What do these words have in common???..... Read on....Then express your OPINION!
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Congressional Democrats blasted former Education Secretary William Bennett on Thursday for saying that aborting "every black baby in this country" would reduce the crime rate, and demanded their Republican counterparts do the same.
"This is precisely the kind of insensitive, hurtful and ignorant rhetoric that Americans have grown tired of," said Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois.
Bennett, who held prominent posts in the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, told a caller to his syndicated radio talk show Wednesday: "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down.
"That would be an impossibly ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down," he said.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, called on President Bush to condemn the comments by Bennett, who was anti-drug chief in Bush's father's administration.
"What could possibly have possessed Secretary Bennett to say those words, especially at this time?" Pelosi asked. "What could he possibly have been thinking? This is what is so alarming about his words."
Bennett stood by his comments Thursday night.
"I was putting forward a hypothetical proposition. Put that forward. Examined it. And then said about it that it's morally reprehensible. To recommend **** of an entire group of people in order to lower your crime rate is morally reprehensible. But this is what happens when you argue that the ends can justify the means," he told CNN.
"I'm not racist, and I'll put my record up against theirs," referring to Pelosi and other critics. "I've been a champion of the real civil rights issue of our times -- equal educational opportunities for kids."
"We've got to have candor and talk about these things while we reject wild hypotheses," Bennett said.
"I don't think people have the right to be angry, if they look at the whole thing. But if they get a selective part of my comment, I can see why they would be angry. If somebody thought I was advocating that, they ought to be angry. I would be angry."
"But that's not what I advocate."
Asked if he owed people an apology, Bennett replied, "I don't think I do. I think people who misrepresented my view owe me an apology."
Bennett served as Reagan's chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1981-1985 and secretary of education from 1985-1988. From 1989-1990, he served as "drug czar" in the administration of the elder Bush.
Rush called on "my friends, the responsible Republicans" to rebuke the former Cabinet official by backing a House resolution condemning his remarks as "outrageous racism of the most bigoted and ignorant kind."
"Where is the indignation from the ****, as one of their prominent members talk about aborting an entire race of Americans as a way of ridding this country of crime?" asked Rush, a former Black Panther. "How ridiculous! How asinine! How insane can one be?"
He called instead for "aborting" Republican policies "which have hurt the disadvantaged, the poor, average Americans for the benefit of large corporations."
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said he was "appalled" by Bennett's remarks.
"The Republican Party has recently taken great pains to reach out to the African-American community, and I hope that they will be swift in condemning Mr. Bennett's comments as nothing short of callous and ignorant," said Reid, D-Nevada.
And Bruce Gordon, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, demanded an apology from Bennett and the Salem Radio Network, which airs his radio program.
"In 2005, there is no place for the kind of racist statement made by Bennett," Gordon said in a written statement. "While the entire nation is trying to help survivors, black and white, to recover from the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it is unconscionable for Bennett to make such ignorant and insensitive comments."
A man who answered the phone at the network said no one would be available to comment until Friday.
Bennett's 1993 repackaging of traditional morality tales, "The Book of Virtues," became a bestseller, and Bennett became a popular lecturer on moral issues. But in 2003, stung by news reports that he had lost millions of dollars in Las Vegas and Atlantic City over the last decade, he publicly renounced gambling and vowed to stay away from the slots from then on.
He is a Fox News contributor and chairman of "Americans for Victory over ****," which his Web site calls "a project dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public opinion as the war on **** moves forward."
It just depends on how you want to look at it.
If youre a hard ****, as indeed Rush and other people have seen, then youll really NEED an apology. NEED it, it was DEMANDED. How dare he say something that's true.
True.
I challenge every one of you to take a look at the census and studies taken over the past 5 years (2000-05) and look at the population to crime ratio for blacks, whites, and hispanics. Now, if you "aborted" every new White child then the crime rate would go down, and so forth, and if you aborted every Black child the crime rate would plummet significantly. But like I said, hit up yahoo and look for the Dot*Gov sites and do it yourselves...
That some people feel educated enough after hearing one quote to pass judgement and start up litanies of crap is just utter rediculousness, in my opinion. He said "morally reprehensible" which was well more than enough to cover his basis from a subjective standpoint, but are we really so sensitive as to want an apology for something True said so painstakingly politically correct?
If indeed he is pressured to recant his statement or apologize, it wont make his statement less true. It will do something else, however; Itll make everyone COMPLETELY on edge when someone says the word "Black", and is that what we are looking to do? Make everyone hypersensitive to Blacks? I though we were trying to blend in...
