ON THE news page are people who like to write about the facts. This page prints people who enjoy broadcasting their opinions. As The Cavalier Daily has shown in the last week, it considers the Opinion section a better place than the advertising pages in which to air differing viewpoints. Some people have remarked on the lack of discussion of the contents of the now infamous ad, "Ten Reasons Why Reparations For Slavery Is A Bad Idea - And Racist Too." This column attempts to rectify that oversight by addressing David Horowitz's errors.
Horowitz's statement that Union soldiers fought to free slaves over-simplifies history. Many Union soldiers found slavery and the mistreatment of blacks perfectly acceptable and fought only to prevent rebellious Southerners from seceding.
He must be living under a rock to say that blacks don't suffer from the economic consequences of slavery and discrimination. All Americans of African ancestry, rich and poor, suffer from them. They suffer from them every time salespeople follow them around in stores and cab drivers refuse to pick them up. Slavery left such an economic impression on our nation that blacks are still severely over-represented among the poor.
Our culture also portrays blacks as inherently more criminal than people of other races. This was driven home to me when a young visitor from India, after watching television for a week, asked, "Are black people really dangerous?" That someone could come here from another country and so quickly become "educated" in the ways of our society stands as an example of how racism continues to permeate our lives. New York City police killed Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant, not because he was a direct descendant of slaves, but because of this presumption of criminality - a legacy of slavery.
Horowitz gives no evidence, not even anecdotal, of the black community's feeling burdened by a sense of "victim-hood." This point sounds similar to the argument "How can blacks ever feel secure in their accomplishments with affirmative action hanging over their heads?" Those who make this argument never address the victim complex people must have who benefit from the traditional affirmative action of money and connections.
Moreover, Horowitz's remarks on sending a damaging message have suspiciously paternalistic overtones, as if to say: "You know how easy it is for those black people to get the wrong idea." Anyone who thinks being perceived as a victim sends a damaging message should look at the Jewish community. We recognize their victimization, yet they don't feel burdened by the recognition.
"Reparations to African Americans have already been paid" may be the worst of Horowitz's "reasons." If welfare benefits are supposed to be reparations to blacks, the government wastes a lot of money paying reparations to people who aren't black. Millions of non-blacks - the majority of recipients - receive welfare, because it's based on income, not race. This presumption that all welfare recipients are black is one of the obviously racist parts of the ad. Racial preferences for minorities have been given unevenly for less than 50 years, and will need another few centuries to catch up with the racial preferences given to whites.
The "debt blacks owe to America" doesn't exist any more for blacks than for Native Americans. The founding fathers created a nation under liberty and equality - for white men. The same Constitution granting great freedoms had sections about counting blacks as three-fifths of a person and extraditing fugitive slaves. The same Supreme Court charged with protecting individual rights declared blacks not to be citizens and therefore without rights.
Blacks need feel no "gratitude" for finally being granted de jure equality in a country they helped to build. Horowitz declares that America gave blacks freedom. Yes, but before that, it gave them slavery. His remarks on the prosperity of blacks in America compared to blacks in other countries boggle the mind. Blacks in America are not supposed to be equal with Ethiopians; they're supposed to be equal with other Americans.
We should not respond with rage to Horowitz's making these statements. We should be sorrowful that he is so misguided, and, judging by the response from some of The Cavalier Daily readers, that so many people agree with him. Keeping racism under the rug doesn't mean it doesn't exist - that just allows it to spread like a killing virus. His opponents' efforts, not his own, are turning Horowitz into a free-speech martyr instead of just another half-wit conservative.
(Pallavi Guniganti's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at pguniganti@cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
PARTING SHOT: No man is an island
By Ava MacBlane | 3 days agoRetirement, as you can tell, has been treating me well. When people ask me now if I miss it, I laugh and tell them some things I definitely don't miss. But I don't always get to tell them about the things I really do miss.
PARTING SHOT: You never know unless you try
By Lexi Baker | 4 days agoMy time at the University was shaped by the people who showed me grace and kindness and by those who had confidence in me, even when I struggled to have it in myself.
PARTING SHOT: A love letter to Cav Daily and Connection
By Ava Proehl | 4 days agoMy time here taught me to look for the genuine, human connection in every moment.
