WHY CONSERVATIVES SHOULD NEVER WRITE ABOUT RACE

Conservatives have no business writing on anything related to race.  There. I said it.  They consistently approach all things racial from a paternalistic position of condescension, lecturing black folks on how we should feel about how they treat us!  Following the Michael Brown shooting, we were treated not only  to the spectacle of  Sean Hannity berating a black official (Democratic committeewoman Patricia Bynes) for not agreeing with him  but also his explanation that as someone registered to carry a gun, whenever he gets pulled over by the police (all the time, I’m sure) he simply tells them he has a gun in the car and he has no problem.  So why do Blacks have so many problems unless we don’t know how to act?  Not only do conservatives consistently lecture at Black folks, but their lectures are also consistently based on logic that is either twisted or non-existent.

One of the latest instances of a conservative who desperately needs to be put in check comes from Chicago Tribune columnist, John Kass, who, like Hannity, is also ALWAYS wrong on issues concerning race.   Kass wondered in his column why the African American community was not outraged at the slaying of a nine year old child (Antonio Smith) the way we were at Michael Brown’s killing.  Kass also enlisted Cook Country States Attorney, Anita Alverez in his argument about Black folks’ misplaced priorities.  He quotes Alverez: "I don't understand why people aren't as outraged when a young child like this is executed on a street," Alvarez said.

Interestingly enough, the Kass article came less than a week after a piece by fellow columnist Steve Chapman, debunking the conservative’s arguments that Blacks care only about white on black crime, citing the First Lady’s appearance at the Hadiya Pendleton funeral and Rev. Al Sharpton’s visits here to combat violence in the community.  He could also have mentioned the marches, rallies and radio initiatives all aimed at stopping violence within the African American community.  If Kass had really had a point would he not have started by exposing the flaws in the argument that we do care about black on black crime?  How could a professional journalist, writing for one of the most powerful mainstream papers in the entire country, produce apiece that ignored so many blatantly obvious facts?

Conservative commentators like Kass and Hannity are offensive to the Black community on a plethora of levels. First, how dare they accuse us of not caring about the children we have lost?  How dare they assume that the African American community lacks the human capacity to weep for our children, regardless of whose hand brought the child down? Furthermore, the reaction within the community to the shootings of Brown and Smith differ because the circumstances are different. 

Antonio Smith was killed by a mindless thug in the community.  We deplore these thugs who terrorize our communities and applaud the police for their swift action in apprehending four suspects.  We hope these perpetrators, if found guilty, will be off the streets for a very, very long time.  And while we are sick and tired of these thugs who contribute nothing but fear and death to our communities, we also know that they do not occur (at least to this degree) in nature.  They are the result of slavery, of the ongoing persecution of former slaves and the descendants of slaves with lynchings, the destruction of successful black towns (by the very people who insist we must pull ourselves up by our bootstraps), and the list goes on.  Black folks had their names, language, and identities ripped from them, and were defined as three-fifths human.  These thugs represent violence begat by violence.   These killers roam our streets perpetrating mayhem for one central reason:  They do not know who they are.  They were not born, Dr. Frankenstein/Kass, they were created by the system you so zealously defend.

And while we’re at it, The Antonio Smiths of the world are dead because of the ludicrous availability of guns in this country. I believe it is the Right Wing in this country that so vigorously supports absolute freedom to own guns.

Thugs killed Antonio Smith.  A police officer killed Michael Brown.   We do not call a thug when a policeman kills someone.  We do not pay thugs through our tax dollars to be thugs. Taxpayers do not put guns into the hands of thugs.   Where are those responsible for killing Antonio Smith and where is the person who killed Michael Brown?   We do not mourn Michael Brown any more than we do Antonio Smith.   In the case of Michael Brown, we mourn the lack of justice.  If conservatives do not understand this spectacularly obvious distinction, then they have no business writing about anything remotely related to race.