Wow. I mean wow. I just read an article that is so bent in its logic and purpose that it made my children wince when I read it.
The purpose of this article by Keli Goff at The Root is to make the case that it is still a very real possibility that Paul Ryan is racist even though he had a black girlfriend in college. Know why? Cause Strom Thurmond fathered a black child, who by all accounts he actually cared about, and we all know that Strom hated the black folk.
I am not making this up.
As reported on Twitter by CNN’s Pete Hamby, Ryan said he has a black sister-in-law, but perhaps even more interesting, his “college sweetheart” was African American.
So here is the million-dollar question: Is the fact that Ryan has dated interracially a noteworthy detail to consider when analyzing his politics and policies?
…
Certainly, having a relationship with someone of a different race does not automatically make someone more racially sensitive and enlightened. Throughout his lifetime, Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina financially and emotionally supported the daughter he fathered with an underage black servant. In addition to paying for her education, he was also known to play the part of proud parent by visiting her college campus and make inquiries to faculty about her educational progress.Yet at the same time he was doing this in private, he was publicly advancing policies that would have rendered his daughter’s education virtually useless. If those policies had succeeded, she and her children, with whom he also maintained a relationship, would have remained second-class citizens. Does this mean that Thurmond’s relationship with his daughter was not genuine? From her recollections regarding the lengths he went to in order to remain a part of her life, I doubt it.
So then, how could he genuinely care for his black daughter and promote policies that would harm African Americans, and therefore harm her? Research has shown that those who hold stereotypes about a particular group of people are unlikely to have those stereotypes altered merely by encountering someone who defies that stereotype. Instead, they are likely to view the individual defying said stereotype as an exception. In other words, it is possible to have a black friend, Asian friend, Hispanic friend or Muslim friend or wife and still exhibit prejudice toward that group. The friend or wife is simply viewed as the exception who is not like the others.
Goff goes on to say that she is not saying that Ryan is racist, only that the fact the he obviously does not hate black people doesn’t mean that he is not…or something.
See for the left, it is not sufficient to demonstrably not hate black people to be free of the racism charge, you need to agree with the left on all political issues. If you have other ideas on how to help everybody, including blacks, then you are probably still racist.
Ms. Goff does precious little to refute the stereotype that leftists are completely irrational. I keep waiting to meet the exception to this rule. No luck so far.
