Larry Elder take's on CNN's "Black In America"

Here is the article: A Black Conservative Lament by Larry Elder

In the article a friend of Larry's wrote him a letter describing how he was interviewed for hours and then they cut him down to sound bites. He was ticked to say the least. Here is a shot from him:

They spoke to a professor from Columbia, who was droning on about how the legacy of slavery is to account for blacks' out-of-wedlock birthrate. Slavery?! This nonsense was seconded by another panelist. When I corrected them and said that the out-of-wedlock rate was lower during Jim Crow … eyes began rolling

I am tired of the legacy of slavery being the account for all black ills. Thomas Sowell has provided facts and figures for quite some time. The black family started it's collapse in the 60's (the 1960's, not the 1860s). The problems of black literacy and education also started in the 1960's. If we want to affix blame, we need to look back at what happened in the 1960s.

The money shot of the article comes from Elder:

The problems of the "black community" have to do with the welfare-state-induced breakdown (or, more accurately, non-formation) of the family. This causes a disinterest in education and leads to poor values, reckless and irresponsible breeding, as well as a lack of the job skills necessary in an information-age society. We also have grievance groups – black "leaders"; the oh-so-sympathetic media; fear- and guilt-laden whites who refuse to say (as they do to their own children) work hard and play by the rules; and many reluctant blacks who refuse to preach the message of "no excuses, hard work" for fear of being labeled "Uncle Toms."

I told my sister-in-law that nearly half of Harvard's black freshman class consists of blacks from the Caribbean or Africa – areas less prosperous with far less opportunity. Care to explain that?

I agree with the 'Sage from South Central' whole heartedly on these matters.

I watched Black in America on CNN. I tried to watch as much as I could but I didn't view the whole thing. When they talked about education I didn't see them bring up the idea of school choice and vouchers. Blacks support school choice more than any other demographic. How can you cover what it is like to be Black in America and discuss the issue of urban education without even bringing that up? I was stunned. I shouldn't have been.

When they talked about poverty, they never questioned if government programs we part of the problem. I think they are a large part of the problem, as does Larry Elder. They don't even ask the question.

The whole series is biased because of excluded viewpoints. I wonder who makes the decision that vouchers would not be covered. It would be one thing if they loaded the deck against the voucher movement, it is quite another when it isn't even raised as an issue. Sphere: Related Content