Councilor Szakos dismisses race violence as conspiracy theory

Charlottesville, Va. – Best-known for asking why don’t we tear down our Civil War monuments, City Councilor Kristin Szakos shrugs off anti-white violence because black-on-black violence is a greater danger to blacks, in a letter to the editor (Paragraph 3, “Avoid spreading ‘race war’ rhetoric,” Jun. 1, 2012, The Daily Progress).

In paragraphs 4 and 5, Szakos argues that a black man who criticizes a black president must be controlled by a group of whites behind the scenes. In her logic, since a group had rejected a proposal to use a black man to criticize President Obama’s anti-white sentiments and associations, therefore black man, conservative columnist Thomas Sowell is “apparently” being told what to say in his May 18 essay (“One side of race war is being censored,” The Daily Progress, available at “A Censored Race War,” May 15, 2012, National Review Online).

Why can’t blacks form their own opinions like everybody else? The conspiracy theory illustrates a double standard on race. If you flip the colors of the violence Sowell describes, there would be universal outrage. As it stands, there’s only selective outrage. Blacks are held to a lower standard and have more rights than whites.

Why would anyone look for a black man to criticize a black president? Why not look for the best, most persuasive writer? If a white person had written the “race war” column, The Daily Progress would not have printed it. That’s how obvious the reverse racism is today. The Progress has known about black gangs attacking whites in this city at least since 1977 (“6 seized in attacks near UVa,” Oct. 20, 1977).

In 2002 a predominantly black gang targeted people near the University of Virginia if they “looked white.” The story made national news. Mayor Blake Caravati lost sleep over it. Locals wrote letters to the editor calling for a double standard: restorative justice for the attackers, not equal justice under the law. Restorative justice is basically a formal apology to serve as symbolic restitution. Whites who attack people who “look black” are charged with hate crimes, a penalty added for racist First Amendment ideas.

Blacks have the right to say what whites can’t say, such as the N-word. Without penalty, blacks can bully and assault whites for using the prohibited language. The race riots in Cincinnati proved the double standard. When a white attacked a black, he was charged with a hate crime. When a black attacked a white, he was free to go, no charges filed.

The American legal system favors blacks. That’s politically incorrect to say because it’s true. (Ask Va. Senator Jim Webb what happens when you say blacks aren’t the only victim-class.) Blacks have achieved preferential treatment based on race. Then why is the black community suffering so much? Internalized segregation and five decades of violence. It’s a mixed message to demand integration while using the tools of segregation such as terrorism, intimidation, stereotyping. Who wants to hang out with someone you’re afraid of?

Martin Luther King Jr. insisted on non-violence because his goal was integration. The peace movement ended Jim Crow and integrated the public schools. But progress had stalled in the 1960s. After King’s 1968 assassination and race riots in a hundred cities, short-term progress was made such as the sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis. Civil rights leaders began using fear, thinking it would advance justice. At the same time, the leaders keep referring to King and the peace movement. Blacks are fighting a war for dependence on social programs. Every other war is fought for independence. So the bizarre reality is hard to believe.

How do you know when a person supports violence? If they speak out against one type but are silent on another type of violence, then they oppose the first and support the second. If you condemn black-on-black violence but attack the messenger of black-on-white violence, what would that say about you? The more race hustlers, like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Kristin Szakos, M. Rick Turner, rail against anti-black violence, the more the silence on anti-white violence proves the racism of the race hustlers.

Using the logic of Szakos, you could deny the Holocaust. Yes, 6 million Jews were killed. But the Germans also killed Russians, British, French, American, the handicapped, Gays, Gypsies, other Germans, and so on. Therefore the Jews were not targeted, but were treated like everybody else. But the reality is the Jews were targeted based on race. The other victims were targeted for other reasons. Yes, black violence touches people of all races. When the occasional Jew fought back and killed a German, the Nazi propaganda would call for killing Jews as a form of justice. The Nazi comparison to modern-day blacks is not going away.

How much evidence must there be to show that blacks are capable of racism like all other humans? Apparently it will take more than the mountain already presented. It doesn’t help when Jesse Jackson claims blacks are incapable of racism, and therefore subhuman. What a weird world when the biggest racists spend all their time talking about the racism of other people.

A brief word on the Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman case. If the race was flipped, newspapers would not have reported the story. The reaction to the case shows how blacks are living in the past, using 1950s rhetoric, expecting the same progress to be repeated. Except in 2012 the blacks are the KKK. Which skin color called for a lynch mob? Which race put out a bounty, wanted dead or alive? Which race went into hiding for his own safety?

When I point out the obvious hypocrisy of the selective outrage, people stop trying to pull me into the false drama. There are no white gangs cruising around looking for random blacks to attack. But there are black gangs targeting whites. Everybody knows about it. And I do mean everybody.

According to a guest on the Schilling Show the same day the “race war” column appeared, the war has been raging for a long time as it goes unreported. Rob interviewed Colin Flaherty, author of White Girl Bleed A Lot, which documents in at least 75 cities how police won’t even take a report if the assailant is black and the victim is white. ( Schilling Show Podcast Hour 2 on May 18, 2012 )

The State of Race in Charlottesville, July 26, 2010. Decade summary of Blair Hawkins talking about urban renewal and race issues.

Race Violence in our Schools? Apr. 10, 2006. Speculation that secrecy about 2006 outbreak of violence is racial as it was in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s. Black leaders Kendra Hamilton and Charles Barbour exposed for racist remarks. Daily Progress refuses to print letter.

Avoid spreading ‘race war’ rhetoric, Jun. 1, 2012 reprinted for historic preservation and so the reader can determine if the letter was taken out of context or misunderstood.

I was appalled at The Daily Progress’ decision to run syndicated columnist Thomas Sowell’s rant about the “race war” against whites (“One side of race war is being censored,” May 18).

Sowell writes that a race war is evident in the targeting of white people by black gangs in Norfolk and other cities and by the subsequent failure of the Norfolk newspaper to cover the race hatred evident in the attack. His column was inspired by a similar charge by commentator Bill O’Reilly of Fox Television.

What Sowell does not mention is that black gangs are far more of a danger to African-American residents of inner cities that to white tourists. The tragic death of a Charlottesville teacher while visiting her home city in New Jersey is an example of how out-of-control neighborhood violence victimizes everyone in the neighborhoods. 

Sowell’s transparent effort to instill fear in the white community of gangs of roving African-American youth targeting white people for attack echoes the far right’s effort to drum up distrust and hatred toward all African-Americans, including (and perhaps especially) President Obama.

The New York Times recently exposed an attempt by a group of right-wing billionaires to discredit and defeat the re-election campaign of the president by linking him to anti-white rhetoric and violence (“G.O.P. ‘Super PAC’ Weighs Hard-Line Attack on Obama,” May 17). They had planned to launch a $10 million campaign, including $8 million worth of anti-Obama ads, to link Obama to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other examples of anti-white sentiment. The group planned to avoid charges of racism by choosing as its spokesperson “an extremely literate black male” like Sowell.

Although the specific campaign outlined in the Times may have been cancelled, the effort apparently goes on. The Daily Progress should not be a part of it.