Sally Kern Questions the Study Habits of Black People

And the hits keep right on coming! On April 27, 2011, while debating in favor of SJR 15, a proposed constitutional amendment that would eliminate Affirmative Action in Oklahoma, Rep. Sally Kern (a Republican member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives) said the following:

"We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them."

In the clip below Michael Shure of The Young Turks gives his take on Kern's recent comments:



In just the past couple of years, Republicans have made several missteps in regards to race issues. Although some of these stories have been covered here at Diversity Ink, frankly it's been hard to keep up. Whenever Republicans/conservatives cite examples of racism within the Democratic party, they often have to go back in time to prove their case. For example:

• Quotes by Thomas Jefferson (I once asked a conservative blogger to explain the inconsistency of touting the values of Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers while also using a Jefferson quote as proof of racism within the Democratic party. I never got an answer)

• The late Robert Byrd (the Democratic Senator from West Virginia) was a member of the KKK when he was young. 

• The fact that it was a Republican president who abolished slavery. Of course, what they fail to acknowledge is that the Republican party of the Lincoln era was considered liberal/progressive as opposed to the Democrats during that period. It wasn't until much later that the two parties switched ideologies.

On the other hand, if a Democrat/liberal wants to look for examples of racism on the Republican side, all they need to do is follow current events. If there happens to be a dry spell and a couple of weeks go by without any racially offensive comments by a Republican such as the ones made by Rep. Sally Kern, just wait. Bill Maher said the following in 2010 and I agree with him:

"I would never say and I have never said, because it's not true that Republicans, all Republicans are racists. That would be silly and wrong. But nowadays, if you are racist, you're probably a Republican."

Guest Post By Trestin: Affirmative Action

As you may know, one of the goals of Diversity Ink is to allow people with differing viewpoints on race-related issues to share them here. A little over a week ago, I came across the following post (Affirmative Action) on the blog Trestin Meacham. I contacted the blogger (Trestin) and asked if he'd be interested in letting me use it as a guest post at Diversity Ink. In his email response to me, Trestin welcomed the opportunity. He added that he was impressed with the open nature in which things are discussed here. Trestin also said he would try to get some of his readers to come here and join in on the discussion. My hope is that this generates a lively, respectful, and educational debate.

This was posted by Trestin on his blog in mid-January 2010:



Most of the great figures in history only became great after overcoming enormous obstacles. Nothing worth while comes easy. I for one am glad I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I'm glad my family did not just hand everything to me. Having to go though some struggles made me a better person. There is true satisfaction in knowing you earned something. Many minorities have some of that satisfaction stolen by affirmative action programs.

No program has done more to hurt the minorities than affirmative action. Most white people hate affirmative action, but we are not the ones who suffer the most. It seems to say that minorities are losers and can not succeed without extra help. That's not true and we all know it. It is degrading and belittling to honest people to get special treatment when they do not need it.

I am Mormon; our people suffered all kind of persecution. The State of Missouri issued an extermination order against us. Do I ask for special treatment? No, everybody has ancestors that were wronged severely. If you go back far enough, we all have ancestors that were slave owners, and ancestors that were slaves. Human history is filled with slaughter and injustice. We must first stop being victims of the past, before we can benefit from the future.

Affirmative action is the opposite of Dr. King’s vision. Dr. King wanted a world where a man was judged for whom he is, not his ethnic background. Affirmative action does the opposite, it divides us and assigns value based on race. It creates an entitlement mentality that limits true equality. No one is owed anything!

Very few people, judge people based on race. I think our society does for the most part, live Dr. King’s dream. Most of us judge a person by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. Why can't of government do the same? It's time to end these backward equality limiting affirmative action programs. Let's stop being African-Americans or Latino-Americans, let's just be Americans.