Racism

Philip Broome

I began this assignment using Google to search magazine articles on racism. Interestingly, there were almost two million results that were found. The one I chose was in the Tuesday, July 16, 2002 issue of FrontPageMagazine.com. The article was titled

Black Racism: The Hate Crime That Dare Not Speak Its Name by David Horowitz.

The article begins with the author recalling the Wichita Massacre that took place in the year 2000. Horowitz points out the fact that only one newspaper, newsletter, and online magazine reported the massacre. The author asserts, "Apparently the sexual torture and brutal executions of four promising youngsters is of no interest to the nation's moral guardians, because the victims happen to be white." Horowitz is exposing the national, state, and local responses to the Wichita Massacre in contrast to how the media responded to "an incident [in Los Angeles] in which a handcuffed [black] youth was slammed into the hood of a car and punched by an officer."

The article submits the following startling statistic: "The U.S. Justice Department has reported that 85% of all inter-racial violence in America is committed by blacks against whites." According to David Horowitz, "there are apparently no black hate crimes; and there is certainly no white civil rights movement to create sympathy for the victims. Nor can there be one in the present atmosphere of racial hypocrisy, where the mere expression of concern over attacks on white people would itself make an individual a ripe target for racial witch-hunters."

Horowitz believes race, and race alone is the sole determining factor in the national response to both the Wichita and the Los Angeles incident. The author further highlights the important role of the media/national press in shaping public opinion and perception, and how in this case, race is paramount. What David Horowitz writes in this article is so profound it warrants quoting:

What would happen if, instead, we returned to the idea of individual accountability, and gave up the totalitarian fantasies of reparations and "social justice," in which oppressed classes exact retribution from their age-old oppressors? What if we returned to the real world in which individuals commit indefensible misdemeanors (Los Angeles) and monstrous crimes (Wichita)? What if we revived the idea of making the punishment fit the actual deed? Think of all the people who wouldn't know what to do with themselves if that were to happen. The fact is that the Wichita horror is but one of many spectacular lynchings of white people by black racists, which the nation's moral watchdogs choose to ignore.

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