WaPo's William Raspberry: Better Than Abortion

William Raspberry's Op/Ed piece in the Washington Post this morning is interesting on many levels. He says there is a better cure to the US soaring crime rate than following William Bennett's suggestion to abort all black babies. For starters, it's interesting that Raspberry who is black doesn't fume and foment over Bennett's remark. He gives a number of possible responses to Bennett, but he doesn't get riled and defensive. Raspberry tells a true story about how the problem of raging elephants was handled in South Africa's Kruger National Park. And he relates the Kruger National Park solution to young black men in America: Too many young black men have no older black men to teach them how to be responsible productive adults. And the reasons he gives for this dilemma, at least by me, are 100% right. I see a great parallel between the response of powerful adult white men to the black community, and the response of powerful adult white men to poor people. Yes, you can substitute the word Republicans when I say powerful adult white men. The Republican Party's message to the black community and to all poor people is that blacks and poor folks have gotten themselves into the spot they are in by not being powerful wealthy and white. Ergo: Fuck you all for having so little forethought. This overall attitude of the Republican Party is a disgrace. But worse than being a disgrace, it has hurt the entire US population because it has brought about an underclass that now is finding it difficult, if not impossible, to help themselves. I wouldn't go so far as William Bennett in suggesting a solution. That is to say, I wouldn't actually suggest killing all wealthy white adult Republicans. But getting the worst of the lot out of public office would go a long way toward healing what's wrong with America.