Poor pitiful Pat Buchanan!

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

Pat Buchanan, when I hear you lecturing President Barack Obama on race relations, and trying to make us believe you are not a racist, I just shake my head and say, “Poor, Pitiful Pat Buchanan.” I don’t mean I feel sorry for you, Pat. I mean I’m asking, “How ignorant can one man be?”

You want me to cry for the children and grandchildren of white men who stole my ancestors, beat, chained, raped and dragged them to America? You want me to cry for those who treated my ancestors worse than many of your people treat their dogs? You want me to applaud those who burned down Tulsa’s Black community because my ancestors dared to rise above the condition in which your ancestors forced them? When my ancestors tried to accomplish something, they were beaten, sold, torn from families and often lynched for no reason other than the color of their skin.

My ancestors never got the 40 acres and a mule, but yours stole everything they could by refusing to pay my ancestors what their work was worth—but you think we should be feeling sorry for them!

You think white America has been silent? Haven’t you listened to the Tea Party or Republican candidates currently running for President? I guess you’re tone deaf to the hate-filled language. I don’t think you even hear yourself. Have you any idea why you’re now persona non gratis at MSNBC? I was about to run out of patience with them until they fired you recently. You’ve already been given too much air time expressing the convictions, grievances and demands of racists.

You said, “America has been the best country on earth for Black folks. It was here that 600,000 Black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million… and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity Blacks have ever known…”

Do you really think your ancestors gave us our freedom? Did the Civil Rights Movement pass right over you? Didn’t you notice the dogs, bombs, fires, beatings, and murders committed by your ancestors in an effort to prevent my ancestors from breaking free? You’re more ignorant than I initially thought.

You said, “No people anywhere has (sic)done more to lift up Blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, …and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream. Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks—with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas—to advance Black applicants over white applicants… We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude??

Everyone knows that more money is spent on welfare and food stamps for white people. Do you really believe the government only helps Black people in need? I wonder how you think that one percent advantage is largely white!

Pat, do your homework! Remem­ber when my people were forbidden an opportunity to learn to read, vote or have access to certain schools and jobs? Yes, white America is responsible for the condition of my people. Those of us who’ve been blessed to overcome the damage your ancestors did to my people are grateful for the few willing white people who understand that we are human.

The challenges we are still overcoming were caused by your ancestors and you. I’m sure that any white boy who took away his sibling’s toys would be chastised by his mother, who’d promptly make him give them back. It’s the same principle my people are demanding. Your ancestors took everything from my ancestors. We’re just demanding back what was ours!

This article was originally published in the March 5, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper