Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Institutional racism a mystery to Rand Paul

Presidential candidate Rand Paul on Baltimore unrest:

 "It's depressing, it's sad, it's scary. I came through the train on Baltimore last night, I'm glad the train didn't stop. The thing is that really there's so many things we can talk about, it's something we talk about not in the immediate aftermath but over time: the breakdown of the family structure, the lack of fathers, the lack of sort of a moral code in our society. And this isn't just a racial thing, it goes across racial boundaries, but we do have problems in our country."

Paul comments are insensitive, unhelpful  and clueless. After calling it depressing, sad and scary, he jokes about being glad the train carrying him through Baltimore didn't stop. Then he says that now is not the time to talk about the problem, but talk about it Paul does, putting the blame on "lack of fathers" while failing to acknowledge that excessive early death and massive incarceration from institutional racism have left the nation's black community short 1,500,000 men in the 25 to 54 age group. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/20/upshot/missing-black-men.html?abt=0002&abg=1. Paul shifts the entire focus from the forgotten pockets of poverty in the black community left behind in an otherwise thriving economy, by claiming this is not racial, but due instead to an overall lack of moral code in general.

Paul is unfit to address, as president, what is arguably are most crucial domestic problem we face. He would be well served by viewing President Obama's passionate and eloquent comments on Baltimore today to see how a true president comports himself. Then he should address this issue constructively and forthrightly or get off the national stage.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home