Ben Stein apparently thinks that if he had been a “coloured” individual 60 years in the past, he would need to “kill himself.” However don’t fret, of us! If he had been a Black individual at the moment, he can be thrilled by the best way the “entire system is now arrange so I as a Black American can have each probability at a very good life.” How’s that for progress!
I used to be a baby rising up in Maryland and spending a number of time in Washington DC, I’d drive by the neighborhoods, with my dad and mom driving the automobile, the place predominantly black individuals, nearly all black individuals, lived. They usually regarded so raggedy and unhappy, and their neighborhoods had been so rundown and depressing. I simply thought, “Wow, what a horrible manner for these poor, sincere, respectable residents to dwell.” If I awoke within the morning, and I had been what we we referred to as them then, a coloured individual, a black model as we name them now, I would need to kill myself. That was, for instance 60 years in the past. And now women and gents, if I awoke and had been a black model, I’d assume I’ve each alternative to go to a extremely good faculty, I’ve each alternative to dwell in a extremely neighborhood, each alternative to get a extremely good job. The entire system is now arrange so I as a Black American can have each probability at a very good life. And that’s unimaginable. Unbelievable progress which isn’t mentioned within the media. And it’s a great miracle of human beings.
Stein is a tragic reminder that there are nonetheless loads of individuals on this nation who assume that racism is a factor of the previous, or that it is not likely that massive of a deal, or that Black individuals ought to simply “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” in the event that they need to succeed. They usually’re very happy to spout off about it in public, as a result of the MAGA occasion has opened the Overton Window to this sort of willfully ignorant rhetoric.
