[lbo-talk] Imus

Dennis Claxton ddclaxton at earthlink.net
Fri Apr 13 10:59:58 PDT 2007


Wojtek wrote:


>My reaction is not to the crime itself, but the leftist bullshit
>narratives on it. They get on my nerves for the reasons I already explained
>in my previous posting - disappointment. I expected more hard-nosed,
>critical analysis devoid of any self-righteousness, pieties and sacred cows,
>but what I get is counter-cultural self-righteousness, and counter-cultural
>pieties and sacred cows.

So you haven't read Christian Parenti, Ruth Gilmore, David Simon or Steve Bogira? And I don't recall your ever naming a specific title when you rail against these leftist bullshit narratives.

As to your fear of crime, this might settle your nerves some:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/165/165_radio_bc/01_05_06_radio_bc_black_on_black_crime.html


>There is a strange confluence of conclusions among supposedly
>opposed political forces, on the subject of Black-on-Black crime.
>Why is it that most crimes committed by Blacks are committed against
>other Blacks? You will hear that question asked at gatherings of the
>most racist white reactionaries, and at great and grand convocations
>of African Americans of all political persuasions. In a perverse
>convergence of nonsensicality, very similar conclusions are usually
>drawn: Black culture, it is said, has somehow been fatally
>undermined, and that is the root of such high levels of Black-on-Black crime.
>
>White racists actually believe that Blacks are simply prone to
>criminality, and must be held in check through rigorous surveillance
>and the iron hand of a vast incarceration system. However, they
>rarely voice these base opinions so baldly, but instead blame
>welfare dependency and chinks in the armor of the criminal justice
>system as the culprit. These reactionaries are not really upset by
>the gruesome statistics of Black-on-Black crime, but rather, they
>celebrate them, as proof of white superiority.
>
>Blacks tend to moan and groan about ignorance and - above all -
>racial self-hatred, as the root cause of fratricide among African
>Americans. Blacks hate their condition and hate each other for being
>in it, the theory goes, and therefore lash out, brother against
>brother, and brother against sister, and so on.
>
>It's all nonsense. Black people don't hate themselves, or each
>other. We are all we've got, and in highly segregated communities,
>all we know. If African Americans committed crimes based on hate, we
>know who the victims would be: white people. But there is a great
>price to be paid for crimes against whites in this society. All the
>statistics show that the risks are extremely high, especially for
>acts of violence by Blacks against whites. For the career or novice
>Black criminal, the choices are clear: confine your crimes to your
>own community, and you will stand a chance of beating the system. Go
>outside, and the full weight of the state will come down on your head.
>
>American society devalues Black life, and every Black child knows
>it. Criminals operate within the parameters of the society in which
>they live, just like everybody else. They weigh their chances as
>they roll the dice. Every African American citizen in the nation
>understands that the dice are loaded mightily against them if they
>are convicted of a crime against a white person. It is only logical
>that the criminal-minded would choose Black targets of opportunity.
>After all, that's what white criminals did during Jim Crow. They
>were confident of impunity, when committing outrages against Black
>men and women. Why should Black criminals act any differently?



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