I digress.
I believe that the comments were ****. Although highly improbable as he stated, black people can not be blamed totally for our numbers in the correctional system. The war on **** that frequently targets the street level dealers (most of whom are black) leaves more black people in the penal system whereas whites, higher up in the drug distribution chain are left to fill those voids with other poor, black youths. When they are released, finding gainful employment is nearly impossible. I'd have to say that their best bet is to work in the underground economy. A man can't live off of $5.15 an hour. Nobody is able to make such a statement and not venture to develop a solution. Why not increase efforts in poorer communities to improve the education system.
I believe that the comments were ****. Although highly improbable as he stated, black people can not be blamed totally for our numbers in the correctional system. The war on **** that frequently targets the street level dealers (most of whom are black) leaves more black people in the penal system whereas whites, higher up in the drug distribution chain are left to fill those voids with other poor, black youths. When they are released, finding gainful employment is nearly impossible. I'd have to say that their best bet is to work in the underground economy. A man can't live off of $5.15 an hour. Nobody is able to make such a statement and not venture to develop a solution. Why not increase efforts in poorer communities to improve the education system.
I was gonna say something along these lines...
Also, we only make up 10 to 11% of this country's population. That leaves 89 to 90% up to other ethnicities....mainly, white people. If our population percentage is THIS small, then how can we be accounted for a larger percent of America's crime rate?
Besides...we ARE targets. If you believe that Blacks dont have a bullseye on them, then why is affirmative action an issue? Why is the fact that we make up SO MUCH of America's prison population an issue? Why is racial profiling an issue?
This is yet another example of how white-collar, upper class, white, business criminals are left alone and the "lower on the totem-pole" criminals are the one's who end up dealing with the system. Same people who run (and OWN) this country are the biggest criminals this country has.
Dont believe me? You see all these corperation CEOs that are getting convicted of stock crimes...you see a president who has sent our country to war, on false pretenses no less! Isn't that a form of murder?? (I'll send all these young, innocent citizens to risk and give their lives for a personal agenda...)
What about the one's who've been the deciding factor in putting criminals to death under the death penalty? These people have blood on their hands in the same way Latoyia Ferguson's murderer does. Dont know who she is? Google her name...
They are all crimes. It's just middle to lower class criminals who end up doing time for their crimes. Racism in America still exists. Those who think otherwise better wake up and get some awareness about their surroundings. There are people who would RATHER SEE US **** than to see us succeed....and success on our part (and on all levels) will probably not solve this problem.
I think it's horrible that Bennett made these comments. Having been in the presence of the Bennetts on many occasions, b/c of a program I participate in, I have come to the idea that they are racist, and I believe that this comment no matter how he or anyone else try to dress it up, the comment he made was innapropriate and racist. Why in a general discussion of the legalization of **** and the crime rate, would you pick out black babies in particular and not mention anyone else?? That comment done got me upset :x
And for people to get on here and say they see nothing wrong wit the comment and that it's true is nearly disgusting. Aborting black babies would be the easy way to "solve" the problem; how about we talk about why black children grow up and feel the need to commit **** acts and feel that their future is hopeless.
I think it's horrible that Bennett made these comments. Having been in the presence of the Bennetts on many occasions, b/c of a program I participate in, I have come to the idea that they are racist, and I believe that this comment no matter how he or anyone else try to dress it up, the comment he made was innapropriate and racist. Why in a general discussion of the legalization of **** and the crime rate, would you pick out black babies in particular and not mention anyone else?? That comment done got me upset :x
And for people to get on here and say they see nothing wrong wit the comment and that it's true is nearly disgusting. Aborting black babies would be the easy way to "solve" the problem; how about we talk about why black children grow up and feel the need to commit **** acts and feel that their future is hopeless.
cosign with the idea of this post...i dont care what any of yall say what he said was wrong, and without a doubt he is a racist!! he said: "I've been a champion of the real civil rights issue of our times -- equal educational opportunities for kids."...i mean agree it is an issue, but i think the REAL [bigger] issue of our time, is poverty. so because he claims he is "helping" he isnt a racist?! there are teachers in my school who are straight up racist, but still "help" by teaching the few black kids that we have in our school...i dunno i think someone jst needs to shoot that dude in his big toe!!
Does anyone else see the double irony in this statement?
Republicans dont even believe in **** yet they are willing to go against their hardcore belief to get rid of Black people. Now I consider that a serious statement. :x
