Right back at you Pat

In my previous post, I linked to Pat Buchanan's piece on Race. That piece was supposed to answer Barack Obama's speech on race from Philly. To me, Pat's screed did much more than provide an answer from an angry White American, it also showed why Obama's follow-up discussion about his grandmother.

Obama did an interview and basically said his grandmother was a typical White person of her time. The Right twisted this into Obama saying his grandmother was a typical White person- implying that Obama was saying that the typical White person is a bigot. I say bigot because racist implies not just a prejudice, but power to act on that prejudice. The big distinction is that his grandmother is older, and from a time when calling an African American a nigger, boy, girl or darkie was as acceptable as calling that person by her/his name. That was a time not long after D.W. Griffith's Birth of A Nation, portrayed African American men as savage rapists looking to have their way with any White woman unlucky enough to be alone with them, and African American women as wanton sexpots ready at all times for all interested. In that climate, one born in Slavery and perpetuated in Post-Slavery America, Obama's grandmother grew up. That she feared/fears African American men is a function of her upbringing.

Pat Buchanan attempted to tap into that White anger that Obama mentioned. Is White anger real? As real as Black anger. The period between Reconstruction and The Civil Rights movement is approximately 100 years (1865- 1969). During that time, African Americans were still virtual slaves in some parts of America. The right to vote was continuously and violently denied. Black men were jailed and subsequently lynched for the offense of reckless eyeballing a White woman. This law was used to: 1) force Black men to not look White women in the eyes, and 2) eliminate African American businesses by having shop owners arrested for such an offense. The Tulsa Riot in 1921 was sparked by the supposed attack of a white woman (see the official report from 2001).

Buchanan was quick to point out that African Americans commit rape against Whites at a rate 100 times greater than Whites against Blacks. So, I was curious because I have heard that before and was never able to find those statistics. Check out the FBI website here. Googling black on white crime statistics shows articles and discussions like this, but little clue as to where these statistics were generated. I went to the Bureau of Justice Statistics and did not find data to support Buchanan's claim. I did find this little piece of information here: For 2005, "About seven in ten female rape or sexual assault victims stated the offender was an intimate, other relative, a friend or an acquaintance." This does not support what Buchanan attempts to imply about Black on White crime. Furthermore, the FBI's Uniform Crime Report does not include information on the race of victim versus offender. Does Pat's information come from discussions and sites like this? The Department of Justice does publish the National Crime Victimization Survey. Buchanan claims Whites are 100 times likely to be raped by Blacks than vice versa, yet the NCVS for 2001 (a year he cites) shows that the chance is less than twice as likely. The data is also skewed because the survey is based on the perception of the attackers race. Look here on Table 42.

Buchanan is looking to do what republicans have done for years- scare the voters into doing something. Well Pat, a lot of people have been pushed into doing something for the last eight years, and they are really tired. You proved Obama's point, pundits will try to distract us from looking and discussing real issues, and you my friend, are trying hard, but no prize.