I like Ta-Nehisi Coates' approach here. This isn't just a "gotcha" thread fwiw . He's called the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision "the greatest holocaust in the history of mankind," and's accused a prominent Muslim advocacy group of "trying to infiltrate the offices of members of Congress by placing interns in the offices."
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/02/the-gop-pitch-for-black-votes/36764/Here's Congressmen Trent Franks giving an unsolicited lecture on the importance of Black History Month:
I think the most charitable interpretation holds that Franks isn't endorsing slavery, as much as he's....F- it, I've got nothing. This is just stupid on all conceivable levels.
I think there will be some amount of indignity, and offense-taking over this comment, and that's understandable. But when I read this, as when i read many conservative politicians, speak on African-Americans, I just feel sorry for them. Before you explain to someone that a "policy" built on selling children, government-sanctioned torture, and forced labor is worse than any policy in place to day, you should come to terms with the fact that your breaths are limited, and your days numbered. You have to budget your outrage.
That is the statement of an intellectual child, of someone whose never ventured beyond their hometown. It's what happens when you decide that you're fine as the party of white people, and your corner of the world is enough. This is what happens when your knowledge is capped, and your ignorance is boundless.
