When Racists Are Right

“There is only one force in this world that is capable of controlling a teenage male: his father. Women, you can either let black men rule their households as husbands and fathers or hide in your homes with doors locked as they rule the streets in roving gangs. If you don’t believe me visit any inner-city neighborhood, if you dare.”

I spoke these words at a black state employees’ convention.  It was part of an anti-affirmative action address that I gave for a breakout session.

Yikes!

My words were not well received.

I had to be escorted to the organizer’s room. Every step of the way, from the podium to the sanctuary, was a step through anger. People were pissed off. I got the feeling that I was no longer welcome.

I wasn’t. I left.

Those words, however, were not my own. I borrowed them from the famed sociologist, George Gilder. Mr. Gilder first uttered the same words on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the mid 1980s, and it got him kicked off the show. To this day, I believe Mr. Gilder has the distinction of being the first and only person kicked off ‘The Oprah.’

Oprah apologized to her audience for inviting a racist onto the show.

Here we are a decade removed from my borrowed comments and nearly two decades from Gilder’s original utterances, and as I write this I am looking at yet another story of a little girl shot in the face because she left the safety of her home, to play in streets, ruled by angry, aimless, homicidal black teenage males.

There is no mystery here.  In the inner cities of Milwaukee and other American cities, black husbands are scarce, black fathers are absent, black youth are wild, and no one is safe.

Ultimately, George Gilder is not a racist and he was right. Oprah can start the healing by apologizing to him on her show.

Comments

[dad29]

There's a story in today's Chicago Tribune which makes the point, again.

[Andy]

That's nice, how about a link?

[Rustmeister]

Has Oprah ever had Bill Cosby on her show?

[Nic Cruickshank]

I am loathe to address the situation in those words, whatever the truth because of the message it sends to those who have minimal experience or knowledge of the black portion of society. But at the same time an element of truth is there, that in the generation to come people will notice outside of the black community and into the white and multicultural masses. Typically black culture has predicated changes in the mainstream culture. Musically, in vocabulary, in even certain frames of thought (no snitchin') the mainstream has followed the lead and broken families is no different. It will become a "white" or mainstream problem soon enough and the solution is the same for Peurto Ricans, West Indians, Europeans and everyone else. Strong families with a focus on God.

[Diana]

Mr. Cosby has been on Oprah's show many times.

[Anonymous]

Gilder, and those who quote him, are blaming women?

Blaming mothers because fathers won't "rule," won't step up to raise their sons?

Explain.

[James T.]

Gilder argues that women “civilize” men through the institution of marriage. I.e. “You can’t get any until we are married.” A phrase seldom heard in the inner city these days.

The result?

Fatherless homes fuel the wild streets. This (he argues) is the undoing of civilization.

[Amy P.]

Also, feminism doesn't help. What's the saying? "Women need men like fish need bicycles" (or something like that)?

An entire generation of women was raised believing they didn't NEED men in order to be parents, and now a generation is growing up in poverty, violence, and all the difficulties faced by single-mother homes.

So, while the feminists can say women don't need men...children sure do.

[Doom]

Now that took some brass. It is not just in your culture, race, or whatnot, the stupidity seems to be everywhere. Wow, you are a man I could call brother. Ha, I am a breed so have no world in a way, and am a totally disabled vet, so I don't have to worry about approval. How do you get away with it? *laughs* Well, keep it up. We will either win or be caged or euthanized.

[Jane H.]

Wow, Larry Elder has a rival for the coveted prize of "Jane's Favourite Black Columnist". I live in Toronto, Canada and we're experiencing the same problem here: multi-generational families of women raising little boys without men. It seems like every week we have another young black male shot to death, either by rival gang members or even by his own "homies", and there isn't a single adult male among the grieving family members shown on TV. When will black teenage girls realize the world of hurt they're letting themselves (and their community) in for by continuing to lie down with these jackasses and perpetuating the cycle of little kids whose only father figures are the drug dealers on the corner?