BRITTANY DEAN
Contributing Writer
About a month ago, Bill Bennett, secretary of education during the Reagan administration, made blatant racist comments about the black community. Last week, he said “I do know that it’s true that 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.”
Bennett has stood by his statement but said he believes his comments were not racist, and he calls himself a “pro-life guy.” He also said that because his statements were hypothetical, they should not be offensive. The black community as a whole is outraged at Bennett’s comments. Rep. John Coyers Jr. (D – Mich.) said, “But what they (supporters of Bennett) miss is not the abortion ‘hypothetical’ — as absurd and tasteless as that is — but Bennett’s suggestion that African-Americans are synonymous with crime. It is a textbook case of stereotyping and racism and cannot be explained away.”
As an African-American, this statement is offensive and repulsive. It doesn’t seem logical to murder to prevent violence. Then, to single out a group of people and blame them for crime in America is ridiculous.
Another issue is that Bennett feels justified in his comments. Even Hitler knew that there would be backlash for his anti-Semitism, but Bennett is surprised that there is any controversy. If he would have felt even a little remorse for his comments, the black community may have felt a hint of compassion. However, he is secure in his ideas and that is a problem.
There is, however, an even scarier thought. Bennett has written many children’s books, with his best known work being “The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories.” At the same time, he is a man who has been criticized on his extreme views on issues such as the War on Drugs and using violence as a way of prevention. When a listener of his show suggested beheading drug dealers, he believed it would be “morally plausible.” A man who wants to teach your children about morals wants to abort children and behead people.
Many may believe that the issue of racism no longer exists. The Civil Rights Movement was only 40 years ago. We are children to a generation that was separated by skin color.
Rodney King and police brutality were only a decade ago. Affirmative action is still necessary to ensure equality in the educational system, and there are cases every day of racism. One of the biggest movies of the summer, “Crash,” had racism at the center of its plot.
However, America has made great steps in society and race relations are improving every day. Diversity is everywhere, and it is not unusual for all of us to be constantly exposed to different cultures every day. Racism is by no means extinguished, as we can see, but is not a prominent issue in today’s society.
It is scary to hear that there are people who represent our country making statements like these. In a country where equality and freedom are the foundation, Bennett and his vile ideas are only slowing the growth that America is making. With men like him, how can we achieve a world where you are judged on your character and actions and not on things such as race that you cannot control?
I will agree that in the media blacks as a whole are portrayed in more violent situations. Not only blacks commit murder. Look at the example of Caucasian serial killers in school shootings that have made news in the past years; the perpetrators have been mostly white.
Instead of hypothesizing, we should look at the facts. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, from 1976 to 2002, blacks committed 52.1 percent of homicides while whites committed 45.9 percent and the other 2 percent from other races.
Not all crimes are murder, but it is the most severe type of crime. However, the difference is not significant enough to say that blacks are equivalent to crime and take Bennett’s stance.
What action should we now take to improve this horrible situation? By talking and fighting against these racist views and killing ignorance, we can take what Bennett said and show people who have similar views why they are wrong.
We can also learn that stereotyping in any way is wrong if we do not like to be stereotyped ourselves. Finally, know who the people are that you elect into government. You may think that they are moral and driven by God, but you may be proven otherwise.
10-27-2005