Bennett’s remarks. Contrast this with its overblown reaction to Janet
Jackson’s breast exposure during the Super Bowl XXXVIII half-time
show.
Just as Hurricane Katrina erased any doubts that racism and poverty
do exist in the U.S., Bennett’s statement does the same. The truth is that
Bush, Cheney and other white capitalist politicians in the higher echelons of
the U.S. government share the same views as Bennett. The only difference is that
they would not risk making an outright genocidal statement like Bennett’s
in public, because of a certain image that they want to uphold.
The same
is true of Christian right-wing zealots like Pat Robertson, who just recently
called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. During
this controversy, the Bush administration distanced itself publicly from
Robertson’s statement but did not take any serious action—like
arresting him for advocating the assassination of a legitimately elected head of
state. Once again, the Bush administration was in solidarity with
Robertson’s attack on Chávez.
Taken at face value,
Bennett’s statement gives the dangerous impression that Black children are
born with some kind of criminal gene. But in reality, his statement is a
mutilation of the truth, that truth being that crime is rooted in
capitalism—a system that puts profits and private ownership of the means
of production before the needs of humanity.
It is capitalism that has
created an environment whereby African-American
children and other children
of color are victims of institutionalized racism and poverty in a country of
unimaginable wealth.
Official statistics admit to 37 million people who
are impoverished in the U.S., defined as families living below the federal
poverty level. According to 2004 figures from the National Center of Children in
Poverty website, more white children live in poverty than those of any other
group, but this is only because whites make up a majority of the population.
When rates of poverty are examined, it is Black and Latin@ children who suffer
in disproportionate numbers.
Some 10 percent of white children live in
poverty, a disgraceful figure in such a rich country. But even this is low
compared to the 33 percent for Black children and 28 percent for Latin@
children. The District of Columbia, home to the federal government and a
majority Black population, has a higher rate of child poverty—30
percent—than any other state.
There is another category called
extreme child poverty. This refers to children in families earning less than
HALF the federal poverty level. The District of Colum bia is at the top of this
list, too, followed by Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkan sas, New Mexico, North
Carolina, West Vir ginia, New York, Alabama and Tennes see. (NCCP.org) Yes, New
York, the “Empire State,” home to Wall Street, is on the list of the
10 worst.
This kind of poverty alongside extreme wealth drives its victims
to carry out desperate “crimes” for survival. It has led to the U.S.
having the largest prison population in the world—over 2 million
people—the majority of them people of color and poor.
Many of these
alarming statistics stem from the devastating welfare “reform”
pushed through Congress by President Bill Clinton in 1996. It virtually
eliminated federally funded relief, won during the working class struggles of
the 1930s, that guaranteed vital income and food stamps for the poor, especially
single mothers with children.
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