A friend sent me a book. “TABOO: 10 Facts You Can’t Talk About” is a consideration of topics that woke political correctness has determined to be unmentionable and thus must be censored. Since talking about taboo subjects is something I do pretty much every day on this blog, I eagerly read it.
The author, Wilfred Reilly, describes himself as a Black, center-right political scientist. He’s a professor at Kentucky State University, where his “research focuses on empirical testing of political claims.” In other words, Reilly examines the buzzwords and clichés of politicians and analyzes them to see if they hold water under scrutiny.
We are, of course, now entering the realm of cancel culture—that unwritten set of rules, created by the far left, that determines what the American people can and cannot be told about reality. If the doyens of the far left mandate that a particular fact may not be mentioned, it is said to be “canceled.” (This is why nextdoor.com is so pernicious: ask anyone who’s been thrown out and they’ll tell you.) So what are Prof. Reilly’s 10 taboo “obvious” facts?
1. The Police Aren’t Murdering Black People.
2. There is no “War on POC” [people of color] and BBQ Becky Did Nothing Wrong.
3. Different Groups Perform Differently.
4. Performance—Not Prejudice—Mostly Predicts Success.
5. Racism Didn’t Cause the New Problems of Today.
6. Anyone Can be Racist (and “Racist” Has a Real Meaning).
7. Whiteness Isn’t the Only “Privilege.”
8. “Cultural Appropriation Is Not Real.
9. A Sane Immmigration Policy isn’t Racist (And We Need One!).
10. The “Alt-Right” Has Nothing to Offer.
I won’t go into detail on all of these, but I’m sure that my smart, educated readers will understand the nuances of each. I will make some general remarks, however. #1 (The Police Aren’t Murdering Black People) is known to all fair-minded Americans. Although the woke left, people such as Cat Brooks, constantly push this lie for propaganda purposes, it’s easily disproved by the facts. As I’ve stressed repeatedly, Black men are murdering other Black men. The Police are trying to stop this slaughter.
#3 (Different Groups Perform Differently) is also something I’ve written about time and time again. Crime is much more common in the Black community than in other communities. (You’re not supposed to say that. In fact, it got me banned for life from nextdoor.com. But it’s true and everyone knows it.) Therefore, there are disparate outcomes in things like car stops, arrest rates, sentencing and imprisonment numbers. This is not due to “racism” but to the propensity of too many young (and not-so-young) Black men to commit crimes. Reilly amusingly points out that the lack of Filipinos in the National Basketball Association isn’t due to “racism” but to the fact that most Filipino men are too short! Different groups, in other words, perform differently.
#5 (Racism Didn’t Cause the New Problems of Today) deals with the acute problems in so many urban Black communities: dire crime, drug dealing and abuse, lack of education, poverty, violence and so on. Reilly points out that every statistical study points out that the “root cause” (to use that woke phrase in its proper sense) of these horrors is single-mom families. A kid growing up without a proper Dad is much more likely to end up in jail, or dead, than one with a functioning Mother and Father. Yet you never hear people like Pamela Price talk about this. It’s taboo to even mention it. But we have to.
#6 (Anyone Can be Racist and “Racist” Has a Real Meaning) points out the obvious fact that there’s a helluva lot of animosity towards White people among Black people. We all know it, but we’re not allowed to say it. Well, I just did.
#7 (Whiteness Isn’t the Only “Privilege”). Wokes talk all the time about “White privilege” and how awful it is and how we have to eliminate it, usually by affirmative action. It’s questionable if we “White people” actually have any sort of “privilege” that other people don’t, but even if you allow that there may be some, Reilly points out all the other forms of “privilege.” Height, weight, facial appearance, manner of speaking, religion, personal wealth, connections—all of these are forms of privilege. If you’re a male over six feet in height, with a handsome face, good body, poise and a degree from an elite school, you’re much more likely to get a good job than a short, chubby man who went to a community college. This may not be fair, but it’s true. In fact, one could argue that, when it comes to lucrative NBA careers, 6’7” Black men are “privileged” in a way that I never could be.
I believe none of the “violence prevention” schemes proposed by wokes will ever work. There are many things that could work, if they were sincerely accepted by the Black community. Two of the most important surely are: (1) “babies having babies” is completely unacceptable, especially when there’s no strong, wise male in the household, and (2) stop blaming the Black community’s problems on White people. That argument is threadbare and getting thinner.
You will never hear these truths espoused by radical Black activists like Fife, Brooks and Price. This is why we repudiate them and work to restore moderation and sanity to government.
Steve Heimoff, President
Coalition for a Better Oakland