- I’m white, but from what I’ve seen it is a universal consensus in the black community that white conservatives-especially the sort who would have opposed civil rights laws and laws which protect the right to vote for people of all races on “states’ rights” grounds-are not entitled to quote MLK in support of any white conservative argument. And the “content of their character” line was never an agreement that no black people, for the rest of eternity, would ever discuss the effects of historic and continuing racism. Dr. King never said anything that equated to an agreement to absolve white America of any and all responsibility for what we have done and continue to do to people of color. OK?
- If you’re going to say that you can’t be held responsible for the effects of what past generations of white people have done, you also don’t get to claim to be antiracist because a handful of your white ancestors might have done something decent.
- Morgan Freeman speaks for no one but himself-he is not the Oracular Black Man.
Why do so many of my fellow white people find it so intolerable to simply have an honest and real conversation about this country’s history? What could any of us really have to lose?
