If I'd eaten any breakfast this morning, I would have lost it over this:
Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."
As a man who is known to be very intelligent and highly respected in the political world, it's frightening to think that this is his view. Sadly, I'm sure he's not alone in this kind of thinking.
If you aborted every baby that grows up to be one of the white motherfuckers who are running things in this country, we wouldn't have so much war, we wouldn't have had slavery, our planet wouldn't be trying to kill us, and we wouldn't have to hear bile such as the above quote. And I say that with great confidence and wistfulness. We could eliminate a lot of shitty NY cab drivers if we aborted every Pakistani baby. We could eliminate a lot of mob activity if we aborted every Italian baby. We could eliminate a lot of stinky fish markets if we aborted every Chinese baby. We could also eliminate a lot of geniuses and heroes and people who just live decent, non-intrusive lives. What is the POINT of his statement, other than to make an ugly generalization about the majority of an entire race? It makes me sick to think that people like Bennett attribute all the crime in this country to black people or assume that most black people are criminals. What about all the white methheads, rapists, serial killers, wife-beaters, child molesters...? I read about serial killers with earnest for several months and found out that less than one out of every one hundred serial killers is a black man.
In a country where prisons are a huge industry and a frightening percentage of our population is incarcerated, perhaps it is time to strive for an evolution in our thinking that exceeds the ignorance and unproductivity of racism and start examining the real reasons that we have so much crime. Black people do not equal crime. A country with an ugly past, present - and at this rate, future - and a society that refuses to examine itself and the real reason that we have such an unbelievably high crime rate in the first place - equals crime.
Silence, Mr. Bennett. Silence, until you have something useful or productive to add, or a solution that does not involve the proposition that (were it not politically incorrect) ethnic or racial cleansing would do the trick. And if that day never comes, then silence forever, por favor.
Posted by Maria at September 30, 2005 12:31 PM