09 Dec 2014 “This Blame It on the Whitey Stuff Is Dangerous and It Is a Lie”
Confronting the allegation that a history of racism in America is responsible for today’s problems in black communities, Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper strongly rebutted the notion and laid much of the blame for current unrest at the feet of President Barack Obama for not using his position and personal history as a means of healing troubled and tense communities.
Taking on the myth that institutional racism still exists, Horace said:
Racism, to whatever degree it exists in America today, is not the reason for anyone’s lack of success. The relic of a bygone era made up by a bunch of people running around with sheets over their heads and cones on their heads isn’t an explanation for the poverty. It isn’t an explanation for the criminality. It isn’t an explanation for the unemployment. That is something that individuals must take responsibility for.
In a discussion with host Rick Amato on the 12/8/14 edition of “The Rick Amato Show” on the One America News Network, Horace specifically said President Obama squandered an opportunity to calm heated tensions and perhaps become known as a “remarkable leader” in the process, but that he shirked this leadership role in favor of “political resonance” among his leftist power base. Horace explained:
The President of the United States ought to have been uniquely able to say not only is our system just, not only does our system work — look at me, I am living proof that if you apply yourself, that you become an achiever, that this country is open to anybody for taking on the most important political positions in the land. Instead, he has said just the opposite.
Talking about the fractured relationship between blacks and the police, Horace again said that Obama abdicated his responsibility as a leader in not confronting and addressing the problem in a mutually beneficial manner. He said that Obama “could have said: ‘I trust our criminal justice system. I trust our ability of law enforcement — working together in the community to resolve this.’ He has suggested and aided actions that did exactly the opposite.”
Horace noted:
There always will be an element in any community that doesn’t want to abide by the basic norms of decency. They will rob. They will rape. They will engage in mayhem. And that’s the reason you have law enforcement.
This criminal element “preys on those closest to it” — which is usually poor and minority communities. Instead of embracing the cause of local leaders and the police on the scene: “What the White House is saying, what Mayor de Blassio is saying and what Eric Holder at the Justice Department is saying undermines that basic truth.”
Critical of the heated rhetoric, Horace warned that New York City Mayor Bill de Blassio, in particular, will have “blood on his hands” should things get any further out of control due to his comments. Horace also added: “This blame it on the whitey stuff is dangerous and it is a lie.”